How to install the Nordic GTK theme on Linux

Nordic is an interesting dark GTK theme for Linux. The color scheme for Nordic is very blue/dark gray, with a light green accent. Perfect for those looking for a nice, stylish dark GTK theme for the desktop. In this guide, we’ll go over how to install it.

Install Git on Linux

The Nordic GTK theme is available on GitHub, and the code is open and viewable. To get this theme set up and working, you must first install the Git package on your Linux PC. To do that, open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Then, when the terminal is open, follow the command line instructions below.

Ubuntu

sudo apt install git

Debian

sudo apt-get install git

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S git

Fedora

sudo dnf install git

OpenSUSE

sudo zypper install git

Generic Linux

If you need to install the Git application on a lesser-known Linux operating system, head over to Pkgs.org to get your copy of the program. Alternatively, download the source code here to get it working.

Download Nordic GTK theme

To download the Nordic GTK theme on your Linux PC, open up a terminal window with Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Then, use the git clone command down below.

git clone https://github.com/EliverLara/Nordic.git

After running the git clone command, a folder with the name “Nordic” in your home directory (~). To confirm that all of the files for this theme is in the “Nordic” directory, run the following ls command in terminal.

ls Nordic

Assuming all of the files are in the “Nordic” directory, move on to the installation instructions in the next section. Otherwise, delete the folder and re-run the git clone command to get the theme.

Install Nordic GTK theme

On Linux, GTK themes can be installed in multiple ways. The first way is “single-user,” which means that only the current user has access to the theme in their home directory. The second method of installation is “system-wide,” which gives every single user on the system the ability to use the theme. In this guide, we will demonstrate both ways of installing Nordic.

Single-user

To install the Nordic GTK theme on your Linux PC, you must start by creating a new folder with the name of “.themes” in your home directory (~). To create this new folder, use the mkdir command.

mkdir -p ~/.themes

Verify that the new “.themes” folder is in the home directory by running the ls -a command in a terminal window.

ls -a

Once you’ve verified that the folder is in the home directory on your system, use the mv command to place the “Nordic” theme files into the “.themes” folder.

mv ~/Nordic ~/.themes/

Once the installation is complete, you can verify that the Nordic theme has indeed been installed by running the ls command on the “.themes” directory.

ls ~/.themes | grep Nordic

Assuming the installation process of Nordic in the “.themes” folder is a success, the command above will display “Nordic” in the results, and confirm that it is indeed installed. If nothing comes up, please repeat the installation process, as an error may have occurred.

System-wide

Installing the Nordic GTK theme system-wide means directly interacting with the “themes” folder in your Linux PC’s system directory. It is not possible to access this folder without high-level, root access. So, before we get started, use the sudo -s command to change the terminal over to Root.

sudo -s

After elevating your terminal window to Root access, it is time to install the Nordic GTK theme to your Linux PC. Using the mv command, place the “Nordic” directory into “/usr/share/themes/”.

mv Nordic/ /usr/share/themes/

Once the Nordic directory is placed into the “themes” folder, you can verify it by using the ls command combined with the grep pipe.

ls /usr/share/themes/ | grep Nordic

Assuming the files are correctly installed, the command above will output “Nordic” and show that it is correctly installed. If it is not, you may need to re-do the installation, as something has gone wrong.

Enable Nordic GTK theme on Linux

Now that the Nordic GTK theme is installed on your Linux PC, it is time to enable it as the default look for the desktop. To do this, open up the “Settings” application and make your way to the “Appearance” section. From there, apply “Nordic” as your default GTK theme.

Having issues setting the Nordic GTK theme as the default desktop environment on your Linux PC? We can help! Look through this list below, choose the Linux desktop you use, and follow along to learn how to change GTK themes on Linux!