Guide - thepante/setup GitHub Wiki

This section is principally written for non-unix-familiar users. If you are not familiar with how customization works, here is a detailed guide to set up Sierra Negra on your computer. Note that these steps would work for any other themes out there.

Or also, here you can see a more straight to the point guide.

Index

  • Basic set up
  • Adding extensions
  • Software theme matching
  • Bash & Terminal custom
  • Functionality / extras

This section is in progress...

Basic Concepts:

  • The paths are started with an ~ symbol that means Home folder. So if there is indicated to locate a directory ~/.local/share it means Home folder → .local → share - Also notice the a dot before the name of a folder, is part of the name itself and it indicates to hide it to the user (you need to enable the Show Hidden Files option to actually see it, by pressing ctrl+h or activating the proper option on your file explorer preferences).
  • From your Home folder, you can access to the folders to edit the visuals for your user account.
  • A GTK theme can have itself the icons needed for use, or can use those from your system Icons theme. That can vary, is already done, is already indicated by the theme's author.
  • You need the app Gnome-Tweaks installed (to install: sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool on your terminal). With this app you can select those themes, icons gtk and shell ones (cursors, fonts and wallpapers too). It's a must have app.
  • Gnome extensions may be require for better compatibility with some GTK themes. The theme Sierra Negra itself doesn't need any, but for have a setup with the exact same look of the pics, some extensions are needed.
  • Gnome extensions can be installed and managed from extensions.gnome.org
  • For extract compressed files (eg .zip) simply right click over it and then Extract Here.

1.a. Principal folders

Those are the path to the folders you may go to use.

  • Applications theme (GTK): ~/.themes
  • Gnome Shell theme: ~/.themes
  • Icons theme: ~/.icons
  • Fonts: ~/.local/share/fonts
  • Software configuration: ~/.config

1.b. Sierra Negra resources

You will need have those resources on your computer. Download them.

  • GTK Theme - Here, download Sierranegra.zip
  • Icons Theme - Here, download Source code.zip
  • Font - Here, click Download button
  • Roboto family font - Here, open '1 Family Selected' menu and then click on the download icon. This font is used in the top panel when the Sierra Negra shell theme is selected.
    • Alternative: If you prefer, you can use M+ 1c instead of Roboto. alt link.
    • Shell theme has this font priority order for use: Roboto, M+ 1c, Cantarell.

1.c. Installing the resources

Once you have the files, you have to copy them on your indicated directories ↑(#1a-principal-folders)

  • GTK Theme - You have a Sierranegra.zip, extract it and you going to get the Sierra Negra folder, copy that folder to your system Applications theme folder
  • Icons Theme - Extract the .zip you downloaded, and you going to see a folder called something like Cupertino-macOS-iCons-4.6 - That folder you can rename or not, doesn't matter. Just copy it (or move, whatever) to your system Icons folder.
  • Font - You have downloaded a .otf file, that's a typography which you need to put on your system Fonts folder. The same with the Roboto font family - download and move the files to that folder.

1.d. Selecting them

Now you have that all installed ready for you set to use.

  1. Open Gnome-Tweaks (via a launcher or typing gnome-tweaks on terminal).
  2. On the Appearance section you can now click and select the Applications and Icons themes. Click on them and select those which you have recently installed (Sierra Negra and the MacOS icons).
  3. Now there is also the Shell theme you can choose. But, maybe is disabled and you can't select none. So, you are needing the User Themes extension for Gnome, which you have to install it from here (follow the instructions there). After that, reopen Gnome Tweaks and select the shell Sierra Negra
  4. Now go to Fonts tab (also there on Gnome Tweaks) and select the proper:
    • Window Title: Ubuntu Medium 11
    • Interface: SF Pro Dispay Semibold 10
    • Monospace: Ubuntu Mono Regular 13
    • Scaling Factor: 0,82 (read bottom note)

* Note that the scaling factor does have to do with the working screen resolution. This 0,82 value is for my own taste under a monitor with 1920 x 1080 pixels of resolution. It may be not the same for your case.

Also you can select the windows buttons on the left. This option is on the "Windows" tab on the Gnome Tweaks app (search for that placement option).

Extensions

The look of the desktop in the photos of this setup, are archive thanks to additional changes made by Gnome extensions.
Visit extensions.gnome.org and follow that banner notice/warning which tell you that you need an addon. Install that addon, it does allow you to install and manage the extensions from there.

Note that...

If the extension add icons to the top panel, those are going to be organized automatic per-install order.
Here I'm going to list and detail my extensions in use and its configurations one by one in one list, but only those ones which affect the visuals to look just like the setup showed in the photos. The order of this list is just alphabetically.

The rest of the extensions in use; are going to be in another page of the wiki, soon I hope.

Blyr - Adds blur effects to activities screen (and panel if you want)
Apply effect to: Activities Screen, Blur intensity: 10.0, Activites background brightness: 0.70.

Dash to Dock - Use the launcher as a dock
Icon size: 24, I have disabled the 'Show Applications icon' button. 'Use built-in theme' option disabled. Shrink the dash: yes, counter indicators as default, custom dash color disabled, custom opacity fixed at 15%, and 'Force straight corner' enabled.

Datetime Format - Customize the format of the date and time in panel/calendar
I have; Menu 'Date' as %e %B %Y, Menu 'Day' not customized, and Status Bar as %a %d %b | %H:%M.

Dynamic Panel Transparency - Panel transparent except when a window is maximized
I have: Transition Speed 163, 'Foreground' tab Disabled the 3 options, in 'Background tab'; Enable custom opacity activated, Maximized opacity at 100%, Unmaximized opacity at 40%, Enable custom panel color activated, Panel color #0F1419, Remove excess panel styling activated, Hide corners activated.

Flippery Move Clock - No need options. It just moves the clock to the status menu area.

Hide Shutdown Button - No need options. Just does what it says.

IN PROGRESS... MORE CONTENT SOON