GNOME Customization on Debian – Complete Guide

Unlock the full potential of your Debian Linux desktop with our in-depth GNOME customization guide. If you’re looking to tailor your user experience to your preferences, you’ve come to the right place.

Table of Content

• Introduction
• Prerequisites
• GNOME Customization Resources
  • Required Software
  • Visual Resources
• GNOME Customization UI Settings
  • Applications, Panel & Dock
  • GNOME Settings
  • GNOME Extensions
  • GNOME Tweaks
• GNOME Customization Optional Settings
  • Just Perfection Extension
  • Conky System Monitor

Introduction

In this article, we’ll walk you through the art of Debian GNOME customization, offering expert tips, tweaks, and insights to make your desktop truly your own. Dive into the world of Linux desktop personalization and transform your Debian experience today.

Prerequisites

For this guide, an installation of the Debian operating system with GNOME Desktop Environment is required. You can download the installation media with the live installer on the Debian LIVE ISO download page(download the ISO with GNOME included). Once you boot from it, you will notice the “Install Debian” icon you should click on to start the installation. From there, a guided graphical installer will start, which will lead you through the operating system installation.

You can also follow our guides below for a more “finely-grained” installation of Debian Desktop—whatever suits you best.

Debian 11 Server – Minimal Installation Guide

Follow this guide for a Debian 11 Server minimal installation, providing a solid foundation for any server setup or project you want to build.

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Debian 11 Server – Initial Customization Guide

Discover introductory steps to streamline performance, security, and administration in our Debian Server Initial Customization guide.

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Install GNOME Desktop Environment on Debian – Easy Guide

Discover the GNOME Desktop Environment elegance and modern features. Follow our Debian installation guide for a seamless experience.

Read More!

GNOME Customization Resources

A few software packages must be installed before starting with GNOME customization. We will also show you how to add all the resources required to fully customize your GNOME interface, including a GTK4 theme, GNOME Shell theme, icons pack, wallpaper, and user profile picture.

Required Software

If you followed our guides from the prerequisites section, you should already have installed most of the software required for this guide. You can also check our Debian Recommended Applications guide as an optional reading. Nevertheless, you can run the command below in the terminal to make sure everything required is really installed:

sudo apt install -y --no-install-recommends chrome-gnome-shell gnome-shell-extension-dashtodock gnome-shell-extension-manager gnome-shell-extensions gnome-shell-extensions-extra gnome-tweaks conky-all mpd lua5.4 jq imagemagick

Optionally, you can also install the “Just Perfection” extension. It needs to be installed in Extension Manager, so if you opt for it, click onShow Applications(01) followed byExtension Manager(02):

Extension Manager

In Extension Manager, please click on theBrowsebutton:

Browse Extensions

Click on the sort button, selectName(01), and type “perfection” in thesearch box(02). Once the results are listed, click on the Just Perfection extensionInstall button(03):

Install Just Perfection Extension

All the required directories for resources can be set here also, so please execute the following commands in the Terminal:

cd mkdir .icons mkdir .themes mkdir .config/conky

Visual Resources

In this section, I will show you how to acquire all the resources required to “beautify” the GNOME interface. That includes a GTK4 theme, a GNOME Shell Theme, a Conky theme, a profile picture for your user, and some classy wallpaper.

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You can use whatever you want for your profile picture or “avatar.” You can use the one you use for your social network profiles or similar. Regarding size, a square-shaped image of at least 250×250 pixels is required. The same rules apply to wallpaper: whatever you like. I have a huge 32″ wide-screen monitor, so I opted for a high-resolution (4K) wide-screen wallpaper. If you like the one I used in the featured image for this article (on top), you can find ithere.

As for themes and icon sets, there is a huge selection available on thePlingwebsite. I opted for the following:

• GTK4 Theme:Flat Remix GTK(Magenta variant)
• GNOME Shell Theme:Flat Remix GNOME/GDM(Magenta variant)
• Icons Theme:Flat Remix ICON Theme(Magenta variant)
• Conky Theme:Graffias Conky Theme(Dark variant)

You can save everything to yourDownloadsfolder and then extract everything there by right-clicking on the package followed byExtract:

Extract Packages

Once the packages are extracted, all the content must be moved to their “resource” directories (created in the Resources section above). To do so, please go to your home folder and enable hidden files to display there by clicking onCtrl+Hkey combo:

Display Hidden Files

Move (drag and drop) the profile picture and wallpaper (01) into thePicturesfolder (02):

Avatar & Wallpaper

Go to a folder containing the Conky theme (01) and move it to the.config/conkydirectory (02):

Conky Theme Placement

Do the same for the GTK, Gnome Shell, and Icons themes. Move theGTK theme folder(01) to the.themesfolder (02):

GTK Theme Placement

Gnome Shell theme folder(01) to the.themesfolder (02):

Gnome Shell Theme Placement

Icons theme folder(01) to the.iconsfolder (02):

Icons Theme Placement

You can now delete everything that remains in the Downloads folder as it is not needed anymore.

GNOME Customization UI Settings

In this section, I will show you how to modify the basic user interface a bit and all the options present in the GNOME Settings and GNOME Tweaks applications.

Applications, Panel & Dock

Basically, the GNOME desktop environment consists of 3 essential elements:Dock(01),Applications(02), andPanel(03):

Applications, Dock and Panel

The first thing you can do here is to add your favorite applications to the Dock, usually the ones you use the most. Click on theApplications(01) button in the dock, and simply drag and drop your favorite apps to the Dock:

Drag and Drop Applications to Dock

Once you do that, you should have Dock populated with your favourite applications:

Applications Added to The Dock

You can group rest of the applications by simply dragging and dropping them into logical groups:

Group Applications

If you group all applications (something I like to do), you will have something similar shown in the picture below:

Grouped Applications

When grouping applications, several groups could end up without the name. You will notice anUnnamed Folderunder the group without the name/title:

Unnamed Group

You can give that group a name by simply clicking on it, then click on theEditbutton (01) and type in the desired name (02):

Change Group Name

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GNOME Desktop

GNOME Shell

With the Dock and Applications sorted out, the only thing I like to do in the panel is to remove the date. To do so, openGnome Tweaks, click onTop Bar(01), and turn off the date by clicking on thetoggle button(02) next to it:

Disable Date in Panel

GNOME Settings

In this section, I am going to go through basic GNOME Settings. Settings can be accessed by clicking theShow Applicationsbutton in the Dock and then onSettings. The first thing I like to do there is change the style to dark. It is much more pleasant “for the eyes” when working long hours in the evening, and it will also save some battery time on laptops. You can do it by clicking on theAppearance(01) tab and then selectingDarkstyle (02):

Appearance – Dark Style

The wallpaper can also be set here by clicking on the “+ Add Picture…” button and then browsing to the location where you have saved your wallpaper:

Appearance – Background

In theMultitaskingtab(01), I prefer to reconfigure the workspaces a bit. Workspaces are a great feature that will allow you to have multiple “virtual monitors” where you can start different applications in each one. You can switch between them by hitting the “Ctrl+Alt+left/right arrow” key combo on your keyboard. I prefer to set a fixed number of workspaces(02), limit them to a maximum of 6(03), and make them visible on all monitors(04):

Multitasking – Workspaces

Regarding privacy (Privacytab in GNOME Settings), I like to configure the automatic cleanup of Trash and temporary files. To do so, click on theFile History & Trashtab(01), enable the automatic cleanup of Trash(02) and temporary files(03) and set the automatic cleanup schedule(04):

Privacy Settings

In Removable Media, you can specify how specific media will be handled. If you followed our guides from the prerequisites section, you can set everything up as in the picture below:

Removable Media Handling

You can set your profile picture in the Users tab. You will first need to click on theUnlockbutton(01) and enter your login password. Then click on a pencil-like edit button(02) to set your profile picture:

Users Settings

The last thing I like to do in Settings is to set default applications. This will depend much on what software you have installed on your Debian, but if you followed our prerequisite articles, the same options can be applied as in the picture below:

Default Applications

GNOME Extensions

In this section, I will show you how to extend GNOME features with the help of – extensions. With the use of the extensions, there are some excellent features you can enable in GNOME, and I highly recommend you give it a try.

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If you followed our prerequisite articles, you should already have all the required extensions installed, so let’s get started. Click on theShow Applicationsbutton(01) in the Dock, and then search forExtension Manager(02):

Extensions Manager

Auto Move Windowsextension will allow you to start a specific application in a particular workspace. For instance, I use Thunderbird, Google Chrome, Firefox, and Slack regularly for my work. With the help of Auto Move Windows, I configured Thunderbird to start in Workspace 1, Google Chrome in Workspace 2, and so on.

To achieve the same, enable the extension(01) and click on “Gear” button(02) to configure it:

Auto Move Windows

Now click on the “+” button to add a rule:

Auto Move Windows – Add Rule

Select the desired application from the list(01), and click theSelectbutton(02) to add it:

Auto Move Windows – Add Application

You can add the rest of the desired applications the same way. Once you do, you can use the “+/-” buttons to configure the workspace for each application:

Auto Move Windows – Set Workspaces

Later in this guide, I will show you how to start those applications automatically (each in a configured workspace) at boot.

The next extension on the list isDash to Dock. Click on the “gear” button to access it’s settings:

Dash to Dock

I like my dock icons to be a bit smaller than the default. To achieve this, I can scale them down(02) in thePosition and sizetab(01):

Dash to Dock – Icon Size

In theAppearancetab(01), I like to additionally shrink the size of the Dock(02), set fixed opacity(03), and lower it down completely(04) (make the Dock transparent):

Dash to Dock – Scaling & Opacity

There are a few more extensions I like to enable, starting withNo overview at start-up(01). It will disable showing the “Activities” screen after you log in, and it will take you straight to your Desktop.User Themes(02) must be enabled so the GNOME Shell theme can be set (I will show you how later in this guide). I also like to enableWorkspace Indicator(03) to see workspaces in the Panel(04). Optionally, you can also enableScreenshot Window Sizer, which will allow you to create custom-sized screenshots.

Additional Extensions

Please feel free to try other extensions also, as you may find a feature you like and I didn’t mention. Let me know in the comments.

GNOME Tweaks

Gnome Tweaks offers many options. This is where you can change your GNOME theme, icons, fonts, and many more, and I will show you how to do it. Once you start it, click on theAppearancetab(01), and this is where you can set icons(02), GNOME Shell theme(03), and GTK theme(04) (the ones you downloaded before), so please do so:

Change Appearance

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In theFontstab(01), you can adjust the fonts you want to use and their display sizes(02), and you can set antialiasing to be optimized for LCD screens(03):

Interface Fonts

If you have a notebook, you can adjust the mouse emulation for your touchpad in theKeyboard & Mousetab(01). I like to set it toArea(02) (see the picture below for the description):

Touchpad Configuration

A bit above in this guide, I showed you how to configure specific applications to start in separate workspaces. Now, I will show you how to configure those same applications to automatically start once your computer boots and you log in. To do so, click on theStartup Applications(01) in Gnome Tweaks and then click on the “+” button(02):

Startup Applications

Once a selection window opens, click the search button(01) and type the desired application name in the search box(02). When found, click on the application(03) and add it by clicking on theAddbutton(04):

Select Startup Applications

You can add as many applications as you want, although I recommend adding only the ones you use regularly.

All Startup Applications

In theWindow Titlebarstab, you can enable(01) the Minimize and Maximize titlebar buttons(02):

Minimize/Maximize Window Buttons

As a last option in Gnome Tweaks, you can enableCenter New WindowsandResize with Secondary-Clickoptions in theWindowstab:

Window Actions

GNOME Customization Optional Settings

With everything above completed, I am pretty satisfied with how everything looks. Still, there are a few more things I could do further to customize the GNOME desktop environment on my Debian even more.

Just Perfection Extension

Just Perfectionextension will allow you to customize your GNOME even further, although I think of it as an overkill. I won’t go into details, but please feel free to check the extension options by accessing theExtension Manager. Maybe you will find something you like.

Conky System Monitor

Conkyis a lightweight system monitor that can display all sorts of information on your desktop. It is up to you if you want to use it or not. I like to use it to display CPU and RAM usage along with the time and weather forecast in my region. Also, it looks nice on my desktop 🙂

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Applications

Above in this guide, I already showed you how to install Conky and where to set the theme for it, and now I will show you how to configure it. Now, usually, every Conky theme comes with a set of fonts that need to be installed. You can find those fonts in the themes directory(01). To install them, just double-click on the font file(02), and once the window opens, click on theInstallbutton(03):

Conky Fonts

Also, most Conky themes support showing the weather forecast for your location. If you want that option, you must create a free account onOpenWeather. Once you sign up, you can create an API key, which is required to display the forecast in Conkey (search for API keys on the OpenWeather website menu once you log in).

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You will also need your location ID. To get it, visit the OpenWeather website and type your location name in the search bar(01). Click on it once it pops up, and you will find the numerical code of your location in the address bar of your browser(02):

OpenWeather Location ID

Now, you need to add both the API Key code and location ID code in Conky’s weather control script. Usually, the script is located in the theme’s “scripts” sub-directory, and you can open and edit it there (use Terminal):

Open Weather Control Script

Paste API key code(01), and your location ID(02) and save and close the file:

Weather Control Script Configuration

Now open the Conky theme main configuration file:

Conky Main Configuration

Locate the “own_window_argb_visual” option and change it’s value totrue:

own_window_argb_visual = true,

Save and close the file, and you can start Conky by executingstart.shscript:

Conky Startup Script

You can also configure Conky to start at boot. To do so, first open the new.desktopfile:

cd vi .config/autostart/conky.desktop

Now paste in the content below and save and close the file:

[Desktop Entry] Type=Application Exec=sh -c "killall conky; sleep 2; conky -c $HOME/.config/conky/Graffias_Dark/Graffias.conf &> /dev/null &" Name=Conky Comment=Autostart conky at login

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Install

And this is it; I have nothing else. Enjoy your new customized GNOME. Thank you for reading, and please share this article if you liked it.