We haven't posted about elementary OS Luna in a while, so I though I'd make a short video with the latest build, so you can see how the desktop looks like lately and the elementary apps progress.

I got a request to make a Slingshot video so I though I'd make one featuring some more Elementary apps which are currently under development like Plank (Docky re-written in Vala - this is a project of the Docky team and not the elementary team), Wingpanel, Beatbox (music player) and of course, Slingshot launcher.

In the above video you'll also notice an updated Elementary theme which works with GTK3 too (but there's still a lot to do for the GTK3 version - the menus for instance look broken for now). I'm running Ubuntu 11.04 with GNOME 2, however Marlin is using the GTK 3 Elementary theme.

Installation: Slingshot (package name: slingshot-launcher) is available in the same PPA as Wingpanel and Marlin: Elementary Dev, while Beatbox and Plank have their own PPAs: Beatbox PPA, Plank PPA.

Today I was using the search feature in Y PPA Manager to see if some of the applications that don't have a PPA finally got one and found a PPA for Wingpanel. It's not an official PPA but you can use it to easily install Wingpanel.

For those who don't know, Wingpanel is a "super sexy space-saving top panel" created by the Elementary team that displays the Ubuntu indicators. Because it doesn't take the whole width of the screen and maximized windows go below it, it can save a lot of vertical screen space.

WebUpd8 reader Justin has sent us a really interesting tip for using the Gnome panel as "Wingpanel" instead of the actual Wingpanel or Avant Window Navigator.

The trick is to get a floating Gnome panel (the rest is pretty much obvious). Read on!