The Joy of Linux Theming in the Age of Bootable Containers

Having spent a couple of decades in the Linux world, I have always had an interest in Linux desktop environments and how they are themed. I would often come across a post on /r/unixporn that inspired me to try to customize the look and feel of my desktop environment. So I would install Xfce, LXQt or Sway and try to recreate components that I like from other users or create my own. I would end up installing different kinds of panels, plugins, docks and launchers as well as random themes, fonts and sounds. A portion of this process would be documented, initially as random shell scripts in my home directory, before graduating to Ansible playbooks – with a brief detour into Nix that I will not elaborate on. Some of the customizations would live in my home directory, but there were often system-wide modifications to /usr required. Eventually, the constant churn and randomly broken desktop components such as a panel that mysteriously vanished or a non-functional dock led me to stick with t ... Read full article.