How can I get transparent window borders / titlebars in GNOME Shell?

There are plenty of GNOME Shell themes with transparent panels, and I might want a transparent window border / titlebar theme to go with it. The closest thing I can think of is Emerald, but that only works with Compiz AFAIK and GNOME Shell only works with Mutter.

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3 Answers

Since the release of Ubuntu 12.10, gconf-editor has been officially replaced by dconf-editor. So the answer by Ringtail will not work.

To enable Window Titlebar transparency in Ubuntu 12 onwards:

1. Open a Terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T)

2. Copy and Paste the following line:

   sudo apt-get install dconf-tools

3. Press Enter and install the package.
4. Once installed, run dconf-editor in the terminal.
5. Navigate to org/compiz/gwd

6. Now change the values of the following to anything between 0 and 1:

   metacity-theme-active-opacity
   metacity-theme-inactive-opacity

7. Now you've changed the transparency of the Window Titlebars.

I couldn't get the other methods to work in Ubuntu 19.04 so I resorted to editing the gtk.css file:

nano ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css

Here is the code I used:

/* add a 3-pixel border around windows */
decoration { border: 5px solid rgba(10, 10, 10, .3); background:rgba(10, 10, 10, .3);
}
/* customize the titlebar for active window */
.titlebar { background: rgba(10, 10, 10, .3); border-top:solid 1px rgba(10, 10, 10, .3); color:white;
}
/* customize the titlebar for background windows */
.titlebar:backdrop { background: rgba(10, 10, 10, .5); color:white;
} 

Once the file is saved, run this command to apply your changes:

setsid gnome-shell --replace

See below for the final result.

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You can change the window border transparency using the gconf-editor. You can change the window transparency for all the window borders or for active window borders. To change the window borders transperancy you need to have the gconf-editor installed.

To install the gconf-editor open a terminal window (press Ctrl+Alt+T) and copy+paste the following line:

sudo apt-get install gconf-editor

To start the gconf-editor press Alt+F2 and type: gconf-editor.

When the configuration editor is open click on apps -> gwd and change the value of the metacity_theme_active_opacity and the metacity_theme_opacity to a value lower then 1.0. To change a value all you have to do is double click on the name and change the value in the edit key window.

metacity_theme_active_opacity: changes transperancy for active window borders

metacity_theme_opacity: changes transperancy for all window borders

source

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