After years of using default desktop I've decided to customize. I'm using Platform Version 4.3.95 (KDE 4.3.95 (KDE 4.4 RC2)) "release 214". I was able to change the wallpaper through desktop settings but when I try to change other settings (cursor, themes, splash image) I don't get any results.

I realize I'm using a release candidate but expect changes to happen or a message to appear.

I tried downloading different items from http://kde-look.org/but haven't been able to install them.

When I try to change colors, some changes happen but others don't. For instance, active titlebar never seems to change color no matter what I select. Perhaps I'm misinterpreting active title bar. To me it's the bar at the top of a window that shows the programs name (i.e. krusader). Is that wrong?

I've searched for a howto or tutorial regarding customizing kde but haven't found one. Would someone point me to one please?

You may need to enable the blend title bar with window contents option in System Settings > Appearance > Style to have the Window decoration honour the colour theme selected.

I have a similar problem. Currently using Chakra with kde 4.6 beta1. I'm not sure but I think the issue was still present when i was on 4.5.



As you can see the title bar is of a different color and does not blend into the whole window. Plus I can't seem to find the option that bcooksley mentioned. I have desktop effects disabled. Please help.

Can you reproduce under a new user?

I created a new user, logged in and saw that the problem was gone. So I logged back into the orignal account and renamed /home/rajit/.kde4/share/ config and kde4 to config.bak and kde4.bak. Logged off and the logged in again. Problem was gone. I now have a BEAUTIFUL KDE desktop!!! Thanks a ton!!

For anyone else with this issue, you can just right click on the window titlebar -> Configure Window Behavior... -> Window Decorations -> Configure Decoration... -> Fine Tuning -> Background style: Radial Gradient.