Linux Mint is great out of the box, which is one of the reasons why it is so popular among novice Linux users. But Linux Mint is also powerful, flexible, fast, robust, and customizable, making it popular among established Linux users as well. Cinnamon, Linux Mint’s flagship, and most popular desktop environment, can be further expanded with a variety of components. In this article, as part of my Linux Mint 22 tutorial series, I will explain How to use and set up Themes, as part of the official Cinnamon Spices, for Linux Mint Cinnamon.
Content of this article
- What are Themes
- How to find new Themes
- How to install new Themes
Article information
- Linux Mint 22 Cinnamon
What are Themes
Linux Mint is a fantastic Linux distribution. On the one hand, it is simple to use and easy to learn, and on the other hand extremely powerful, flexible, and adaptable. It offers something for everyone. Especially the desktop environment Cinnamon, one of the three desktop environments available for Linux Mint, is wonderful to use and can be adapted to your preferences in many ways.
Some of the additional available components for customizing Linux Mint’s Cinnamon desktop environment are Themes, Applets, Desklets, Actions, and Extensions, which are all part of the Cinnamon Spices repository, which offers numerous add-ons for Linux Mint Cinnamon for free. In previous articles, I already explained the other Spices to make Linux Mint your own. In this article, we will focus specifically on Themes.
For starters, it’s helpful to have a clear understanding of the differences between Themes, Applets, Desklets, Actions, and Extensions.
- Theme: The main purpose of a theme is to customize the look and feel of your desktop environment. Via a simple download of an extra theme, you can quickly change your desktop completely and have it match your visual wishes.
- Applet: Applets are small ingenious additional functionalities that are reflected in your panel.
- Desklet: Desklets are applications with a very small but dedicated piece of functionality that are built to be placed and visible on your desktop.
- Action: Actions will be part of the Nemo file manager’s right-click context menu, and are specific options available or not depending on the context, like when selecting a photo file it gives you other options than selecting an iso file.
- Extension: Extensions are components that modify or extend the way Cinnamon works.
So the main purpose of Themes is to customize the look and feel of your Cinnamon desktop environment. You can simply and quickly change the visuals of your desktop completely and have it match your visual wishes. At the moment of writing, there are 91 themes available via the Cinnamon Spices website, or the System Settings of Linux Mint. With these themes, you can change the look so it resembles Windows 10, or Windows XP, but there are all kinds of themes available to make components transparent, move icons in the panel to the middle, or give a very colorful complete overhaul.
How to find new Themes
It’s pretty easy to find new Themes as part of the Cinnamon Spices series. There are multiple ways to find new Themes for Linux Mint Cinnamon. In this article, I will focus on these:
- Built-in Themes system settings
- Cinnamon Spices website
So let’s take a closer look at both approaches.
Built-in Themes system settings
Although it is possible to download themes via the Cinnamon Spices website, my preferred way of downloading a theme is via the system settings. But, as I will show later, I prefer to first read about the themes in more detail via the Cinnamon Spices website, because there is information available about the theme, when the theme was recently updated, and what people are saying about a specific theme.
Linux Mint Cinnamon has an application available out-of-the-box specifically for adding, maintaining, and removing Themes. The Themes application can be found via System Settings / Themes.
1) In the Application menu, select System Settings.
2) Select Themes.
3) Select Advanced settings…
4) Select Add/Remove.
The following screen opens:
Here you see an overview of available Themes. You can sort here in several ways, such as by Popularity, Name, and Date. you can also sort so that the Installed or Upgradable Themes become visible. You also have a search area here. At the bottom of the screen, you see 4 icons, for more Information, Uninstall, Updates, and Refresh.
5) After you select a Theme, you can click on the Information icon at the bottom.
Now a new webpage in your browser will be opened. This is a page as part of the Cinnamon Spices website, which we will discuss in the next section.
6) Feel free to browse the available Themes and see if there is anything that would appeal to you.
Cinnamon Spices website
Next to the Themes application in Linux Mint Cinnamon System Settings, you also have the option to download themes via the Cinnamon Spices website in the Themes section. This is a kind of Cinnamon specific store where you can not only find Themes, but also Applets, Desklets, Actions, and Extensions, which we will discuss in separate articles.
1) Go to https://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/
2) Click on Themes.
Here you can search, and choose between Popular and Latest.
3) Click on a Theme to see all the details, like the description, documentation, and also comments from users. Here you also see buttons that bring you to for example open issues and the product website.
How to install new Themes
I prefer to use the built-in Themes app in the System Settings because it offers a simple visual way to download, install, and activate the Themes.
Let’s try to install the Windows XP theme.
1) In the panel, click on the Linux Mint logo at the bottom left to open the Linux Mint main application menu and search for System Settings via the search bar.
2) Select Themes.
3) Select Advanced settings…
4) Select Add/Remove.
Now you see an overview of available Themes.
5) After you select a Theme, for example, the Mint-XP theme, just click on the Install button, at the right-hand side of each theme.
6) In System Settings, now select Themes and then Desktop.
Here you see the Theme that you Downloaded.
8) Select your new Mint-XP Theme.
Now your Theme is selected and activated, and you are visually back in the Windows XP era.
Some themes are more extensive than others. Some offer next to the different Desktop themes, also a matched icon style, application window style, or mouse pointer style. In System Settings / Themes you can find out what a theme has to offer.
For example the theme Cinnamox-Gold-Spice:
…or the Orchis-Dark theme:
Cinnamon Spices is not the only way to add and activate new themes in Linux Mint Cinnamon, but it is the most convenient way because the setup procedure is integrated into your system. But there are many other theming options out there which we will not discuss in this article. But who knows what a future article will bring?
Final words
That’s it. There is so much possible with Linux Mint. If you just want to install Linux Mint and use it as it is offered out-of-the-box, you can without a problem. But if you would like to adjust the system to your liking, that is also very possible. Themes are just one of the types of Spices available for Linux Mint to supplement the base system with ingenious little functional applications, actions, and desklets. In other articles as part of my Linux Mint Tutorial Series, I am covering Desklets, Applets, Actions, and Extensions (coming soon).
Till next time!
About the free Linux Mint tutorial series
Through several short Linux beginner tutorials, I want to offer a simple starter guide for those who have never done anything with Linux Mint and do not know exactly where to start and where to find the necessary information. In an accessible way, it guides you through among others the principles of Linux, finding and downloading a Linux distribution, creating a live medium, finding software, installing software, executing updates, and making sure your internal and external devices work properly. This article is part of my Linux Mint tutorial series. You can find an overview of the complete tutorial series via the link below:
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