9 Cool KDE Plasma Themes
The best thing about Linux is the customization. Users can take their setup, change it and make it look however they want. It is because of this, many developers have taken it upon themselves to write great desktop themes. As there are many Plasma themes out there, it takes a bit of time to suss out the good ones. As a result, users often find themselves sorting through tons of terrible themes in an effort to find one good one. That’s why in this article, we’ll go over some of the best KDE Plasma themes out there.
1. OxyLight 5
With KDE Plasma 5, the Oxygen theme has been dropped in favor of the “Breeze” theme. Breeze is modern, and a lot of users like it as it makes the Plasma desktop look a heck of a lot more sleek and modern. Still, not everyone is happy with these new changes. Introducing the OxyLight Plasma theme. It replicates the old dark Oxygen theme, but with a Plasma 5 flair. Get the OxyLight theme for your desktop here.
2. Numix
If you’re looking for a flat, dark, sleek theme for your KDE Plasma setup, look no further than the Numix project. They’ve got a history of creating high quality Linux themes for numerous desktops.
The Numix plasma desktop theme isn’t just a plain old skin either. Instead, it’s a complete package filled with everything the Numix project is working on, specifically created for the KDE Plasma desktop environment. This means a sweet icon theme, a killer KWin window manager theme, and a great looking desktop theme that will keep your KDE looking fresh. Get it here, at the KDE store.
3. Klone10
Klone10 is an attempt to fix the “drabness” of the Plasma 5 breeze theme, and replace it with a sleek, Windows 10 inspired theme. The theme itself is a continuation of a discontinued project with a similar name: K10ne.
4. Rice
If you’ve looked long and hard for a grey/black theme for the Plasma desktop only to be disappointed, you may want to listen up. Introducing the Rice theme, it’s a pleasing, dark theme built upon Arc. Unlike other black themes, the blacks don’t look silly, and the fonts all go together very, very well. As a result, this theme is very easy on the eyes.
5. Jomada Style
On KDE Plasma, the Breeze theme is a white theme with a blue tinge to it. It’s a decent theme to use as the default, but many users think that it is too bright and washed out. If you agree that Breeze could use a little tweak, do yourself a favor and check out Jomada Style.
Like the default Breeze theme, it’s a light color. However, unlike Breeze, the panel is a grey, so that everything is a lot easier on the eyes. No more washed out white panels here!
6. Maia Transparent
Many view the KDE Plasma desktop as the king of transparent themes. This is because the KDE engine renders transparencies quite well. It manages to make it look really eye-catching. This is in contrast to other desktop environments, where it just looks a bit unnatural and weird. That’s why transparent themes are abundant in Plasma-world.
As far as see-through themes go, Maia Transparent is one of the best. For starters, it isn’t “semi-transparent”. It doesn’t go halfway. Instead, it’s fully transparent, meaning that users will be able to see through literally everything it covers. If you’re trying to find a good fully transparent theme for the Plasma desktop, look no further than Maia Transparent.
7. Arc KDE
One of the most popular desktop themes on every desktop environment at the moment is Arc. This is because the Arc theme manages to keep it simple, while managing to look modern, and well designed. For the longest time, Arc has just been a GTK theme. Meaning if you used XFCE, LXDE, MATE, Unity or Gnome Shell you’d be able to try it out, but those on Qt based desktops like KDE were out of luck.
That all changes now with Arc KDE. Theme makers have managed to entirely KDE-ify the Arc theme so that Plasma fans can get their hands on this awesome theme too!
8. KArc Transparent
One of the major things that people love about the Arc theme on other desktop environments like Gnome and etc is the transparent feature to Arc. Luckily, there is yet another themer who took it upon themselves to port over this beloved GTK-based theme, except this time they’ve managed to add transparency to it too!
If you love the Arc theme on other desktops, but Arc KDE doesn’t do it for you, this is a good alternative, especially for those that want that see-through element.
9. Unity Ambiance
Perhaps one of the most well-known themes on Linux is the default Ubuntu theme. It’s a classic orange and blackish-grey that works well. Unfortunately, that classic Ubuntu theme is something only GTK users get to experience. That is, until now! Introducing Unity Ambiance! It’s a theme that allows Plasma users to transform their KDE setup so that it looks like the infamous Ubuntu Ambiance theme!
Conclusion
If you’ve had trouble finding good KDE Plasma themes, look no further than this list. We’ve waded through the bad ones to bring you 9 great themes you can install, to make your KDE Plasma experience better!
Not happy with the themes on this list? Be sure to look through the KDE store for other themes! There are plenty of ones out there!
What we need to see to decide whether theme is usable is how application windows look. So, sorry, but none off the pictures presented here help me decide anything.
Consider clicking on the links and looking further into them, as they all lead directly to the developers.