Setting Themes

The first thing I do, when I install a linux will be making the machine look good. One of which is selecting a good theme. The theme plays a very important role in making a system user friendly especially when you install debian. The fresh installed system will have a classic look which is not much accepted by a person who is using windows xp or vista. I had an experience once. I was installing debian and after installation one of my friend who was watching the installation said "Oh GOD linux!!!" . Then I changed the themes and the looks of task bar, my friend said "wow Linux looks so great!!! "

The wallpaper plays an important role in looks. Get an eye freshening wallpaper on to your desktop or laptop.

The theme includes how the system should look like. The color of the window borders, task bar, the icons, all can be changed while setting the theme. The Themes can be access by:

Desktop --> Preferences --> Theme

There you can try selecting different themes which will change the task bar, icons and window borders.You can save new themes by changing the parameters. The parameters can be accessed by selecting the Theme Details. For deifferent combinations you can save themes.

Also you can download debian themes from sites and you can install it from the Theme window through install .
As on the figure you can get a nice task bar at the bottom by simply customizing the task bar. For this first you better add the windows list to the upper panel by right clicking on it and selecting Add to Panel . Then you can add show desktop to your upper panel. Now delete the lower panel and create new one by right clicking on the upper pannel, by selecting the New Pannel.

Now from the bottom new pannel select Properties .
Make the Size 50 , untick Expand, Autohide and Show hide buttons. Now select Background tab and select Solid Color sliding the Style to the left will make it transparent. Then add different applications by adding to panel which will list on your panel as icons. This will give a good look which is something similar to MAC os eventhough it is not a dock.

If you are interested in playing more with display effects you can get compiz-fusion installed on your machine.