Alienware Fx Themes Download
Versie Rons
One thing I especially like about Linux is the amazing and vast array of choices in almost everything. Don't like one application for something? There are usually several more you can choose from. Don't like how the desktop works? Pick one of many other desktops. Don't like the window decorations on your desktop? There are many others you can download and try.
Two things bother me about this window. First, the intensity of the window name in the title bar for active windows is just too dull for me. The inactive windows have a bright white title that attracts my eye more than the dull cyan color of the active title.
Second, I like dark wallpapers, as you can see in Figure 1. Because the bottom edge of the window does not have a cyan highlight, it can be difficult to determine where the bottom of the windows are located, especially when there are a lot of overlapping windows open.
Pretty minor annoyances, I know, but they just bothered me. And that is one of the coolest things about open source: I can modify anything I want, even for trivial reasons. It just takes a bit of knowledge, which I am sharing with you.
All of the decorative themes I download are located in the /usr/share/themes/ directory so all users will have access to them. Each theme is located in a subdirectory, so the Alienware-Bluish theme is located in the /usr/share/themes/Alienware-Bluish/xfwm4/ directory. The xfwm stands for xf window manager version 4.
I don't like to work on the original files for anything important like a theme, so I used my own non-root account to copy the /usr/share/themes/Alienware-Bluish directory and its contents to a new directory, /usr/share/themes/Alienware-Bluish-2. This gives me a safe place to work without inadvertently damaging the original beyond repair. It also copies files and changes the ownership of the copied files to my own account, so I can copy and edit the files.
View the files in the /usr/share/themes/Alienware-Bluish-2/xfce directory using Thunar or another file manager that lets you view image thumbnails, then zoom in to increase the size of the images. Expand the images so you can see them better. Each *.xpm (X11 Pixmap) file is an image of a small window frame section, as you can see in Figure 2.
Look especially at the bottom-active.xpm and bottom-inactive.xpm files. These are the two files that define the look of the bottom of the window. These two images are only one pixel wide, so they are essentially invisible in Figure 2. The window manager uses as many instances as necessary to create the bottom edge of the window.
The hex numbers in the text color entries define the colors for active and inactive title text. To change the active title text, I need to determine what value to use in this field. Fortunately, there is a tool that can help. The KcolorChooser can be used to select a color from the color palette, or the Pick Screen Color button can be used to choose a color already displayed on the screen.
I used this color picker to locate the cyan highlight in the side of the window, but I found it just a little too bright for the bottom. I wanted it a bit less bright, so I used the tools on the KcolorChooser to adjust the color and intensity to my preference. You can see the result in Figure 3.
If you don't already have the KDE desktop or any of its tools installed, this command will install a large number of KDE libraries and other dependencies. It was already installed on my workstation because I have the KDE Plasma desktop installed.
The next part, changing the bottom-active.xpm image file, is a little more complicated. I used GIMP to modify the bottom-active.xpm file, but you can use any graphics editor you are comfortable with. One catch: the image is so small that it needs to be enlarged by a huge amount to be a reasonable size for editing. I found that 8,000% worked well on my display. You can see this in Figure 4. This image is 6 pixels high by 1 pixel wide and black and shades of dark gray.
I used the KcolorChooser to find a shade of cyan a little darker than that on the side and top edges of the window. After some playing around with it, I settled on the shade #10b0ae, which I then copied into the text field of the GIMP colors dialog. I had to add this dialog to the dock area at the upper right of the GIMP window by selecting Menu Bar Tools > Dockable Dialogs > Colors. Alternatively, I could have used the color picker, the eye-dropper icon, in the GIMP Colors dialog to simply pick the color from the sample display area of the KcolorChooser.
At any rate, I now had the color I liked in the GIMP color dialog. I used the Rectangle Select tool to select the 3 pixels highlighted in Figure 5 and the Bucket Fill tool to fill the selected area with the new color. Figure 5 shows the final color.
GIMP converted the .xpm file into a data format it could use, but it can't save the data directly into a .xpm file. Instead, I used the export function to save the file. This was not a big deal, but a bit unexpected the first time.
During the export, I was presented with a dialog asking for an Alpha Threshold value. I don't know enough about GIMP or manipulating graphics files to know what that is, so I left it alone and clicked on the Export button.
Had I not liked the results, I could have made additional changes and tested again. At this point, however, I would have had to change back to the original Alienware-Bluish theme (or any other theme) and then back to the Alienware-Bluish-2 theme to verify the change. The revised files are not loaded until the theme is re-read.
I had no idea how to fix minor problems and annoyances with window decorations until I started this little project. It did take some time and research to figure out how to do this. I learned there is an xpm graphics format, and I learned a little more about working in GIMP, including how to export into that file format. I also discovered this was a fairly easy change to make.
The only thing I couldn't figure out was how to change the color of the border of the active window. I was looking specifically for configurations for borders without much luck. And you've pointed me in the right direction--namely to tinker with the *-active.xpm files.
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It's hard not to notice that the top of the m3200 sports Alienware's characteristic alien head design. It's a bold icon and Alienware brands all of their hardware with it. Maybe as a nod to the modding community, the Alienware text and head glows in blue. It's pretty hard to miss.
Depending on who you are and how old you are, you're probably thinking that this is either really cool or really not. That's the impression I get from this icon that, in my opinion, has a pretty limited range in terms of audience and for me, it doesn't say "whoa, nice" as much as it does "dad, stop dancing in public. I know these people." You may be thinking that this is a superficial concern and it is but a laptop is something that you have to show to others and so it's not immune to fashion trends.
The counterargument could be "well if Apple or Dell can have an Apple or a Dell logo branded on the top, then an alien head is the same thing." Well Apple and Dell's logos are relatively innocuous compared to a glowing alien head that, like a shirt with a giant logo on it, demands that you respond to it and it's likely your opinion of what the computer looks like will center that one thing accordingly. That's a lot of pressure to put on a character that has unfortunately been seen skateboarding on more "EXTREME" Wal-Mart shirts than I care to imagine.
If it was desktop or even a gaming laptop, I wouldn't think twice about it, but the Sentia m3200 is a computer that's not geared towards gamers and its appeal is supposed to be broader. With the best interests of Alienware in mind, I don't think a really young gamer niche icon is going to help its appeal as a portable to do everything for everyone. My music producer friends, all of whom use laptops, all thought the idea of the alien head icon staring the crowd in the face was too much, despite the appeal of the hardware and features.
Alienware has a great reputation for solid machines so I think the need to set themselves apart with what seems like a draw for only very young males is dubious. But I can't hold this against the Sentiayou either love the alien head or you hate itand that's really what it comes down to: personal taste.
Too often in the Windows world, you feel like your computer's space is for sale. You buy a new machine from a top-tier vendor and boot up your new machine to a desk full of icons of services and software you didn't ask for and it's covered in WinXP and Intel stickers. The stakes are high and companies can make a bundle selling that real estate, so it's refreshing to see not one sticker on the Sentia and this when you boot up:
But that's not to say that the Alienware machines are not without their own bundles, but fortunately they are welcome additions. The m3200 comes with a lite version of Stardock's Object Desktop theming app, dubbed AlienGUIse and three custom Alienware themes.
I'm really picky about themes and usually steer clear of them because I find that only a small percent are usable for an extended period of time, but I was really impressed at the quality of the ones included. Other than the Firefox shelf bookmarks looking like tabs, I much preferred using the light grey Alienmorph theme over XP's Luna, and the others are just as nice. Making a good theme is easier said than done, and a good theme that's stylish but not completely overbearing so the company that did these for Alienware (The Skins Factory) definitely deserves a juice or a pint or whatever theme designers drink.