Change Tab Color on Terminator and Ubuntu Terminal

The Problem

The default color for active tab on Terminator and Ubuntu terminal is almost indistinguishable. This can be fixed by using another theme, but if you want to use your current theme and only tweak the tab color, read on.

Because Terminator 0.97 still uses GTK2; whereas Ubuntu terminal uses GTK3, they each require a different method to tweak.

The Tweak for GTK2

For Terminator and any other GTK2 applications, you can directly edit the gtkrc file your theme uses.

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sudo vim /usr/share/themes/<YOUR_THEME>/gtk-2.0/gtkrc

Find the following block:

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style "notebook_bg" {
  bg[NORMAL] = shade (1.02, @bg_color)
  bg[ACTIVE] = shade (0.97, @bg_color)
  fg[ACTIVE] = mix (0.8, @fg_color, shade (0.97, @bg_color))
}

Replace @bg_color in bg[NORMAL] to a color you like, e.g. #FCBC8D.

The Tweak for GTK3

For terminal and any other GTK3 applications, you can edit the gtk.css in your home directory. It is located in #HOME/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css. Create one if it’s not there.

Add the following lines to gtk.css:

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TerminalWindow .notebook tab:active{
  background-color: #FCBC8D;
}

For the change to take effect, you need to open up a new application.

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