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Customizing your Ubuntu can significantly enhance your user experience. This guide walks through setting up a beautiful theme, icon pack, and useful GNOME extensions. Before starting, browse gnome-look.org to find themes, icons, and cursors. This guide uses Orchis-theme and candy-icons.

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Theme Setup

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Install gnome-tweaks
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To fully customize your Ubuntu theme, install gnome-tweaks:
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sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-tweaks gnome-shell-extensions
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Open it by typing gnome-tweaks in your terminal or by searching for “Tweaks” in your application menu.
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Download and install Orchis Theme
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Clone the Orchis theme repository:
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git clone https://github.com/vinceliuice/Orchis-theme.git
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There are many options to configure the theme. Read the README for all available flags before running the install script.
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Navigate to the cloned directory and run the installation script:
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cd Orchis-theme
./install.sh -h   # View all options

# Example: install all variants with the black tweak to ~/.themes
./install.sh -d $HOME/.themes -t all --tweaks black
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Make sure the theme is installed in the ~/.themes directory.
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Apply the theme via gnome-tweaks
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Open gnome-tweaks, navigate to Appearance, and change your Applications, Cursor, and Icons themes. Or apply it from the command line:
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gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme "Orchis"

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Icons Setup

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Download the candy-icons zip
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wget https://github.com/EliverLara/candy-icons/archive/refs/heads/master.zip -O /tmp/candy.zip
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Unzip to the icons directory
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Extract the .zip file to one of the following locations:
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  • /usr/share/icons/
  • ~/.local/share/.icons/
  • ~/.icons/
    • 6
    unzip /tmp/candy.zip -d ~/.icons
    7
    Apply the icon theme
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    gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface icon-theme "candy-icons"

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    GNOME Extensions

    GNOME extensions can significantly enhance your desktop experience.
    1
    Install Extension Manager
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    sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-manager
    3
    Open Extension Manager
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    extension-manager
    6
    Search for and install the following extensions:
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    ExtensionDescriptionAdd to DesktopEasily add applications to your desktopGNOME Fuzzy App SearchFaster and more intuitive app searchApp menu is backRestores the application menu for quick accessClipboard IndicatorManage clipboard history from the top barLogo MenuReplaces the GNOME logo with a customizable menuText ClockDisplays a text-based clock in the top barSystem MonitorShows system performance stats in the top bar

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