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Is it that time of the release cycle so soon?!
Your First Look at Ubuntu 22.04’s Default Wallpaper
The new default wallpaper that will ship in the upcoming Ubuntu 22.04 LTS release has
been revealed.
An updated background image is rolling out to users of the the daily builds as a software
update, but you don’t need to be running it to take a look — you can see it in this
post.
Per tradition, each new release of Ubuntu comes with a custom designed desktop background
that features the codename mascot, in this case that’s a Jellyfish, in the middle.
And that’s exactly what’s on offer:
Two variants of the jubilantly juxtaposed jellyfish are included: the full-colour version
(which you can see above, which serves as the default wallpaper) and an optional greyscale
version.
Now, I care about wallpapers a bit—understatement—more than the average person does.
For this reason what I’m about to type may sound a little over-attentive.
But, I can’t help noticing that there is something different about the Jammy Jellyfish
wallpaper: the entire right-hand side.
Ubuntu uses a purple/orange gradient as the wallpaper’s base, and has done for as long
as I can remember.
But until now that base has been overlaid with a flat two-dimensional geometrical “wash”.
Lots of bisecting lines, lot of opacity, lots of angles:
But Jammy’s wallpaper?
Well it only seems to follow this traditional brief on the left hand side of the image (albeit
a bit more angular then usual).
The right hand side of the Jammy wallpaper is stylistically different to what we usually
get: it’s 3D, more structural, more tangible.
I think this a conscious introduction on the part of Ubuntu’s design team.
It’s a way of marking a segue/transition between the (now) old Ubuntu style, and a
new one, burgeoning.
By now you’ll have seen the new Ubuntu logo.
Ubuntu is updating its visual style.
It might be that “origami” and “2D geometric” patterns are no longer in vogue at Canonical
HQ.
Ubuntu 22.04 Wallpaper Contest Winners Wallpaper-related changes don’t end there.
Three more backgrounds have also been added to the Jammy Jellyfish, each one drafted in
from the recent Ubuntu wallpaper contest.
The images are quite ‘dark’ overall and include another illustration of a jellyfish,
and some colourful lit optical fibres.
:: More ::
New personalisation feature arrives in Jammy Jellyfish
Ubuntu 22.04 Lets You Pick A Custom Accent Colour
Ubuntu 22.04 just bagged a major new feature: UI accent colours.
This personalisation staple is found in many other desktop environments and operating systems
out there, including macOS and Windows 11.
But a similar feature had, until now, not been offered in Ubuntu.
However, thanks to a spurt of last minute activity Ubuntu developers managed to land
all of the pieces required to get the feature working in Ubuntu 22.04 (ahead of that all-important
user-interface freeze deadline, the point past which no major UI changes should be made
to Ubuntu without a very good reason).
Those who make the upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 this April can pop open the (newly expanded)
Appearance settings panel to pick a UI colour that suits their mood/complements their system.
Ubuntu offers 10 shades to choose from, including the default (and iconic) ‘orange’.
The final line-up of shades could change between now and the final release.
The ones included at present are derived from the Yaru colour palette.
Changing the accent colour affects more than just the Yaru GTK theme too.
The accent colour preference affects parts of the Yaru icon set, and is respected within
the Yaru GNOME Shell theme.
Other UI Changes There are a couple of other interesting UI
changes arriving alongside this e (rather more newsworthy) one.
For instance, the desktop icons context menu is styled to look more in-vogue with other
right click menus:
The new Ubuntu logo is also now used in the boot splash, login scree, and the About section
in the system settings:
You’ll also notice that context/quicklist menus for pinned dock items sport a newer,
rounded look too.
They drop the “triangle callout” on the left pointing to the app they belong to (which
were dropped from the upstream GNOME Shell theme in GNOME 42).
:: More ::
Consistency for you, and you, and you, and you!
In Ubuntu 22.04 Light Means Light — Everywhere
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS uses a light GNOME Shell theme by default.
Both Ubuntu 21.10 and Ubuntu 21.04 use a dark shell theme by default, irrespective of whether
the light or dark theme setting is applied in System Settings > Appearance.
While it feels like Ubuntu flip-flops on this issue a bit frequently there are two compelling
reasons why reverting back to the light Yaru GNOME Shell theme default makes sense.
Firstly, Ubuntu 22.04 is an LTS release.
The majority of people who use it will upgrade from Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
And y’know what colour GNOME Shell that uses by default?
Yup, a light one.
So making it light again is, in this respect, consistent for LTS upgraders.
Secondly, it just makes more sense.
To explain, Ubuntu lets you pick between a light mode and dark mode via the Appearance
panel of system settings.
Some users expect that picking “light” will make everything light, including the
GNOME Shell theme.
But that’s not what happens:
In Ubuntu 22.04 LTS picking the light theme — though the light theme is the default,
so technically you don’t need to set it — makes the GNOME Shell light.
Selecting the dark theme makes the GNOME Shell UI dark as well as GTK apps.
Logical, isn’t it?
If (like me) you want a mix of dark GNOME Shell theme with light app window theme — this
is the mix other GNOME-based distros like Fedora use — then you can effect it yourself.
First install the User Themes GNOME extension, then GNOME Tweaks tool, then change the Shell
theme in GNOME Tweaks > Appearance to Yaru Dark.
Thanks for watching,
I hope you enjoyed this video,
If you did hit that thumbs up button, it helps me to make good content for you, other then
that, I will see you in tomorrow's video, peace out.