Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
Yesterday I published Darkness Returns, a GTK+ and Openbox theme. Today, in an effort to move more CrunchBang Linux material onto my site and wiki, I am publishing Brightness, another GTK+ and Openbox theme. I no longer use this theme myself, but I know some users have stated they prefer the theme which was used in CrunchBang Linux 7.10.2 [I guess you cannot please all of the people all of the time.] Personally, I prefer the increased contrast between application and data provided by Darkness Returns, but there you go.
As with Darkness Returns, Brightness uses the Clearlooks GTK+ engine. I have made the theme available on my wiki. I have used the theme under Openbox with no known issues. I have not tested the theme under GNOME.
Regarding the origin of the theme, if I remember correctly, I used the Gilouche theme as basis to work from. Even though I prefer to use a darker theme, I still really like the openSUSE artwork, it is professional and consistently good.
Monday, May 12th, 2008
It occurred to me this morning that I have been using the same GTK+ theme for a couple months. I consider this fact to be a result; I have comfortably settled into using a theme and I had not fully realised it, that has to be a good sign! While I enjoy playing around with the look 'n' feel of my desktop, I cannot help but think it is a waste of time and I should be doing something more constructive; therefore, this morning's realisation comes as something of a relief.
The theme I have settled into using is called Darkness Returns. I named it so because CrunchBang Linux was originally distributed with a dark theme, then it changed to a light theme, before moving back to a dark theme for the last release; hence, Darkness Returns — pure genius :)
Darkness Returns is based on the Clearlooks GTK+ engine. It is not actually as dark as some dark themes, instead it is more of a halfway house between the lightness and the darkness; maybe I should have named it "Sitting On The Fence"? Anyhow, a couple of people have asked me for the theme and so I have made it available on my wiki. More screenshots of the theme can also be seen on my wiki: CrunchBang Linux 8.04.01 Screenshots. Feel free to use and abuse :)
