4. Preferences¶
The FreeNAS® User Interface can be adjusted to match the user preferences. Go to the UI Preferences page by clicking the ⚙ (Settings) menu in the upper-right and clicking Preferences.
4.1. User Interface Preferences¶
This page has options to adjust global settings in the UI, manage custom themes, and create new themes. Figure 4.1.1 shows the different options:
Fig. 4.1.1 User Interface Preferences
These options are applied to the entire UI:
Choose Theme: Change the active theme. Custom themes are added to this list.
View Type Preference selects the default view for many of the overview pages in the UI. Choose Cards to display each item on a page in a self-contained “card”. Tables condenses each item into a simplified table. Auto dynamically adjusts the view according to the number of items visible on the specific page.
Enable Helpful Tooltips in Forms: Set to add viewable help text to each form in the UI. Unset to hide all help text icons.
Make any changes and click Update Settings to save the new selections.
4.2. Themes¶
The FreeNAS® UI supports dynamically changing the active theme and creating new, fully customizable themes.
4.2.1. Theme Selector¶
Quickly change the active theme by using the theme selector. Look for the paint bucket icon in the upper-right corner of the UI. Click the icon to see a list of different default and favorite themes. Figure 4.2.1 shows an example:
Fig. 4.2.1 Changing the FreeNAS® UI theme
Click a theme to activate it.
Select Manage Themes to open the User Preferences page. The Manage Custom Themes column displays any created custom themes. Delete these themes by setting the checkboxes and clicking Delete Selected.
Click Create New Theme to go to the Create Custom Theme page.
4.2.2. Create New Themes¶
This page is used to create and preview custom FreeNAS® themes. Figure 4.2.2 shows many of the theming and preview options:
Fig. 4.2.2 Create and Preview a Custom Theme
Select an existing theme from the Load Colors from Theme drop-down menu in the upper-right to use the colors from that theme as the starting values for the new custom theme. Table 4.2.1 describes each option:
| Setting | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Custom Theme Name | string | Enter a name to identify the new theme. |
| Menu Label | string | Enter a short name to use for the FreeNAS® menus. |
| Menu Swatch | drop-down menu | Choose a color from the theme to display next to the menu entry of the custom theme. |
| Description | string | Enter a short description of the new theme. |
| Add to Favorites | checkbox | Set to add this theme to the Theme Selector. |
| Choose Logo Type | checkbox | Set to classify this as a “dark” theme. |
| Choose Primary | drop-down menu | Choose from either a generic color or import a specific color setting to use as the primary theme color. The primary color changes the top bar of the UI and the color of many of the buttons. |
| Choose Accent | drop-down menu | Choose from either a generic color or import a specific color setting to use as the accent color for the theme. This color is used for many of the buttons and smaller elements in the UI. |
Choose the different Colors for this new theme after setting these general options. Click the color swatch to open a small popup with sliders to adjust the color. Color values can also be entered as a hexadecimal value.
Changing any color value automatically updates the Theme Preview column. This section is completely interactive and shows how the custom theme is applied to all the different elements in the UI.
Click Save Custom Theme when finished with all the General and Colors options. The new theme will be immediately added to the list of available themes in User Preferences.
Click Global Preview to apply the unsaved custom theme to the current session of the FreeNAS® UI. Activating Global Preview allows going to other pages in the UI and live testing the new custom theme.
Note
Setting a custom theme as a Global Preview does not save that theme! Be sure to go back to , complete any remaining options, and click Save Custom Theme to save the current settings as a new theme.