Tweaking Cinnamon
See how easy it is to make your mark on Linux Mint’s flagship desktop environment and beyond!
If you haven’t had a nosey around Cinnamon’s many settings, you might be pleasantly surprised at how configurable it is. When Mint 20 was released much ado was made about the Mint-Y theme now having fifty shades of colour variations (okay, it was 32), but we haven’t found our favourite hue yet. Check out the palette by opening up the main menu and going to Preferences then Themes.
Dark themes are so common even Windows has them (but not Google Docs– Ed) now, but Mint has a corresponding dark theme for each variation. You can download whole new themes from the web too; just don’t expect them to all be in line with your design preferences. Hidden away in the Settings section of the Themes dialog are some oft-overlooked options for scrollbars, including the option to disable overlays.
To customise the main panel, go to Preferences and then select Applets. Now you can add all kinds of shortcuts and widgets. For example, select the Expo applet and click the + at the bottom to add a shortcut (via a smooth animation) to an expo-style overview of your workspaces. For even more efficient workspace shifting (at the cost of some panel estate) add the Workspace Switcher applet. If you want to disable Expo, or any other applet, just click the – button. Like themes, third-party applets can be downloaded by visiting the appropriate tab. Downloaded themes come with no guarantees, so they come with an uninstall option in case they annoy you.