How do I change the "Selected Items" color?

Question

I was trying to change the selected items color from the default orange to something else, however, the option isn't there, as it used to be in the Appearance properties in previous versions of ubuntu. Any idea where it could be in the beta?

Answer 1

Replace the orange color in Ubuntu 11.10 (active color)

Install dconf-editor

sudo apt-get install dconf-tools

Start the program press Alt+F2 and then write dconf-editor and enter.

Path: org => gnome => desktop => interface
Find the line “gtk-color-scheme” and add this string:

bg_color:#f0f1f2;selected_bg_color:#023C88

Here it is then simply choose the color you want yourself, I have adark blue color, then just replace the last color in the string (#023C88) to change the highlight color to what you want.

More info here:
http://antecblue.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/replace-the-orange-color-in-ubuntu-11-10-active-color/

Answer 2

Right now, there is no way to change theme colors from the GUI as in previous versions. However, if you are desperate, you can change the color values in the following files to your desired color:

/usr/share/themes/Ambiance/gtk-3.0/gtk.css
/usr/share/themes/Ambiance/gtk-3.0/settings.ini
/usr/share/themes/Ambiance/gtk-2.0/gtkrc

Thanks goes to kolinab for this.

Answer 3

There is a GUI to do this, available here. For versions before 13.10, you would need to add this PPA, but since 13.10, you can just install it from the main repos with:

sudo apt-get install gtk-theme-config

Once installed and set it can do a great job - though buttons, and other highlights based on images will likely persist in their original colour.

After making changes (make sure you turn the switches to ON), you need to logout/login to see most of the effect - here is an example with incredibly bad colour choice: