how to change gnome 3.2.6 panel background color

Question

I am using ubunut 12.10 with gnome-shell 3.6.2 . I want to change the background color of the panel appearing top of the screen.

I am currently using following theme as described in Tweak Tool:
Current Theme :Adwaita
Cursor Theme: Adwaita
Gtk+ Theme: Adwaita

I have tried using gconf-editor and dconf-editor but none of them are showing the background color option for the panel.
Can any one suggest me a solution to above ?

Answer 1

gnome-shell styles for the top panel are determined by the CSS file /usr/share/gnome-shell/theme/gnome-shell.css.

The top panel is styled by the #panel ID:

#panel {                     
    background-color: black;  /* <--- */
    font-weight: bold;       
    height: 1.86em;          
}

You can change that background colour to one you like.

You might also wish to change the .panel-corner class' -panel-corner-background-color colour to get those two rounded corners on the bottom-left and -right of the top panel to change colour:

.panel-corner {
    -panel-corner-radius: 6px;
    -panel-corner-background-color: black; /* <--- */
    -panel-corner-border-width: 2px;   
    -panel-corner-border-color: transparent;
}        

If you wish to avoid modifying the global file /usr/share/gnome-shell/theme/gnome-shell.css, you could make your own theme for gnome-shell (these can be set with the gnome-tweak-tool program). I am fuzzier on the details here, but I suspect you can copy the entire /usr/share/gnome-shell/theme folder (so that you have all the pictures the theme requires) and modify the CSS file, which will provide you with a complete theme.