Main modification is using dark menu bar in Arc-Darker theme instead of default light one, for me Arc Darker theme is much more usable with this modification. Bellow you can find how arc darker looks with light and dark menu bar.
Modified Arc Darker theme with dark menu bar 
Original Arc Darker theme 
Arc is a flat theme with transparent elements for GTK 3, GTK 2 and Gnome-Shell which supports GTK 3 and GTK 2 based desktop environments like Gnome, Unity, Budgie, Pantheon, XFCE, Mate, etc.
###Arc is available in three variants
#####Arc
#####Arc-Darker
#####Arc-Dark
- Gnome/GTK3 3.14 - 3.22
- The
gnome-themes-standardpackage - The murrine engine. This has different names depending on your distro.
gtk-engine-murrine(Arch Linux)gtk2-engines-murrine(Debian, Ubuntu, elementary OS)gtk-murrine-engine(Fedora)gtk2-engine-murrine(openSUSE)gtk-engines-murrine(Gentoo)
Main distributions that meet these requirements are
- Arch Linux and Arch Linux based distros
- Ubuntu 15.04 or newer (Ubuntu 14.04 and 14.10 are not supported)
- elementary OS Freya/Loki
- Debian 8, Testing or Unstable
- Gentoo
- Fedora 21 or newer
- openSUSE 13.2, Leap 42.1 and Tumbleweed
Derivatives of these distributions should work, as well.
If your distribution isn't listed, please check the requirements yourself.
Important: Remove all older versions of the theme from your system before you proceed any further.
sudo rm -rf /usr/share/themes/{Arc,Arc-Darker,Arc-Dark}
rm -rf ~/.local/share/themes/{Arc,Arc-Darker,Arc-Dark}
rm -rf ~/.themes/{Arc,Arc-Darker,Arc-Dark}
Prebuilt packages for Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora and openSUSE are available at
http://software.opensuse.org/download.html?project=home%3AHorst3180&package=arc-theme
A non-transparent version of the theme is available here
http://software.opensuse.org/download.html?project=home%3AHorst3180&package=arc-theme-solid
Note: elementary OS Freya users can install the package for Ubuntu 15.04, Loki user can install the package for Ubuntu 16.04
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Arch Linux users can install the official releases directly from pacman in the Community repo and development releases in the AUR
Official Releases: arc-gtk-theme
Development Releases (AUR): gtk-theme-arc-git
Note: If you're having trouble with the AUR packages please email the package maintainer at [email protected] before creating an issue.
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Gentoo/Funtoo users can install x11-themes/arc-theme from the Scriptkitties Overlay.
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To build the theme you'll need
autoconfautomakepkg-configorpkgconfigif you use Fedoralibgtk-3-devfor Debian based distros orgtk3-develfor RPM based distrosgitif you want to clone the source directory
If your distribution doesn't ship separate development packages you just need GTK 3 instead of the -dev packages.
Install the theme with the following commands
1. Get the source
If you want to install the latest version from git, clone the repository with
git clone https://github.com/horst3180/arc-theme --depth 1 && cd arc-theme
2. Build and install the theme
./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr
sudo make install
Other options to pass to autogen.sh are
--disable-transparency disable transparency in the GTK3 theme
--disable-light disable Arc Light support
--disable-darker disable Arc Darker support
--disable-dark disable Arc Dark support
--disable-cinnamon disable Cinnamon support
--disable-gnome-shell disable GNOME Shell support
--disable-gtk2 disable GTK2 support
--disable-gtk3 disable GTK3 support
--disable-metacity disable Metacity support
--disable-unity disable Unity support
--disable-xfwm disable XFWM support
--with-gnome=<version> build the theme for a specific Gnome version (3.14, 3.16, 3.18, 3.20)
Note: Normally the correct version is detected automatically and this
option should not be needed.
After the installation is complete you can activate the theme with gnome-tweak-tool or a similar program by selecting Arc, Arc-Darker or Arc-Dark as Window/GTK+ theme and Arc or Arc-Dark as Gnome-Shell and Xfce-Notify theme.
Uninstall the theme
Run
sudo make uninstall
from the same directory as this README resides in, or
sudo rm -rf /usr/share/themes/{Arc,Arc-Darker,Arc-Dark}
A theme for Firefox is available at https://github.com/horst3180/arc-firefox-theme
The Arc icon theme is available at https://github.com/horst3180/arc-icon-theme
To install the Chrome/Chromium theme go to the extra/Chrome folder and drag and drop the arc-theme.crx or arc-dark-theme.crx file into the Chrome/Chromium window. The source of the Chrome themes is located in the source "Chrome/arc-theme" folder.
To install the Plank theme, copy the extra/Arc-Plank folder to ~/.local/share/plank/themes or to /usr/share/plank/themes for system-wide use.
Now open the Plank preferences window by executing plank --preferences from a terminal and select Arc-Plank as the theme.
The Arc Dark theme for the Ubuntu Software Center by mervick can be installed from here. It solves readability issues with Arc Dark and the Ubuntu Software Center.
If you have Ubuntu with a newer GTK/Gnome version than the one included by default (i.e Ubuntu 14.04 with GTK 3.14 or Ubuntu 15.04 with GTK 3.16, etc.) the prebuilt packages won't work properly and you have to install the theme manually as described above. This is also true for other distros with a different GTK/Gnome version than the one included by default
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If you get artifacts like black or invisible backgrounds under Unity, disable overlay scrollbars with
gsettings set com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode normal
If you find a bug, please report it at https://github.com/horst3180/arc-theme/issues
Arc is available under the terms the GPL-3.0. See COPYING for details.
