GNOME Clearlooks

GNOME Clearlooks / 2005–2011 / Style / Platform Screen Languages

GNOME 2.12's standard theme made GTK applications friendly and simple through pale-gray windows, blue selection, restrained gloss and firm boundaries.

GNOME Clearlooks — Clearlooks 2.20, Nautilus and gedit interface — screenshot: KiddoKiddo (historical software example) — Wikimedia Commons / CC0
Clearlooks 2.20, Nautilus and gedit interface — screenshot: KiddoKiddo (historical software example) — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 · CC0
GNOME Clearlooks — AI-generated interpretation 1
AI-generated interpretation, not a reference work
GNOME Clearlooks — AI-generated interpretation 2
AI-generated interpretation, not a reference work

At a glance

Visual cues

  • Pale-gray surfaces with blue selection bars
  • A quiet highlight only along button tops
  • Tabs and fields with restrained rounding
  • Small GNOME icons and a concise two-level hierarchy

Best used for

  • Aligning document, file and settings applications into one calm GTK environment
  • Recreating a 2000s Linux desktop without loud brand color

Use this style

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Dictionary entry

Type
Use a small system sans and create hierarchy through label weight rather than added decoration.
Composition
Stack menu, toolbar, work area and status bar shallowly, without ornamental regions.
Material
Use one blue selection color over pale gray, a slight top highlight and one fine dark outer edge.
Caution
Old GTK widgets alone are not Clearlooks. State and hierarchy must be unified as a simple, friendly default surface.
Further study
GNOME 2.12 Clearlooks / GTK 2 theme engines / GNOME Human Interface Guidelines

Related entries

More from Platform Screen Languages

Continue through styles in the same Platform Screen Languages family, prioritised by shared effects.

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Cite this entry

The dictionary is meant to be linked to. Take whichever form fits where you are writing.

Link
https://indexstyle.org/styles/gnome-clearlooks
Markdown
[GNOME Clearlooks — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/gnome-clearlooks)
HTML
<a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/gnome-clearlooks">GNOME Clearlooks — IndexStyle</a>

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