When it comes to customization, most people don’t do any technical customization (custom kernels, etc.). What most Linux users do is aesthetic customization, making their window managers and desktops look good. Enter Openbox. It is perhaps one of the most customizable “stacking” window managers out there right now. And let me tell you, there are a lot of ways you can mess with this desktop manager. The most notable thing, however, is its theming. There’s a lot of Openbox themes available to install on box-look.org. Since there are just so many, we’ve decided to make a list covering some of the 5 best themes. Note: the instructions for how to install these themes are located on the page in which you download it from.
1. 1977 Openbox
It seems that there is an over-abundance of dark themes when it comes to Openbox. That’s why I really love 1977 Openbox. It’s not just a simple dark theme. It’s more than that. This theme is one with nine colors to choose from. When you download it there are nine different colors to choose from (even black if you just can’t get enough of dark themes). If colorful is your thing, you might want to give this one a serious look.
2. Mistral
Interested in a grey-blue kind of theme for your Openbox setup? Mistral just might have you covered! I like this theme a lot as it makes the window manager bar a bit thicker, which most themes really don’t do. The color choice is also neat too.
3. Windows 8 Phone Colors
Though I’m not a huge fan of Microsoft when it comes to their operating system, I have to admit, the design is really slick. I’m a sucker for flat themes. The Windows 8 Phone Colors theme is just that. Flat, beautiful and heavily inspired by the modern Windows style.
4. Nightmare
Dark themes. They’re really popular. In fact, while making this list, the majority of the themes I saw were simple dark themes. I’ve got nothing against dark themes, but I will say that a majority of them are not very interesting looking. The Nightmare theme, however, looks awesome. It’s just the right shade of black in my opinion. Nightmare really complements the white and red colors that are present in the theme. Overall it just works really well for a dark theme.
5. Pixelstyle
Ah, Pixelstyle. It’s a really interesting take on window manager theming. It comes in two colors: light grey and white. Though it might not be the most colorful (or dark) looking thing, I really think it’s a nice looking theme if what you are looking for is something different.
Conclusion
Openbox is one of my favorite things to mess around with. When it comes to window managers, I usually settle with this one. Why? Mostly because you can do just about anything with it. I’m not alone with my love of Openbox. People love this manager! And why wouldn’t they? Using it gives you many more configuration options and themes out there than most other stacking window managers available. Do you know of some cool Openbox themes that weren’t mentioned in the list? Tell us about them in the comment section below!
