Inspired (if that’s really the right word) by all this new Ubuntu artwork I decided to have a little go at creating a new wallpaper. As I said in my last post I like brown, it’s smooth, sexy and natural. So, after a little tinkering with an old photo of my Bonsai tree – ‘Gemmell’ – I created this.

It’s now the default wallpaper on my desktop: could it be yours?

If anyone does like it I’ll upload the (somewhat mammoth sized) gimp xcf file so anyone can play with the colours or whatever they wish.

Currently the chatter surrounding Ubuntu is obviously focused on its next upcoming release 10.04 Lucid Lynx. However, most blog posts and news articles are all talking about the new artwork rather than any technological advances. Discussion (as ever with Ubuntu users and critics alike) seems to focus almost solely on colour. Yes that’s right. I said colour. This release will bring about quite a few changes in not only the colour scheme of the default desktop, it’s wallpaper and themes but also the ubuntu website, online shop, documentation cd covers (just mockups currently) and more besides. Which is nice. But how important is it?

The key word that so many people seem to miss here is default. It’s what the desktop arrives on your computer looking like after a fresh install or while trying out the livecd. I would happily agree that first impressions do mean a lot. Having a slick polished-looking desktop is seldom a bad thing. However, it really is the easiest thing to change whether you’ve never used Ubuntu or Linux before or you are a hoary old hedgehog like me.

What gets my goat is the extent to which the debate surrounding this tiny aspect of the OS takes such focus. The default theme released with Ubuntu has become more polished with each release but it never looked bad. As much as so many bemoan the brown, it made Ubuntu as successful as it has been. No other popular distro used quite such a distinctive and memorable scheme – most default to blues or greens and look entirely unexceptional. The proposed new colours, aubergine being amongst them (fantastic colour, shame about the taste) will hopefully still remain fairly unique to Ubuntu but time will tell.

If I were to point you in the direction of omgubuntu.co.uk and their recent post about the new wallpaper (thanks for the link mesanna!) you need only scroll down the page a few hundred lines to see all the same old arguements coming out about OS aesthetics (obviously being linked to anything even remotely OSX related as often as possible – grr macs..) Why is it impossible to create a nice looking system without being accused of stealing elements of its design from commercial alternatives? Sometimes there genuinely are only a few ways of accomplishing a particular UI successfully and once the best way has been tried and tested enough it is adopted. This is not theft. This is common sense.

Anyway.. what I’m slowly getting round to saying is that yes, re-style your site’s look, give the documentation a face-lift even create more themes and wallpapers. But don’t expect to be able to create a set of themes and wallpapers that will capture the hearts and minds of everyone. It can’t be done.

In my opinion, rather than spending all this time on the look of the thing just make is as obvious as is humanly possible that you can change how everything looks. Perhaps a notification bubble at boot with the words “You can change how I look! Click here to choose a style and find out more”. Shouldn’t be hard right? I’m thinking of adding a filter in firefox for the words “ubuntu + brown + ugly” I’m that tired of reading about this. Proof can be found again by looking at the post linked above and skimming through the comments. I will leave you with one comment which made me laugh, not because it’s right or bold or clever but because it is so fantastically idiotic.

are you serious? What the hell is wrong with ubuntu. I mean, I had a little sympathy for the whole brown thing, but honestly, you should have known everyone hates brown. Ask any girl with brown eyes and they go “eww! they look like poop!”

So, to further expand on your theory, do girls with blue eyes hate Fedora? Green eyes can’t stand openSUSE? Is this something limited only to the female of the species? Thank you Zach for sharing and bringing a smile back to my face!

But I think I’m just grumbling. So many people criticize ubuntu for the fact it’s brown and orange.. but so what. The easiest thing to do on a Linux computer (for me personally, in Gnome) is change the theme and general appearance of your desktop.

Everything can be customized. Don’t like the brown? Fine, it takes seconds to change it. If, like me, you prefer a simple, sensible desktop and just want to make the odd few changes here and there – you can.

But sorry I’ll stop now. Rant over. I guess that’s why the forum phenomenon “flame-wars” are called as such, the battles are often over but the war carries on..

More wallpapers can only really do good for Ubuntu and the huge community that enjoys and supports it, maybe I’ll do a couple of my own..

I think I’ve succeeded with this background! Once I’ve finished making all the files I will put these up for download in a variety of different resolutions to suit all desktops.

I made them using the GNU Image Manipulation Program, making specific use of the motion blur filter and the erasing colours to transparency with a gradient.

And a purple one for you mesanna – hope it’s the right purple!

Edit: these files can now be found in the artwork section here.

If you like the background, expect to see more of it when release it as a wallpaper. I’ll be doing some colour variations and possibly some Linux badges may find there way on somewhere.

My big question now though, is do I make the main content black to match the rest of the page or leave it as white to stand out and ensure it’s easily readable?

Love to hear your comments.

Click to download full size.

Just a little example of what can be easily achieved using only free software – not bad for an hour or so’s work!

Click it to download the full size image if you like, it makes quite a nice desktop wallpaper. It’s in png format… not sure if you can use png’s in windows but most other OS should be fine. I know Linux is, but I’m biast!