What are your favorite desktop customizations?
I've distro hopped quite a bit over the last few years. I've realized recently that I tend to gravitate toward KDE Plasma as a desktop environment, but I don't take advantage of the customization as much as I could.
As I sit here looking through the KDE Plasma settings I'm curious to hear what are some favorite things to change in any DE. Please share what you like to do when you get a vanilla install. Do you have a favorite icon pack? Do you have a favorite theme? Any particular widgets that you would recommend?
I'm sure there is more out there than I can think of. Please share!
Edit: I can't respond to everyone, but this is a great discussion. So many good suggestions and ideas. Keep them coming!
99 replies
Kitty mouse cursor
this is gold, thanks for sharing
Amazing 🤩
Kind of a small thing, but I use an Ultrawide monitor with Sway, so I wrote a oneliner to swap to a higher or lower display scale depending on the workspace I'm on. I like to game in full rez while I'd write code or read with a HiDPI resolution that's easier to squint at. Also adding hotkeys to change scaling on demand is nice
Great example of something I'd never think of. Thanks!
Love my drop down terminal. I use Yakuake.
Do you prefer Guake over Yakuake because you use Gnome or other GTK based DE, because of specific features, or because it's what you're used to? Or something else?
I've only used Yakuake (and I'm on KDE) so I'm not familiar with Guake, but I'm curious
Perfectly valid
What's better with a drop down terminal vs a normal terminal invoked with global short key?
It's a genuine question, never heard about drop down terminal and looked it up. As I understand they are just normal terminal with a visual effect when they open. Am I missing something?
I've used a drop down terminal before and I find the position convenient. I can never lose it among other windows and it's always on top. If I want to see below, I just slide it back.
Your point is correct, it is functionally nearly identical. Since the terminal is arguably the most important or most central piece of software, I do find it convenient to always have it in the same place and to give it priority over other windows.
This is definitely a matter of opinion, I do admit
I have a bunch in my KDE:
Karousel for arranging windows
Klassy for window decorations/general theming
Panel Colorizer for customizing the panel/dock
Kvantum for general theming
And then a few general things like Wobbly Windows etc.
🤔A KDE application with a name that uses C instead of K?
I know, it really stands out on that list lol
Oh awesome. Do Klassy and Kvantum overlap? Seems like they both modify the windows.
You're not the first person to mention wobbly Windows. I definitely have to give it a try, sounds fun!
I'm not 100% sure, there might be a bit of overlap between them but I've never personally had any trouble running them side-by-side.
And yeah I love wobbly windows. I'm so used to them now that if I have to use Windows or something with non-wobbly windows it feels wrong now lol.
Oh yeah, another one I've recently discovered that looks interesting is Quickshell. I haven't used it much yet though, I made a semi-functional panel with it and that's as far as I got. But it looks like you can do a lot with it once you get the hang of it.
Quickshell looks interesting, basically building your own desktop environment. That's probably the next step after I figure out what customization I want.
Thanks for the input! Much appreciated
I’m super boring and really like vanilla gnome but without fail I always install Blur My Shell. It’s so pretty and it doesn’t mess with the paradigm at all. On my laptop I also have found Bluetooth Battery Meter to be super helpful since I use more wireless devices with it.
Wobbly windows!
I'm going to install wobbly windows as soon as I get home. So many people to keep suggesting it and it looks amazing lol
With KDE, you don't even need to install anything. Just tick the box in settings.
Found the capslock user !
In KDE my favorite is an extension to the window manager, for auto tiling: https://codeberg.org/anametologin/Krohnkite or install it from Settings > Window Management > KWin Scripts, then click "Get New" and search for "Krohnkite" by anametologin. Development is a bit slow at the moment, but it does the job well.
I like that there are different layouts available, meaning different logic how a window should be placed and sized. I can switch between layouts on the fly. Every virtual desktop can have their own layout by standard, in example my fourth desktop is always untiled like a normal desktop. Exceptions to specific windows or applications to not tile them can be added too. So the usual stuff. It comes with some features not seen in other tiling window managers. In example I can convert any window into a "Dock". A dock would then be always at the edge or screen, similar to the KDE bar; basically making the screen area to tile windows smaller. Super cool.
Edit: Rephrased a bit to make it more clear and added some more info.
I always used this but sometime in the past few months, it started ha ing a bug where I can no longer click on 90% of the title bar (vertical direction) and I have to until and retile all windows open to be able to close anything. Very annoying and I am about at the point to stop using it lol.
There was a time when it was indeed very buggy. That was around the time when it transitioned to Wayland, and also when KDE 5 changed to KDE 6. Nowadays for me it is solid (with an exception of fullscreen issue with RetroArch). Granted I don't have any title bars, so maybe I'm missing out on that bug. Looking at the Issues list, I could not find anything related to your description. So it doesn't seem to be common problem. Also a few days ago an alpha version of the next version is released, so at least we can update soon. Maybe it works better then.
Mouse Tiler is nice
Haven't had a vanilla install since KDE 5 came out, but the biggest thing I use far from the default install is Karousel
I'm a regular auto tiler, but tried a few alternatives such as Karousel to see how it works out. Its not really for me, but it worked fine and did what it should in my experience. So another recommendation if anyone wants a Niri like experience with Karousel addon. Another curious one is Mouse Tiler, which is a completely different method of manual tiling.
Spinning cube and wobbly windows is all I need (on top of 100% pure gnome).
"Indulge in nostalgia with useless 3D effects." Is all I needed to read on that page ❤️
Papirus icons, Phinger cursors,
$HOME/.config/xfce4copied from previous install.Both of those look nice. I'll try them out
KDE here.
Icons: Candy; Plasma Style Sweet; Window decs : sweet-dark; Autohide Icons-only task manager at the bottom (RIP Latte :( ), always on top panel for my secondary monitor, autohide top panel on the primary.
I actually use and like Activities, I have General, Game, Code, System, Work all with their own workflows and pinned apps etc.
I lean pretty heavily on mouse gestures using logid with a MxMaster 3. Switch activities, control music, switch apps etc.
I have the gesture button pop up Kando which can do ALL sorts of things, basically I can do 90+% of things super fast without touching the keyboard. Not that I dislike the keyboard, using it now, but sometimes I don't want to bother.
Top centre of panel has a command output widget with cat CurrentShort.txt which pulls local temp/humidity from a couple of sensors via HomeAssistant. Hover has weather scraped from Aus BoM and a bunch of other informative stuff and if I click it it runs a script with
kdialog --geometry 1024x1024 --textbox /dev/stdin <<< $(cat CurrentInfo.txt)which pops up a dialog with a weeks forecast among other things. I also use the command output widget for cpu/gpu temps and fan speeds to the left of the status bar, which is on the right.
The Wunderground widget is pretty cool too, find local weather stations and pop them in a panel.
I have this little ai stripper woman that pops up on the corner of my screen. She is like a less sexy clippy.
kde plasma
Mouse: increase pointer speed to 0.8
Sound: change volume increment to 2%
Sound: mute notification sounds
Colours:
Breeze Dark
Material Black Blueberry Icons
Oxygen Neon Cursors
KDE-Story-Blue-SDDM (login screen) with a different background
Screen Locking:
Never
Power Management:
When inactive: Do Nothing
Dim automatically: Never
Turn off screen: Never
Session:
Ask for confirmation: Deselect
On login: Start with an empty session
Panel:
Long date
Date beside time
Modify system tray settings to show what I want
Widgets:
On panel:
Thermal monitor (1 for cpu, 1 for gpu)
Memory Usage
Desktop Folder
Folder View (set to a folder where I keep docs and spreadsheets)
Wastebin
Shutdown or Switch
Love this. Thanks for the breakdown! Some of these options are things that I only set if I happen to pass them. I don't always comb through every option during a fresh install
I have distrohopped a couple of times, so the settings only take me a minute. It is possibly what drew me to kde plasma in the first place, the settings are very accessible.
Planning on going back to xfce though, since they are (I assume) much less likely to embrace ai crap.
I do love the idea that a desktop environment covers most of what you interact with. I feel like DE and package manager are like 90% of what makes me choose a distro
basically the same for me, although after a while (for me at least) the package manager gui is just mainly for updates. I rarely add new programs.
The operating system isn't meant to be the feature/focus, it is just meant to work, and stay out of the way. Choosing a de you like is the best way to start distrohopping/finding a distro.
What do you use for the thermal monitor?
This one:
https://store.kde.org/p/2100418
Thanks! I'll check that out, been needing a good temp monitor
You may experience issues with the gpu side of things, details are in the comments on the page I linked (its a recent, and hopefully temporary issue).
It's been a while since I've done a clean install, but I think the only thing I do to KDE is install Yakuake and set up 4 virtual desktops. Very handy when I'm working on my more involved projects.
Do the Desktops persist between reboots? As in each work space can become a running working space on its own or they reset and it's just organization?
It's more an organization thing.
The desktops themselves persist however I have it set to reset to empty desktops on boot. There is an option in KDE settings to automatically restore previously open applications when you boot up, but my workflow is never the same from project to project.
I'm not sure anymore which is the default behavior. I think I remember having to change the setting at some point and that's how I know it exists.
There's also activities, which are similar but can have different start menus, task bars, and themes
Probably can do more than that with them too, but I've never gotten that deep into them, unfortunately
Kde made double click default, it used to be single click.
Put it back to single click. So much better.
Adjust focus stealing to your liking.
Adjust the color and width of the shadow to make active windows obvious in a dark theme.
Wobbly windows: but set higher than default.
I miss window shade. Hopefully it gets worked out and returns.
The colour scheme. White screens are one of the things that trigger my migraines.
This in turn leads to my modifying several other visual aspects of the desktop, because a lot of widget set themes come with scrollbars that don't work well with really dark colours. I also turn animations and automagic snapping and desktop navigation facilities off, because I find them annoying. Kindly behave like it's 1999 and don't do anything I don't explicitly tell you to do, Mr. Desktop.
And then I embed a conky instance in the second desktop for general monitoring—CPU activity (composite and by thread), memory in use, disk space, network usage, temperatures, fan levels, and greediest processes all conveniently in a single view that doesn't require me figuring out what I did with the window.
If you don't use it already, be sure to check out Dark Reader. As someone who also suffers from screen induced migraines, this thing has been a game changer.
I chose a slightly different way of achieving what that extension does, and long ago set my browser not to allow websites to choose their own colours. That does partially break a few sites that don't handle their images properly, but overall it's workable and gives me white on a slightly different dark colour for each browser profile.
Interesting method, I didn't even know that was possible. Would you mind sharing how you achieved that? I would be interested in comparing the two. Dark Reader does add some overhead which is noticeable on my older machines
It's a normal browser setting left over from the early days of the Internet, when most pages did little or no theming (or did it badly). My primary browser is Pale Moon, which exposes the setting as a dropdown under Preferences > Content > General > Colors. Firefox also exposed the setting on its settings page the last time I checked, although it may be a checkbox there. It's also a boolean in about:config,
browser.display.use_document_colors.Chrome-family browsers may not have such a setting, unfortunately. The only one I keep handy is Vivaldi, which doesn't have it but does have a "Force a dark theme on all websites" checkbox (under Settings > Appearance > Website Appearance).
Totally agree on dark themes, my eyes can't take bright white screens.
The performance monitor is a nice touch, I think I'll include that. Thanks!
So, one thing that Windows 11 did that I think was half good was moving the taskbar stuff to the middle.
I hated it at first (have to use it at work, and still some at home for specific things), but then I used Start11 for a little bit to try to get rid of the shitty start menu changes and noticed an option to keep the icons in the middle but move the start button itself back to the left. And honestly... I think that's perfect. Puts the programs that are open front and center while keeping the start button in a fixed location next to a corner border so it's easy to move the mouse to it without hardly even looking.
Anyway, while I didn't keep Start11 (I never do... Like the program but it's always been buggy as hell going back at least as far as Start8 (edit: it ate the 8 in Start8, fixed), I did make my Cinnamon, and later my KDE Plasma, taskbar look like that.
Also moved the sys tray next to the start button instead of next to the clock, and with a couple other monitors on the clock side (CPU and memory usage), the taskbar on my system is pretty balanced.
Maybe not as flashy or interesting as what you're looking for, but it's a layout I've really come to like
(ETA: the centralizing of the taskbar in Windows I think was bad only because it made the one part that should be in a fixed and easy to hit location, the start button, move around based on how many programs are open... I think if they'd gone with centralized programs and left side start button, it would have been much better received overall... But, this is just my opinion so do with that what you will)
I think I agree with you about the taskbar, but I would have to try it. I think because monitors are so much bigger than they were years ago, the center makes more sense most of the time. I'm definitely going to play around with moving the components to see where I really like them
On top of @[email protected]'s bit about monitors today being bigger, multi-monitor setups are also more common. I haven't used a single monitor system as one of my main PCs (work or personal) in at least a decade. Being able to "slam" down and left to hit Start is a big part of why the corner was originally chosen, but if that's just gonna get you to some random position on the bottom of an adjacent monitor, you're back to requiring mouse precision, and the button may as well be moved more toward the center to get average travel distance down.
That's fair enough, though sticky corners are a thing, and my multi monitor layout it would still work (big ultra wide main on bottom, three smaller above)
But I think there's even value in it just staying in the same place. One big frustration I have with modern UI design is shit moving around, often trying to anticipate what you want, but I'm lost looking for it the last damned place it was. The start button moving a little left and right isn't nearly as bad, but it's along the same lines
True. I typically pin all the apps I regularly use with spacers to categorize them, so there's maybe half an icon of left/right movement maximum with the odd unpinned app at the end, but I understand that trades in clutter others may not find desirable and doesn't fit all workflows.
Setting Caps Lock as the Hyper modifier key.
Setting a keyboard layout that is comfortable for both typing programming symbols and the own language (I use UK international). Consistency is king here.
And configuring the compose key.
Otherwise, I don't customize much, I think of it as a time sink.
What do you use your compose key for? I never feel a need for it
I like using a tiling wm instead of a traditional de which is keyboard-centric and lays things out nicely instead of overlapping everything which is kindof stupid. niri and noctalia v5 is my current stack. I also have the settings defined in Nix and synced to other user accounts.
I have the CPU/RAM/Swap/Temp monitors in my bar so that I can keep tabs on the CPU/RAM/Swap/Temp on my computer and if a freeze or lag spike occurs I have a better idea of what's going on.
Catppuccin, which has a Nix module that styles my apps as well. For font I use Inter and JetBrains Mono Nerd Font set through the Stylix module
Taskbar on the left edge of the screen
E: also trackball instead of mouse.
For ages I've had my task bar on the side of my secondary monitor. When I first had to start using win 11 at work and I found out they had disabled the ability to move it I got so irrationally angry lol. It was the straw that broke the camels back and I went home and started down the linux rabbit hole fueled by sheer spite.
I ran taskbar on the right edge for ages back when I had the 32:9 super ultrawide, but since I changed to a 21:9 ultrawide I went back to bottom but have it centered instead of full width (and have it set to something like "stay out of the way" where it will hid if a window is over it, but otherwise is always visible).
I don't fiddle with my KDE much, but with every fresh install I always set the dock to auto-hide and fit-content.
in m$win/kde-style-env: two row taskbar, titles always visible (like on win2k/kde3)
also sloppy focus and autoraise for mouse. extremely useful when you use many windows.
I don't keep much in my taskbar at a time but I do remember using that back in Windows ME I think?
I totally forgot about mouse focus. I'm used to Windows for work but maybe I'll change to sloppy. I'll definitely give it a try
btw sloppy focus is also available on m$ windows. they call it x-mouse,you can enable manually thru registry or use a feature in some freeware called winaero tweaker
TIL. Thanks!
Try wobbly windows, like in Garuda Linux
Whoa! That feels like something from the early days of the internet. Is it useful for anything or just fun?
Just fun
Awesome, love it 😁
Installing the Intel One Mono font, so much easier to read
Check out Atkinson Hyperlegible Mono from the Braille Institute
That reads super well but looks a little stiff to me. I like that the Intel font has a little bit of character if you know what I mean? I'll definitely save this one tho, thank you very much!
I like to set up klipper actions to do automation on certain clipboard actions. I have them for sending certain URLs to special programs, converting credit card charge emails into a new item in a spreadsheet, doing 2 bandcamp things. I used to have some cool automation set up with starting and stopping activities, but they removed that functionality and now I have a worse one with the command output widget. I also love using window rules to customize my programs and where and how they appear.
The email to spreadsheet idea is fantastic! I have my credit card email me for every purchase so the format is uniform no matter where I buy....
Yeah it's great. I click on the email, press ctrl-a to select all, ctrl-c to copy, win-r to run action on clipboard (there's an option to do this one automatically). It then runs a script that parses that text to get the good bits and reformat it. I wrote it for Chase, not sure if it's helpful if you want it.
Sure! I use TD but I'm sure I could modify it
blur
A must!!
Focus follows mouse and unchecking the option to auto raise the active window. Couldn't live without it and being used to it has made me extremely clumsy when I do pick up my Windows work laptop.
I change the taskbar clock to be a one-line MM/DD HH:MM:SS format, drop in my customized locale (based on en-US for maximum compatibility, but without having to deal with US formats and units that I'm not fond of), and point the taskbar shortcut for my text editor to a script that creates a pre-named file and launches the editor with autosave enabled. Because having to manually save and come up with a name for your spur-of-the-moment notes sucks, automatically generating
20260831_text_1is so much better thana,b,a2, etc.XFCE specific, I get rid of the second panel full of launchers. Acquired taste, but also Chicago95 theme and icon pack.
I’ve only tried Ubuntu, Mint, and CachyOS.
Didn’t like Ubuntu much, but probably because it was my first Linux attempt and I’d probably understand better now.
Mint is cool, my laptop is running it, but the system settings being individual apps is frustrating, especially when you can’t remember the name of the one you want and there’s 2 display ones? Grrrrr
I like Cachy a lot. I haven’t used it as much as I’ve only put it on a second laptop to use as a media centre in conjunction with Plasma Big Screen, but I’m thinking of switching my laptop over to it because it feels mostly the same in desktop mode, but the system settings are unified and a lot easier to deal with.
(My desktop is still a Mac, I haven’t converted completely sorry)
Window Rules and Custom Shortcuts from KDE Plasma, just earlier today I binded Meta+Ctrl+k to start Konsole in the directory of my latest modified prototype, open a per directory script which e.g. opens a browser tab, opens Vim in the file to edit, positions those windows properly, here browser on left half, console on top right corner.
Window Rules with its window picker is very convenient to get conditions and properties to apply. Custom Shortcuts is just a list of shortcuts you can add to start anything from anywhere.
Also I added my own wiki as a KRunner Web search, so if I type Alt+Space then PIM keyword it searches directly to my PIM from the center of my screen, also from anywhere.
https://github.com/Notenlish/anifetch. Make animated videos for your terminal
I've been using the CoW compositor lately and it has a neat, but possibly accidental, feature:
You get that "virtual desktop with additional screen space" feature, as was common on older X11 setups, with a little minimap that shows the real screens within the context of the virtual space. What's unusual is that it's possible to move the individual screens on a multi-monitor rig independently, rathrr than as a group.
This is interesting, and I'm glad that it's possible. What do you actually use it for? Can you give an example of when you would move screens?
Many people here seem to like tiling, maybe I should give it a try. It always seemed restrictive to me, kind of like using a mobile OS. But I guess I can't really say without trying it myself
Capslock as control is life changing
Capslock as control when held, esc when tapped. Best change I've ever made on a laptop for using vim keybinds
I use right alt for escape
Capslock as a layer key to turn hjkl into arrow keys. Easy to setup using Kanata!
I do that with left alt. Then I can use caps as control to move around 1 word
Capslock as control and emacs keybindings in gnome
What do you use for capslock? Or do you just use shift??
If I need to type all caps I just hold shift. Having control right on your pinky is so much more useful. I never miss capslock
Mine.
My biggest customizations are all of the software I install and use to do things with the computer.