ambiancethemesxfce
Looks ridiculous, but I can't find Ambience theme for XFCE out the in the Internet (while there are even couple of pretty good versions for Windows XP). Could you share a link? I even don't require everything (like controls and icons) look exactly like it does in original Ubuntu Ambiance, I just want window decorations (better with controls on the right though) and a colours scheme (for example dark menu bars instead of default blue ones).
PS: I'd prefer not to install Gnome and Metacity.
Kelley gave the answer in a comment that I will post as definitive:
After upgrading to 12.04, I ran into the same problem with a couple of my old themes. They needed to be upgraded to (I think) in order to work properly with Gnome 3.4. I went to the creator's website and found a version for Ubuntu 12.04, and it has worked perfectly. This might be what you need to do, too. If you access the Launchpad page for it (launchpad), I think you'll find a version for precise.
Mostly no. To this answered date, Xfce has limited to no transitions for panels and icons. Nothing fancy, besides minimizing active applications window to the panel in Xfce.
Delay is a transition or pseudo-animation in Xfce that I have tried before. This is documented as part of theming Xfce panel in this page of Xfce Docs.
XfcePanelWindow
The normal panel window.
.gtkrc-2.0
style "xfce-panel-window-style" { # Time in miliseconds before the panel will unhide on an enter event XfcePanelWindow::popup-delay = 225 # Time in miliseconds before the panel will hide on a leave event XfcePanelWindow::popdown-delay = 350 # Size of autohide window in pixels XfcePanelWindow::autohide-size = 3 } class "XfcePanelWindow" style "xfce-panel-window-style"
Requirement: Xfce must enable the option to automatically hide the panel. In Xfce 4.12, delay will work for the hide option Always but will not work for Intelligently.
Following the requirement, do these steps:
$HOME/.gtkrc-2.0, then copy and paste the provided code (as quoted).popup-delay, popdown-delay and autohide-size.xfce4-panel --restart to take effect.Opacity is another transition that can be applied to Xfce panel.
Requirement: Xfce must enable compositing for opacity to work. In Settings > Window Manager Tweaks > Compositor, ensure that "Enable display compositing" is checked.
Following the requirement, do these steps:
The screenshot below shows the panel becomes less opaque when the mouse cursor leaves the panel (left) and becomes fully opaque when the mouse cursor enters the panel.
Besides delay and opacity for Xfce panel, I am not aware of other options to customize transitions and animations in Xfce. To make up for the missing features in Xfce, install plank. Plank is a simple dock, which has both features of hiding animation and icon zoom transition that you want.
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Best Answer
I just made a theme that imitate exactly Ambiance theme used in Ubuntu, and built for Xubuntu. Check it out: http://xfce-look.org/content/show.php?content=141027