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Nordic is an interesting dark GTK theme for Linux. The color scheme for the Nordics is very blue/dark grey, with a light green accent. Perfect for those looking for a nice and elegant dark GTK theme for the desktop. In this guide, we will go over how to install it.
Install Git on Linux
The Nordic GTK theme is available on GitHub and the source is open and visible. In order for this theme to get set up and working, you must first install the Git package on your Linux PC. To do that, open 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
ArchLinux
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 to get your copy of the program. Alternatively, download the source code to get it working.
Download Nordic GTK Theme
To download the Nordic GTK theme on your Linux PC, open a terminal window with Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Then use the git clone command below.
git clone https://github.com/EliverLara/Nordic.git
After running the git clone command, a folder named “Nordic” in your home directory (~). To confirm that all the files for this theme are in the “Nordic” directory, run the following ls command in terminal.
ls nordic
Assuming all the files are in the “Nordic” directory, continue with the installation instructions in the next section. If not, delete the folder and run the git clone command again to get the theme.
Install Nordic GTK theme
On Linux, GTK themes can be installed in a number of 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 system user the ability to use the theme. In this guide, we will demonstrate both ways to install Nordic.
single user
To install the Nordic GTK theme on your Linux PC, you need to start by creating a new folder named “.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 your home directory by running the ls -a command in a terminal window.
ls -a
Once you’ve verified that the folder is in your system’s home directory, use the mv command to place the “Nordic” theme files in the “.themes” folder.
mv ~/Nordic ~/.themes/
Once the installation is complete, you can verify that the Nordic theme has been installed by running the ls command in the “.themes” directory.
ls ~/.themes | grep nordic
Assuming that the Nordic installation process in the “.themes” folder is successful, the above command will display “Nordic” in the results and confirm that it is indeed installed. If nothing appears, repeat the installation process, as an error may have occurred.
whole system
Installing the Nordic GTK theme system-wide means interacting directly with the “themes” folder in the system directory of your Linux PC. It is not possible to access this folder without high level root access. So before you start, use the sudo -s command to switch the terminal to root.
sudo -s
After raising your terminal window to root access, it’s time to install the Nordic GTK theme on your Linux PC. Using the mv command, place the “Nordic” directory in “/usr/share/themes/”.
mv Nordic/ /usr/share/themes/
Once the nordic directory is placed in the “themes” folder, you can check it using the ls command combined with the grep pipe.
ls /usr/share/themes/ | grep nordic
Assuming the files are installed correctly, the above command will output “Nordic” and show that it is installed correctly. If not, you may need to re-install as something went wrong.
Enabling the Nordic GTK theme on Linux
Now that the Nordic GTK theme is installed on your Linux PC, it’s time to enable it as the default skin for the desktop. To do this, open the “Settings” app and head over to the “Appearance” section. From there, apply “Nordic” as your default GTK theme.
Having trouble setting the Nordic GTK theme as the default desktop environment on your Linux PC? We can help! Take a look at this list below, choose the Linux desktop you use, and follow along to learn how to change GTK themes on Linux.
