How do I theme the Nautilus background image?

Question

I want to change the background image in the Nautilus file browser. My idea is to put my own style in the background. I'm using Ubuntu 11.10 and Nautilus is version 3.

I know that I have to change the nautilus.css file of the theme, but the problem is that there is not a parameter for the background. I just want to apply an image but I can't find the file or parameter to change it.

The CSS file is in the directory /home/UserName/.theme/MyTheme/gtk-3.0/apps. I've changed the nautilus.css file. I wrote two new lines using CSS style but I don't know where the correct place is to put it. The lines are:

background-image: url("carbon.jpg");
background-repeat: repeat;

Obviously I put the image called carbon.jpg in the same directory of nautilus.css, but this change doesn't work because I need to know whichs class displays the Nautilus file browsing frame. If I find this class I guess that this code will work.

If someone knows how to do it, please tell me because I really want to make this change.

Answer 1

1. Open the file /usr/share/themes/MyTheme/gtk-3.0/apps/nautilus.css (Requires root permission).

2. Add this line:

   NautilusWindow * {background-image:url("bg.jpg");}

   where bg.jpg is the background image you want to display.

3. Run nautilus -q to kill all open file browsers.

4. Run nautilus.

This will apply background to all classes present inside NautilusWindow.You can identify the classes where you don't want to apply background and add background-image:none;
Example:

NautilusWindow .sidebar,
NautilusFloatingBar,
NautilusWindow .sidebar .view {
    background-image: none;
}

Answer 2

The part of the theme you want to alter is .view, so in nautilus.css include the following section:

NautilusWindow *.view {
  background-color: @your_predefined_color_here;
}

From my own experimentation on 12.04.1 LTS, I've found that it is possible to define your own background-color property in here with a hexadecimal RGB value, but you cannot set a background-image using -gtk-gradient.

Thus, you probably won't be able to set a background image, but you can at least change the color.

Note: if you don't want this to affect your sidebar, follow the last part of ignite's answer, but use background-color instead of background-image unless you also set that further down in your theme file.

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I got the idea to theme .view partially from this Arch Linux forums thread.

Answer 3

If you want just a solid color you open up dconf-editor, go to org > gnome > desktop > interface > gtk color scheme and type base_color:#999999 in the box next to it.