Recently I got annoyed by the fact, that the messaging indicator on Unity’s panel is dark-blue. Although it is perfectly elegant, and is very consistent within the whole system (the same color expresses any other form of urgency), I found it difficult to notice whether it is lit up from a greater distance, say – 10 meters from the screen. As I like to wander around in my flat, I would prefer that color to be more vivid, loud.
Surprisingly, I’ve come up with a amazingly simple solution, that quickly led me to this result:
Assuming you are using Ambiance theme:
gksudo inkscape /usr/share/icons/ubuntu-mono-dark/status/22/indicator-messages-new.svg
Alternatively, for Radiance, the above would be:
gksudo inkscape /usr/share/icons/ubuntu-mono-light/status/22/indicator-messages-new.svg
Then, having Inkscape open (of course! you can use another svg editor you prefer!), simply change the body color of the main element, and then save the file.
No need to restart Unity, just wait for any upcoming message, and it will use a new color. I’ve chosen lime, because it is striking enough.
This solution is actually safe – reinstalling indicator-messages will revert your changes (you may want to backup the modified file).
