Problem Installing Themes

[BenjaminNYC]

Greetings! Happy to be here!

I’m trying my hand at installing different themes into my setup. I’ve downloaded tar.gz theme packages from various places. Then in the Appearance app, I click the Install button. Then I select the theme tar.gz and it says the theme was installed properly.

However, the theme does not appear in the Themes area of the Appearance app. Even logging out then in does not make the theme appear there. I still only see the standard Mate themes: Amtient-MATE, BlackMATE, etc…

Oddly, when I click on the Customize button, I do see those installed themes in the list, but when I click them, they seem to only partly load. Windows boarders change, but folder icons, etc., do not.

Lastly, I am unable to install the theme that isn’t working because (1) it’s not showing in the Themes tab, (2) the folder for the theme does not appear in /usr/share/themes and (3) when I click on Customize, I see the misbehaving theme there, but Delete is grayed out.

Setup is MATE 16.04 on Samus Chromebook Pixel 2 (not Crouton, proper install), using Raphael’s Linux-Samus kernel.

Please help! Am I installed incompatible themes? These are some of the ones I tried:

10 Of The Best Linux Themes Compared

Thanks,
Benjamin

[lah7]

Hi there, welcome to the community!

From the looks of things, the themes are installed, but some of them are not quite compatible with MATE. That particular article doesn’t address any MATE compatibility:

How to Install Numix
Works on GNOME, Unity, Xfce and Openbox.

For Numix in particular, you can install the Numix GTK theme following these commands.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:numix/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install numix-gtk-theme

---

Some elements of the incompatible themes should work, like the icons - but may not behave properly then the designers intended (like the material design inspired one – Adapta)

You can of course mix-and-mash and manually specify the controls, window border, colour and icons that would be used by that theme.

---

Another member has a link for 9 MATE compatible themes:

9 Great Mate Themes

One of the best things about being a MATE user is the fact that everything is super stable and reliable. Check out these 9 great-looking MATE themes. http://www.maketecheasier.com/9-great-mate-themes-linux/

Take a look at the #themes tag too for other compatible candidates if you’re looking for themes.

[Spyder]

To appear in the Theme tab of Appearance Preferences with its own big icon, a theme needs to be a Gnome Metatheme. Please see this older post for some explanation:

Help adding themes to Ubuntu Mate

To show in Apparance Preferences > Theme, like Ambiant-MATE and BlueMenta do, the theme has to be a Gnome Metatheme. Otherwise, it only shows under 'Customize' for an existing theme. A Gnome Metatheme consists of a GTK theme, Icon theme, window border theme and pointer. Each Gnome Metatheme has an index.theme file which specifies these things. You can modify the index.theme if you want. You can also make a Gnome Metatheme by adding a correct index.theme to an existing theme folder. Check an e…

Click on link to see entire post!

[BenjaminNYC]

Thanks all. I’m sorry, but I’m still having trouble.

I followed lah7’s link to 9 Great Mate Themes, and decided to download this one:

absolute

I downloaded the tarball and tried to install the theme two ways.

1. I Extracted the tarball directly into /.themes. I went into Appearance, and the theme was not there. No large icon for “absolute” theme. In fact, no “absolute” options under Customize either.

2. So I decided to use the Install button in Appearance. That took me to my Downloads folder, where I saw the original tarball for the theme. I selected it and got:

There was an error installing the selected file
“absolute-themes” does not appear to be a valid theme.

So then I thought, maybe you’re not supposed to install the tarball. So I used the Install button again and went to my /.themes folder. I tried selecting the “absolute” folder that I had extracted there, but selecting it just opened it in the dialog. I’m not sure exactly what I’m supposed to select when I use the Install feature.

Either I’m a total moron, or this is far more complex then it needs to be.

Can anyone help?

[anon42388993]

You extracted in your /.themes then that is correct. You should then be able to pull up your “Appearance” app and select your theme from there.

[BenjaminNYC]

OK but it’s not there.

[anon42388993]

Ok, give me a few and I’ll load it up. BB

[anon42388993]

Ok, look what I did.

I took the first folder (absolute) and removed it from absolute-themes. Now it shows up in Appearance. Just do that with all folders in the absolute-themes package

[BenjaminNYC]

Thank you! It works, sort of, but look at this error message, it makes not sense:

[BenjaminNYC]

I think I get it, you have to install the icons separately? I thought these were comprehensive themes?

Anyway, if I download it, do I put it in /.icons or /.themes?

Will the Appearance app connect the two and make a comprehensive theme?

(I can’t install the icon set now, because my ISP at work is blocking:

http://rghost.net/1975508

)

[anon42388993]

Icons belong in /.icons and good luck

[BenjaminNYC]

Thanks. I can’t get this one to install. Can you help one more time?

Elegant GNOME Pack v 1.0

This was in the list of 9 grate Mate themes.

Thanks.

[anon42388993]

Double click on the “elegant-gnome.sh” file and it should install. I gave it a 30 second test and seems to be ok, but it needs a through testing by you. You will find that all themes will not play nice with all apps. There will be some trial and error and maybe better to avoid the more complex themes for now. Your choice of course

[MrFabulous]

I’ve been trying for years to install themes. Can anyone please point to a definitive list of Mate compatible theses and accurate, up-to date instructions on how to install same??? I’m starting to think that themes on Mate is a cruel joke.