Mon 30 Jun 2008
Over at arstechnica there is a glimpse at the new Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex. A few screenshots show that Ubuntu is still going dark. The direction they are headed is not very clear. Even by scanning other user’s comments it appears its not a very popular idea, and I agree 100%! Here are 5 reasons a dark theme will only hurt Ubuntu:
- If they’re trying to prove a point that dark themes are pretty, I think they’re just going to satisfy the ones who already love dark themes,.. in which case those users probably have a custom theme they enjoy already. They’re not going to get the votes of mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa, who until they satisfy, Linux in general will always be an underachiever.
- The darker theme, no matter how great the graphics, will only be eye-popping on higher end machines, thus going back to number one, only satisfying those true computer nerds who they’ve already captured their vote.
- Its a proven fact that dark colors are more depressing. Although it may be easier on the eyes, after a while people want to see vibrant colors.
- Dark colors are not suitable for the work environment. Businesses and schools will be hesitant to adopt such dark themes, partly because it appears “Unbusiness like” and also back to number 3, depressing workers.
- It hurts the visual integrity of applications and websites running within it. Applications need colors that make them stand out, not so dark and smooth that they all blend in.
I think other approaches should be taken first to improve desktop appeal before the theme, take a look at OSX for instance, they’ve done really well with they’re organization of the desktop, and more linux distributions are starting to reflect what they’ve done because it works so well.
Its understandable that brownish/orange is Ubuntu’s color, but there’s no need to be obsessive with it, for god’s sake make it vibrant and beautiful!
June 30th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
You’re pretty much right, dark themes look nice but that’s all there is to it. I actually like the brown theme Ubuntu has (although I use Debian). But those screenshots from ArsTechnica really look awful. I liked best the colours Ubuntu took since release 6.06 or 7.04 (can’t recall which one exactly), when they turned that brown into a lighter one and everything was like orange. I actually used for a long time a colour theme similar to that one (just like white wine) in KDE.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
I agree with you. Dark themes don’t seem professional. I like attractive themes, but they look more businesslike if they are light. Dark title bars are okay, but not dark windows. They scream “gamerboy.”
Plus which, those screenshots are butt-ugly even as dark themes go.
July 1st, 2008 at 12:37 am
Dark themes are too hard on the eyes. The theme used in Ubuntu Studio is atrocious. I installed Studio for the music programs and background setup, but changed the theme to Clearlooks as fast as my mouse would click.
This is very much personal taste, but I agree dark themes just make dialog boxes etc hard to read.
July 1st, 2008 at 3:25 am
I like dark themes myself but, frankly, I don’t care what theme any distro uses - I always change it to suit my tastes within an hour of installing. It’s what’s under the hood that counts to me, not the paintwork.
July 1st, 2008 at 4:06 am
Hi Steve,
Thats exactly what’s Trent talking about, you and me will change theme almost immediatelly. But my mom or grandma or a windows friend… they will stick to original theme for a day, week, month or even forever. Devs have to make appealing theme for them, not for us
Alex
July 1st, 2008 at 5:29 am
You’re right.
White text over dark backgrounds have less contrast (the scientific term from optics) than dark text over light backgrounds.This means, less contrast makes more difficult to find thing and does work more unpleasant. It’s not a question of taste but a question of productivity.
Wrong move.
July 1st, 2008 at 6:07 am
They should look at Murrine Humana. It’s a Human-like theme, but more vibrant. With th Discovery iconset, it looks awesome!
I don’t have the link right now, but you can search it in Gnome-look.org
July 1st, 2008 at 8:21 am
Probably the best solution will be just provide a short choice of themes during installation or login screen? and then even a new user may find a most adapted look&feel?..
Personally I always loved dark themes and find my eyes much more cool after working a whole day on the dark screen
less light coming from screen - less work for eyes… but that’s why the world is so beautiful as there are so many tastes as many people 
July 1st, 2008 at 9:20 am
don’t forget how retarded it is to open up a word processor and see your document with a background color other than white. the whole point of word processors is to be more or less WYSIWYG.
July 1st, 2008 at 9:53 am
“Its a proven fact that dark colors are more depressing. ”
– please site your sources…
(though I do not care for dark themes as well as I know myself and others who have more difficulty reading “inverse” type)
July 1st, 2008 at 9:59 am
Yes, I do realize Ubuntu has always had dark colors, but they balanced themselves out with a mixture of light and dark. Now the desktop is completely dark.
July 1st, 2008 at 10:22 am
Who ever uses the default theme? First thing i did even when i first moved to Gnu/Linux was to mess with my desktop looks and change the desktop image.
I would give give Ubuntu kudo’s however because i find it’s default theme more pleasing than the blue or green themes you see on other Distro’s.
I dislike the blue myself because of windows and the green of other distros makes me want to vomit.
To be honest though there isn’t a default theme in any distro that i like.
July 1st, 2008 at 10:30 am
True, overall it is just an opinion, but im sure most will agree it doesn’t look suitable for businesses or schools. Also there are a LOT of people who are just not that computer savy and can’t change their themes. These in my opinion are the ones linux in general need to win over as well as the business community.
July 1st, 2008 at 3:15 pm
I’ve heard that they are just setting the dark theme as the default during the alpha phases to work out bugs with applications and how they display with dark themes. Supposedly, a more typical Human theme will be the official default theme when the final releases ship.
I can’t confirm this, but that’s just what I’ve heard. A nice dark theme (option) would be a great addition though
July 1st, 2008 at 6:10 pm
I really enjoy a dark theme if I’m using something like Fluxbox but if I’m using Gnome I really prefer a nice bright and colorful theme. I think a dark theme works well in Fluxbox because it shows only very minimally and goes will with a bright (white) background.
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:17 pm
I don’t know what is the problem to Ubuntu chose a new theme for the the new release…In this case a black theme…
What’s the big deal? If you don’t like use a new theme… there are lots on http://www.gnome-look.org or http://www.xfce-look.org . I was a linux user since 2002… and I changed a lot my desktop… sometimes I like blue. themes.. sometimes I like red themes …but this is my choice… sometimes i used xfce… sometimes I use fluxbox…
Ok, there is any problem on this? This will ruin ubuntu?
Really i don’t think this will ruin Ubuntu…
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Lets say your in a purchasing department for your company and you have to buy your company new shirts. You go to the store and there are two racks of shirts. One is ti die and the other is a button up shirt. Which one do you choose? For mass consumers like businesses and schools I think this is going to be the question at hand. Sure they may both be made out of high quality cotton, but you’ll go with the nicer shirt because it better suits the environment.
As far as the argument of changing the theme yourself, ideally you have a mas consumer market, and It’s a guarantee many of them won’t know how to do this. Sure, for the computer savvy guy this is a piece of cake, and probably the first thing you do when you get a new computer, but you have to consider EVERYONE who might be using your system. “This Linux thing” is all new to them.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Who care, you can change it! And ubuntu is not the linux distri.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:04 pm
KDE FTW!
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:08 pm
This theme indeed looks to be a work in progress, but despite of that it’s the first dark theme I’ve seen that I actually might consider using - I don’t really know why. It’s looks some how consistent and… well, professional.
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:14 pm
At first I agreed with the sentiment here. But then I remembered that this isn’t an LTS release. So it’ll be here for 6 months and then onto 9.04! If they can’t try a dark theme for 6 months when can they try! You shouldn’t be giving Gran’ma a non-LTS release anyway - should you?!?!?
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
“Dark themes are too hard on the eyes.”
Not true. Dark themes are actually much better for the human eyes than light themes. Dark themes make your eyes much less tired and you can work longer. I’m sure that any eye doctor would recommend that you use good dark theme instead of ligt theme. It’s also important that contrast differences are not too big or too small.
But yeah, those new Ubuntu screenshots do look ugly. But I don’t really care because I use Debian.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
“At first I agreed with the sentiment here. But then I remembered that this isn’t an LTS release. So it’ll be here for 6 months and then onto 9.04! If they can’t try a dark theme for 6 months when can they try! You shouldn’t be giving Gran’ma a non-LTS release anyway - should you?!?!?”
Just remember that Ubuntu LTS releases are not any more stable than other ubuntu releases. Just look at all those complaints about unstable Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. Internet is full of people saying that Ubuntu 8.04 randomly crashes etc. People are downgrading to previous release etc.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Quick polls:
how many grand ma’s use ubuntu? You guessed it, insignificant.
How many people don’t know/can’t figure out how to change a theme? Ans: Go play with a 10-key, 4 ops calculator.
——–
One reason why I don’t use themes from gnome-look: your “gksudo” apps look like crap afterwards, unless you take the extra pains of installing them to /usr/share/themes.
I urge all Hardy users to try the Ubuntu Studio theme inside the hardy repositories, and see if you still feel the same way about dark themes.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:47 pm
“I would give give Ubuntu kudo’s however because i find it’s default theme more pleasing than the blue or green themes you see on other Distro’s.”
Don’t aggree with you. I think Ubuntu’s theme is ugly, but not as ugly as those Ubuntu 8.10 screenshots though.
“I dislike the blue myself because of windows and the green of other distros makes me want to vomit.”
I don’t really understand that, windows sure is not the only OS which has used blue-theme.
I think Debian’s default blue theme is nice, I like it.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
1. Using a dark theme by default will help to spot bugs caused by some applications not prepared to run dark themes, and thus make the developers of the app aware of the bugs. This will benefit the community.
2. I have a lower end machine and I feel much more comfortable running a dark theme easy to read. I don’t understand what do you mean about high-end machines being the only ones having benefit. In fact the old machines are usually used as terminals with withe words on black background.
3. It has been scientifically proven that your eyes are much more comfortable using a dark theme.
4. There is NO clear and scientific proof about colors that are “depressing” by themselves… and in fact, if it was proven that darkness helped people to feel more calm and relaxed (just like when the night comes) it would be a reason to start using dark themes… because being excited is not good for health.
5. The “unbusiness” argument doesn’t make sense at all…. most of the professional systems I’ve seen were running the darkest of the themes: a GUI in a terminal light-on-dark. Normally the theme doesn’t matter at all for business and te default is normally used, whatever it is.
6. The “applications needs color” is just a personal opinion… what applications do really need is integration with whatever color theme you choose, and a way to achieve this is to promote variety of themes.. and for this it is a really good thing to have a dark theme in at least one of the popular distributions!
If you don’t like the theme then just say it… but don’t make up reasons without real base.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:38 pm
I personally don’t like the theme. I do see how testing this in a beta release could help resolve issues with apps, perfectly logical. From the people I know and deal with on a regular basis many people are doing good just to get on a computer and check email, much less change a theme.
When designing any software you can’t assume anyone is at any level beyond an absolute beginner. You can’t assume people can jump right in and start changing themes and backgrounds. I think people have stayed away from linux in the past because they knew it took a fairly savvy user to use it. However, all linux distro’s have come a long way and people are still hesitant to try it. It is possible to make a great design by going all dark. I think it would be in Ubuntu’s best interest to try and hit something in the middle to be pleasing to all types of users.
Thanks to everyone for keeping the comments clean. Even if I’m completely wrong (or right
) I hope something good comes out of this and the next release is by far the best yet. Who knows maybe the thoughts and comments here will inspire someone to create the next ground breaking theme that shocks the world.
July 4th, 2008 at 1:07 am
I like dark themes, but I think that ubuntu , being a kind of ambassador for Linux, should use a theme that a windows user who is used to light colors can use without feeling depressed. I think that brown is not that pretty either though.
July 15th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I think black is professional..It blends well on corporate attires..Would you agree?Most of the employees use a black suit most of the time..Black blends well on other colors..Black is simple and professional…
July 16th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Black is professional, but it is generally offset with a lighter color. I’m not oppose to dark colors, I think everything being dark is not ideal. A combination of light and dark would be the best approach.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
/agree
also I must say, that the dark theme is not going to be the main/standard/default-theme, but an alternative you’ll be able to choose
(If I’d design this theme, I’d really make the brown less saturated and use a somewhat ‘glossier’ orange. And I wouldn’t replace white with teal. Bah.)
However, what Ubuntu needs is an *innovative* theme, something attractive, something you do not need to discuss/argue about/whatsoever, a theme that just works…
July 16th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Yes, I think innovation is EXTREMELY important at this point, something to set it apart, but yet still something basic enough you can’t argue about it. something not so extreme.
July 20th, 2008 at 5:55 am
Trent wrote: Black is professional, but it is generally offset with a lighter color. I’m not oppose to dark colors, I think everything being dark is not ideal. A combination of light and dark would be the best approach.
I’ve been using Linux for a few years and dislike Ubuntu’s current theme. OK I can change it… but I just got a new laptop (which is black btw) and provided with Vista Business. Before reinstalling my favorite distro, I have decided to test the pre-installed OS in order to know if it is so bad. Well, Vista is provided with a dark theme (the toolbar) and it looks, to me, professional. But there is a mix with lighter colors (windows, background). And I don’t feel much depressed
Same with OSX where colours are mixed: dark background and grey/blue for the rest. My conclusion: Dark can look professional in addition with lighter colors (not flashy). I’m sure other guidelines can be found and create maybe a better impression.
July 21st, 2008 at 9:04 am
But thats my entire point. Dark colors are fine, just not the entire theme. Vista does have a darker theme, but there is a mix of vibrant colors and some dark ones. Back to Tillus’ point that Ubuntu needs a theme that is “innovative” and “Just Works”. I think this is the best way to effectively reach all types of users.