Customize welcome page of ipython notebook

Question

Can I customize the landing page of an iPython notebook server (version 2.3)?

I mean that, at the starting page (something like: http://localhost:8888/tree), I'd like to display Welcome to the i[Py] Notebook of John Doe or modify the existing banner.. Is this possible?

Answer 1

This is my adopted custom.css in case somebody is interested in a wider customization:

body { background-color: #fcfcfc !important; }

body, p, div.rendered_html { 
    color: #336699;
    font-family: Optima,Segoe,Segoe UI,Candara,Calibri,Arial,sans-serif;
    font-size: 11pt;
}

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {
    color: #003366;
}

#notebook { 
    background-color: #ffffff !important;
}

/* header - notebook */

#ipython_notebook a img[src*="ipynblogo"] {
    display: none;
}

#ipython_notebook a{
    display:block;
    background: url(banner.png) no-repeat;
    width: 250px;
    height: 70px;
    padding-left: 10px;
    -moz-box-sizing: border-box;
    box-sizing: border-box;
}

span#notebook_name {
    color: #993333;
    height: 1em;
    line-height: 1em;
    padding: 2px;
    border: medium none;
    font-size: 90.0%;
    font-variant: small-caps;
}
#menubar-container {
    font-size: 9pt;
}

#menubar .navbar-inner {
    min-height: 12px;
    border-top: 1px none;
    border-radius: 0px 0px 2px 2px;
    border: 2px solid #cccccc;
}

.navbar-default, .navbar-static-top {
    background-color: #ffffff !important;
    color: #999999 !important;
}

#maintoolbar { padding-top: 0.1em; padding-bottom: 0.1em; }


/* Forms and menus */

.dropdown-menu { background-color: #ffffff !important; border: none !important; }
.dropdown-menu > li > a { color: #003366 !important; }
.dropdown-menu > li > a:hover { color: #ffffff !important; }
.dropdown-menu > li.disabled > a { color: #cccccc !important; }

/* Cell styling */
div.cell {
    border-radius: 0px 0px 2px 2px;
    border: 1px solid #fcfcfc !important;
}
div.cell.selected {
    border-radius: 0px 0px 2px 2px;
    border-color: #f0f000 !important;
}
div.cell.edit_mode { border-color: #f00000 !important; }
div.input_prompt { color: #ff6600 !important; }
div.output_prompt { color: #ff0066 !important; }

div.input_area { 
    background: #fefefe !important;
    border: 1px solid #d1d1d1 !important;   
}

.celltoolbar {
    background: #eee8d5 !important;
    color: #586e75 !important;
    border: 1px solid #002b36 !important;
}

/* CodeMirror Styling */

.cm-s-ipython {
    font-family: Andale Mono,AndaleMono,monospace;
    font-size: 12px;
    line-height: 1.15em;
    color-profile: sRGB;
    rendering-intent: auto;
    background-color: #fbfdff;
    color: #93a1a1;
    text-shadow: none;
    border-radius: 4px;
}

/* Cursor */

.cm-s-ipython div.CodeMirror-cursor {
    border: none;
    width: 0.6em;
    background-color: rgba(5, 105, 205, 0.1);
}

/* Gutters */

.cm-s-ipython .CodeMirror-gutters {
  border-right: 1px solid;
}

.cm-s-ipython .CodeMirror-gutters {
  background-color:  #002b36;
  border-color: #00232c;
}

.cm-s-ipython .CodeMirror-linenumber {
  text-shadow: #021014 0 -1px;
  padding: 0 8px 0 0;
  color: #586e75;
}

.cm-s-ipython .CodeMirror-guttermarker-subtle { color: #586e75; }
.cm-s-ipython .CodeMirror-guttermarker { color: #ddd; }

/* Syntax highlighting */

.cm-s-ipython span.cm-keyword { color: #00994c }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-atom { color: #d33682; }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-number { color: #0080FF; }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-def { color: #268bd2; font-weight: bold; }

.cm-s-ipython span.cm-variable { color: #111111; }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-variable-2 { color: #b58900; }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-variable-3 { color: #6c71c4; }

.cm-s-ipython span.cm-property { color: #2aa198; }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-operator {color: #d33682; }

.cm-s-ipython span.cm-comment { color: #aaaaaa; font-style: italic; }

.cm-s-ipython span.cm-string { color: #cc6600; }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-string-2 { color: #aa91dd; }

.cm-s-ipython span.cm-meta { color: #859900; }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-qualifier { color: #b58900; }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-builtin { color: #859900; }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-bracket { color: #cb4b16; }
.cm-s-ipython .CodeMirror-matchingbracket { color: #b58900 !important; font-weight: bold; }
.cm-s-ipython .CodeMirror-nonmatchingbracket { color: #dc322f; }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-tag { color: #93a1a1 }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-attribute {  color: #2aa198; }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-header { color: #586e75; }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-quote { color: #93a1a1; }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-hr {
  color: transparent;
  border-top: 1px solid #586e75;
  display: block;
}
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-link { color: #93a1a1; cursor: pointer; }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-special { color: #6c71c4; }
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-em {
  color: #999;
  text-decoration: underline;
  text-decoration-style: dotted;
}
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-strong { color: #eee; }

.cm-s-ipython span.cm-tab:before {
  content: "➤";
  color: #586e75;
  position:absolute;
}
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-error,
.cm-s-ipython span.cm-invalidchar {
  color: #586e75;
  border-bottom: 1px dotted #dc322f;
}

Answer 2

You can change the banner logo or replace it with a text using your custom.css.

Custom Title

To simply change the text add the following lines

#ipython_notebook::before{content:"Welcome to my notebook"}
#ipython_notebook img{display:none;}

Of course some additional styling may be necessary.

Custom Banner Logo

To change the banner logo, prepare a logo and safe it e.g. in ~/.ipython/profile_default/static/custom/logo.png. The add the following to your custom.css

#ipython_notebook img{
display:block;
background: url(/static/custom/logo.png) no-repeat;
width: 233px;
height: 33px;
padding-left: 233px;
-moz-box-sizing: border-box;
box-sizing: border-box;
}

With the later (and some additional CSS coloring) my dashboard looks like :)

I got most information from this recent mailing list treat, and the necessary CSS from here. This set of "hacking" notebooks might also be of interest.