KDE Plasma is a customizable desktop that offers a wide range of options for personalization, allowing you to modify nearly every aspect of your desktop experience. You can even transform it into a tiling window manager, a special type of desktop layout. However, the many choices available can be confusing for beginners. To simplify things, let's go over the important points of customizing KDE Plasma:
System Settings: KDE Plasma has a dedicated area called "System Settings" where you can make various changes to your computer. You can alter its appearance, adjust window behavior, and more.
Desktop Layout: With KDE Plasma, you can organize your desktop in a unique way. You can add panels and widgets to create a personalized setup. You can also have multiple virtual desktops for better organization.
Desktop Themes: KDE Plasma allows you to change the visual style of your desktop by applying different themes. This includes modifying icons, colors, wallpapers, and other elements to give it a cool look.
Widgets: Widgets are special elements that you can add to your desktop or panels. They offer useful information like the time, weather, and more. You can customize their placement and appearance, and you can also download the more Widgets from kde Store.
Window Management: KDE Plasma provides control over how windows behave on your computer. You can dicide how windows snap together, resize, and where they are placed on the screen. Virtual desktops enable you to have separate workspaces for different tasks.
Visual Effects: KDE Plasma offers special effects that enhance the appearance of windows. Shortcuts and Gestures: You can create custom shortcuts and gestures to perform tasks quickly. For instance, you can set a special key combination to open your favorite program. Understanding these key points will help beginners navigate the customization options in KDE Plasma more easily. Remember to experiment and have fun exploring the various choices to find what suits you best!
In this guide I will use kde Theme called "Orchis Dark theme" and "Orchis Kvantum theme" lets downlaod the both files:
Orchis kde theme : https://store.kde.org/p/1458927/
Orchis Kvantum : https://store.kde.org/p/1458909/
Wallpaper
Once you have downloaded the files, extract both of them. After extracting, open your App Store and search for "Kvantum Manager." Install that software, or you can download it from https://github.com/tsujan/Kvantum/tree/master/Kvantum
Now, open Kvantum Manager and click on "Select a Kvantum theme folder." Browse your extracted Kvantum theme folder and click "Okay." Then, click on "Install this theme." After that, click on the second option, "Change/Delete Theme," and select your Orchis theme. Click on the "Use this theme" button and quit Kvantum Manager.
To install your "Orchis KDE theme," copy or move your extracted theme folder to /home/.themes (You can show hidden folders by pressing Ctrl+H on your keyboard). If the ".themes" folder is not already there, you can create it.
For applying theme Open system Settings > Appearance > Global Theme
tap on Orchis theme and apply
to Apply your kvantum theme Navigate to Settings > Appearance > Global Theme > Application Style and choose your kvantum theme and apply it
Inside the Global Theme settings, you'll find several options to explore and customize, such as Plasma Style, Colors, Window Decoration, Fonts, Icons, Cursors, Boot Splash, and more. Feel free to play around with these options and see what suits your preferences. Remember, you can always revert to the default theme by clicking the "Default" button if something goes wrong or if you don't like the newly applied theme
Kde Plasma customization is beyond simply applying themes. There are numerous additional features and settings to explore, allowing for a comprehensive customization experience. Let's delve into a few of these options to personalize your KDE Plasma desktop further
Navigate to System Settings > Workspace Behavior > Desktop Effects and enable
- Blur (For adding blur effect)
- Wobbly Windows (For better animation when moving windows)
- Magic Lamp (For MacOS like Minimizing and Maximizing animation)
to Customize your Desktop (Home screen in other words) you can install Latte Dock and add some widgets to your desktop for enhancing the beauty
To learn more, please watch the video below.
Some more related topics :
- How to Customize Linux Mint | Customizing Cinnamon Desktop (Video)
- How to Customise GNOME Desktop (Video)
- How to Remove Scrollbar in Google Chrome (Video)