Ubuntu – set up Nautilus to use transparent background

Answering a different question, I was reminded of an option that has now been deeply hidden by default, "Editable Menu Accelerators." This can let you do nearly what you want.

To enable this option, launch gconf-editor from the terminal or the "Run Application" dialog (Alt-F2).

Navigate to desktop>gnome>interface and check can_change_accels

Or just run this line in a terminal:

gconftool --set /desktop/gnome/interface/can_change_accels --type=bool True

Now, to change an application shortcut key, open the menu, and with the mouse pointer on the menu item you wish to change, press the new combination of keys. To remove a shortcut key, press Backspace or Delete.

So you can get new directories with F7 and deleting by F8, but I still don't think that you can get the nifty cross pane coping ect in Nautilus.

So while what you're after might not be completely possible with Nautilus, it's also worth mentioning that you can still use a "commander" in Ubuntu.

Check out Midnight Commander if console applications are your style.

sudo apt-get install mc

If you're looking for something that integrates into the desktop, try GNOME Commander. It's a two-pane graphical file manager in the "commander" style, with your familiar hot keys.

sudo apt-get install gnome-commander

Edit your existing ~/.gtkrc-2.0 file, or create one if it doesn't exist. This file will let you override parts of your selected GTK+ theme.

gedit ~/.gtkrc-2.0

Add the following style

style "treeview-modified"
{   
    GtkTreeView::even_row_color   = "#yourcolor"
}
widget "*NautilusNavigationWindow*" style "treeview-modified"

where "#yourcolor" is obviously the color you want; #F2F1F0 is the Ambiance / Radiance toolbar color that you may be looking to blend with. You can sample other colors using Agave, the GIMP color picker or any color picker tool.

Note that due to the side pane having a frame in all modes except "Information", it will not exactly blend in other modes the way it does in that mode; at least with the default themes. With some further hacking you may be able to work around the outline color and get it to blend exactly the same way if that's what you want.

You can find out more about theme styles in the GTK Theming Tutorial.