Making Ubuntu Unity Look Beautiful By Enabling Transparency

Enabling transparency is one of simplest ways to beautify Ubuntu Unity. Unity has transparency disabled for most screen items by default. However, by following the steps below you can add transparency to your Ubuntu Unity desktop.

Top Panel Transparency

To enable transparency on the top panel, follow these steps:

Top Panel

1)

Install Compiz Config Settings Manager

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

2) Alt + F2, type ccsm and press Enter to launch CCSM. 3) Click on the Ubuntu Unity Plugin / Experimental tab. 4) Modify the Panel Opacity slider to change the panels transparency. Range 0 (transparent) 1 (opaque).

Compiz Top Panel Settings

Desktop Window Transparency

To enable transparency on desktop Windows, follow these steps: 1) Install Compiz Config Settings Manager (if you havent already)

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

2) Alt + F2, type ccsm and press Enter to launch CCSM. 3) Click on the Opacity Brightness & Saturation Plugin / Opacity tab. 4) Click New. Click + and a new window will appear. Click Grab and then select the desktop window on which you want to enable transparency. The name will then be filled into the Value field. Click add. Range 0 (transparent) 100 (opaque). 5) Transparency can the be changed via the Window Values slider . Some common window classes are Ccsm,'Nautilus,'Dialog,'Normal,'Empathy,'Gedit,'Gnome-Terminal

Desktop Window Compiz

Menu Transparency
To enable transparency on Unity menus, follow these steps: 1) Install Compiz Config Settings Manager (if you havent already)

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

2) Alt + F2, type ccsm and press Enter to launch CCSM. 3) Click on the Opacity Brightness & Saturation Plugin / Opacity tab. 4) Click New. Type Menu in the Windows field and adjust the Window Values slider to set the transparency level. Range 0 (transparent) 100 (opaque). 5) Repeat step 5 for the following: DropDownMenu, ToolTip, PopupMenu.

Menu

Desktop Window Title Transparency

As well as having transparency on desktop windows, Ubuntu has the option to change transparency on the Window Title area. 12.04 and earlier: 1) Install Compiz Gnome and GConf Editor:

sudo apt-get install compiz-gnome gconf-editor

2) Alt+F2 , type gconf-editor to open the GConf Editor. 3) Navigate to apps/gwd in the left panel. 4) Adjust the value column for metacity_theme_active_opacity and metacity_theme_opacity to set the window titles transparency. Range 0 (transparent) 1 (opaque). 12.10: 1) Install Compiz Gnome and DConf Editor:

sudo apt-get install compiz-gnome dconf-tools

2) Alt+F2 , type dconf-editor to open the DConf Editor.

3) Navigate to org /compiz / gwd in the left panel. 4) Adjust the value column for metacity_theme_active_opacity and metacity_theme_opacity to set the window titles transparency. Range 0 (transparent) 1 (opaque).

Window Title GConf Editor

Window Title