How to customize your Ubuntu: 5 ways to find themes, icons and plugins for your desktop

One of the drawbacks that many users brought to Gnu / Linux years ago is that it was difficult to handle. While in Windows XP you could change the desktop background with a couple of clicks, in Gnu / Linux you had to type several commands and modify files to make the changes permanent.

This changed with Ubuntu and has been for years with the different versions and with the rest of the distributions. To the point that now users have the problem of finding items to customize their Ubuntu, rather than knowing how to do it. That is why we propose 5 sources of themes, icons and add-ons that will allow us to customize Ubuntu to the maximum possible extent.

OpenDesktop

OpenDesktop is a directory containing desktop themes, icons and other add-ons for the most popular Gnu / Linux desktops. In the case of Ubuntu, it will not only allow us to customize Ubuntu 17.10 but we can also customize the rest of the official Ubuntu flavors. Something for which OpenDesktop has become very popular. This repository is free which allows us to take any item without having to pay any fee or anything similar. One of the most useful directories in my opinion.

Gnome-Look

Gnome-Look is a repository similar to OpenDesktop, but one of the oldest. It started as a repository for Gnome and little by little it was expanding although there are elements for KDE that we cannot find in Gnome-Look and yes in OpenDesktop. In this repository we will find many free elements but we will also find many resources that are not available since it contains very old elements. In any case, it is a must-visit repository.

Launchpad

It may sound weird that Launchpad, a software repository contains customization themes, but developers create what they want and there are repositories with desktop themes, icons, etc ... So using the Launchpad search engine we can find elements to customize our operating system. Launchpad is free and we can use Ubuntu with the repository to customize through the terminal or the Ubuntu customizer.

Github

Github is the other great Software repository where we will find customizations, desktop themes, icons and even scripts that automatically personalize it for us. I personally like Github because its interface is friendlier than Launchpad and you can find items faster or find more items from the same development.

Deviantart

Devianart is a repository of artists or also a social network for artists. We will find all graphic elements that we need for a desktop here but not all are free. In Deviantart there is the possibility of the artist making money, something that is very good, but it also makes a certain icon that we need it that we have to pay for it. Something that can be solved.

Conclusion

These are the five most important repositories that we can find to customize our Ubuntu, although we have to say that they are not the only ones, There are many other directories that will help us to customize the operating system but they do not have all the elements. In any case, they are all free (for the most part) so I recommend you visit and try.