I run at a much higher res than this, so the fonts aren't as big as they are here. I realise this isn't the sort of "look" you guys are celebrating here:
Nothing I do seems to display this image either, so here's a link: https://i.imgur.com/Jfe0GdT.png
The truth is, I've tried all sorts of fancy decorations. I used to download the prettiest sharp/glassy/monochrome (as in neutral colours) theme for an alternative shell in the days I used Windows, and I've run KDE and all kinds of fancy fancy decorations in GNU/Linux.
For a while now I've cherished the simplicity of nearly borderless windows, flexible tiling window managers like dwm, and applications with clean, simple designs that focus on single tasks when possible.
My editor doesn't need gtk, and if I hit CTRL-T it runs shell commands from whatever line the cursor is on. I use it for coding and for running programs and tasks that don't require shell interaction-- for the latter, I use xterm (it's FAST).
I went from DOS to Windows 3.x all the way to KDE, and no matter how many fashion fads (some look REALLY cool, I won't deny it) I watch things go through, I'm more concerned with reliable and powerful (and extremely fast) applications than beautiful ones. Not all good-looking apps are slow, though many of them make me feel like I'm waiting at the door while they take 25 minutes to put makeup on.
I still love to customise, though it's the functionality that I'm focused on rather than style. You can make a Jeep pretty, but I just use the Jeep. When I made my own GNU/Linux distro, I actually took the time to find some pictures I thought made nice icons for the default apps-- the interface wasn't just for me. Now that I'm running dwm, I don't bother with icons at all. I would enjoy making the backgrounds dark, (I found the night mode for this forum right after posting this) but eventually that gets monotonous and I go for grey (it's more cheerful) again. White is more attractive than light grey, but it's also too bright.
What's the most attractive visual feature you can put on a screen? Matte LCD! I like my face and all, but my reflection doesn't help with displaying text-- or anything else I want to put on the screen.
