Ramin Hossaini (blog)

Getting rid of Gmail theme-backgrounds

I love that Gmail added theming functionality, but I would actually like some of the themes more without the backgrounds. This isn't a fancy solution, but it's more of a reference for myself. You could also use plugins that let you modify the CSS, but I'm just using Adblock-plus for Firefox here.

Take for instance the Pebbles theme:

Not my cup of tea, but I love those neutral colours.

The easiest thing to do is to add a Block-rule in Adblock-Plus:

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https://mail.google.com/mail/images/2/5/pebbles/rocks_tile.jpg
*/images/2/5/pebbles/rocks_tile.jpg  /*wildcard version - for Google Apps*/

Refresh Gmail, and it's gone:

Other blockable backgrounds (some of the themes are day-of-the-week specific, so I'll add more to the list as I find them):

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*images/2/5/pebbles/rocks_tile.jpg
*images/2/5/mountains/mon/*
*images/2/5/mountains/tue/*
*images/2/5/mountains/wed/*
*images/2/5/mountains/thu/*
*images/2/5/mountains/fri/*
*images/2/5/mountains/sat/*
*images/2/5/mountains/sun/*
*images/2/5/tree/sunny/header_bg.jpg
*images/2/5/ocean/weekdays/weekday_header.jpg
*images/2/5/planets/base/star_tile.gif
*images/2/5/planets/saturn/saturn.jpg

Related posts:

1. Gmail adds themes
2. Gmail cleans up navigation
3. Gmail-Unread-Count First
4. Gmail introduces custom themes (awesome)
5. Gmail labs: mail goggles