[HOW TO] Make desktop icons text background transparent in Xubuntu

In this article we'll disable the desktop icons text background, making it fully transparent.

The image on the right show the icons with transparent text background

Install

Open a terminal window and run:

wget http://goo.gl/02IGS -O - >> ~/.gtkrc-2.0

This command will create a .gtkrc-2.0 file in your home directory (or append the new content to a existing one), and add the following content it:

style "xfdesktop-icon-view" {
XfdesktopIconView::label-alpha = 0

fg[NORMAL] = "#ffffff"
fg[SELECTED] = "#ffffff"
fg[ACTIVE] = "#ffffff"
}

widget_class "*XfdesktopIconView*" style "xfdesktop-icon-view"

If you wish to also change the text color just edit the file replacing ffffff with the desired color's code (tip: you can use Gcolor2 to help you determine the color code).

For changes take effect either log out and log in or run the command: killall xfdesktop, and wait for xfdesktop restart.

References

Pimp your Xubuntu to magnificence in 5 minutes!

Comments

  1. PoltiserSeptember 16, 2012 at 1:08 PM

    Great ideas! I am a enthusiastic user of Ubuntu for years. Now I use Xubuntu 12.10 AMD64. It works fine. Your ideas work well and show a lot of understanding of system etc. Maybe it would not be as complicated for you as it is for me to find out how to make both alt keys on the computer elevating keys to the 3rd level... not only right one as normally it is? In KDE and Gnome one can just choose the option how to change a key allocation in special keyboard layout options, not in XFCE, not even in LXDE. I use 3 languages all the time and this kind of keyboard layout adjusting program is very important in every day work... what can I do?
    Thank you for your time...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wilson SantosSeptember 16, 2012 at 9:53 PM

      You could add the "Keyboard layout" plugin to Xfce's panel. Edit the plugin properties choosing a "layout option" and a "compose key position", then use that combination to quickly change between keyboard layouts.

      I hope this helps.

      Delete
  2. PoltiserSeptember 19, 2012 at 3:49 PM

    Thank you for advice. I just want to use both hands in typing without stopping Polish letters (ąęćśżźół)... I soved problem creating launcher for XFCE desktop with command: "setxkbmap -option lv3:alt_switch", which does the job for one session ;-)
    Thank you for your time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. VictorOctober 7, 2012 at 7:12 AM

    Thanks for the tip on transparency ! My desktop looks a lot better now !

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousOctober 10, 2012 at 2:49 PM

    Why this is not default?

    ReplyDelete
  5. franuteNovember 17, 2012 at 4:58 PM

    I've become a great fan of XFCE and xubuntu, and I'd like to share with you a small tweak to improve font readability with light backgrounds.
    My .gtkrc-2.0 file looks like this:

    style "xfdesktop-icon-view" {
    XfdesktopIconView::label-alpha = 0

    XfdesktopIconView::shadow-x-offset = 1
    XfdesktopIconView::shadow-y-offset = 1
    XfdesktopIconView::shadow-color = "#000000"
    XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-x-offset = 0
    XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-y-offset = 0
    XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-color = "#ffffff"

    fg[NORMAL] = "#ffffff"
    fg[SELECTED] = "#ffffff"
    fg[ACTIVE] = "#ffffff"
    }

    widget_class "*XfdesktopIconView*" style "xfdesktop-icon-view"


    This brings a small shadow behind the text when icons are not selected and makes it disappear when they are.

    Great blog, keep the good work ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJuly 5, 2013 at 6:23 AM

    Is there any way to change this also in ubuntu 12.04 ? Thanks for help!

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousApril 18, 2014 at 6:30 PM

    It's not working for me... it says :

    HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 502 Bad Gateway
    2014-04-18 14:27:01 ERROR 502: Bad Gateway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wilson SantosApril 19, 2014 at 8:44 PM

      Please confirm that you typed the address correctly or just copy & paste it.

      Delete

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