[SOLVED] How to change metacity theme in Gnome 3.4?

digitaldingo · 2012-04-24 12:01:08

Hi all,

I would really like to change the default metacity theme from Clearlooks to something else, but keep Adwaita as the default GTK+ 3 theme. Previously, it could be done using gconf-editor and changing the /apps/metacity/general/theme key value, but on my system /apps/metacity/general is completely empty (like all other metacity 'subgroups').

Does anybody know how to set the default metacity theme?

Last edited by digitaldingo (2012-04-24 13:13:38)

wonder · 2012-04-24 12:23:30

metacity now supports gsettings schema and use the same valus as mutter. you are changing a settings that is not used anymore.

triplesquarednine · 2012-04-24 12:28:23

That is odd.

For me, Metacity still has all of it's keys, after upgrading to Gnome 3.4

Have you tried using either 'Gnome-tweak-tool' to change themes??

you could also manually create the 'theme' key for Metacity using Gconf-editor (just navigate to apps/metacity, then right-click to create the key).

anyway, pretty much every theme is broken for me. I had to manually edit my gtk-theme, and Metacity is using Equinox-dawn, as most others just result in Metacity using the default decoration.

cheerz

EDIT: Wonder posted at the same time. (Thanks for the clarification, Wonder)

Out of curiosity ~ how come Gconf-editor still works for changing themes, then?

Last edited by triplesquarednine (2012-04-24 12:30:12)

digitaldingo · 2012-04-24 12:33:11

wonder wrote:

metacity now supports gsettings schema and use the same valus as mutter. you are changing a settings that is not used anymore.

Ah, I see. Do you know where to set the theme then? org.gnome.mutter doesn't seem to contain anything theme related, and I really cannot figure out how to search in the dconf-editor.

Thanks in advance!

wonder · 2012-04-24 12:41:14

org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences theme

digitaldingo · 2012-04-24 12:42:50

triplesquarednine wrote:

That is odd.
For me, Metacity still has all of it's keys, after upgrading to Gnome 3.4

Okay - then it must be because I deleted ~/.gconf, ~/.gconf and ~/.config/dconf after upgrading to Gnome 3.4 to fix a number of annoying issues (like missing background). I just figured that Gnome would then create the default settings, but apparently (as wonder wrote) metacity doesn't have default settings anymore.

triplesquarednine wrote:

Have you tried using either 'Gnome-tweak-tool' to change themes??

Yes - and it works with Gnome Tweak Tool. However, all applications then get the theme (incl. GTK+ 3 applications), and I only want to change the default GTK+ 2 theme (that e.g. Firefox uses). But thanks for the suggestion!

digitaldingo · 2012-04-24 12:45:47

wonder wrote:

org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences theme

Thanks, but that changes the theme for GTK+ 3 applications as well. I would just like to change the default theme for GTK+ 2 applications (which in my case use the Clearlooks theme).

wonder · 2012-04-24 12:50:27

well, you talked about metacity theme (the title bar theme) and not about gtk2 themes.
there are different things. gtk themes are changed from one location, gnome-tweak-tool and is better to have a theme that supports gtk2 and gtk3

triplesquarednine · 2012-04-24 13:03:23

digitaldingo wrote:

wonder wrote:
org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences theme
Thanks, but that changes the theme for GTK+ 3 applications as well. I would just like to change the default theme for GTK+ 2 applications (which in my case use the Clearlooks theme).

Well, if you are planning on using 2 different themes (1 gtk3 + 1 gtk2)... you could simply copy your theme's folder (/usr/share/themes/your-theme), keep the gtk3 part, but replace the gtk-2.0 folder inside of the theme, with your (other) GTK2 theme. ~ this method would keep your gtk3 theme, while changing the gtk2 part.

however, if you are going to do this - you might want to copy (and rename the folder) your theme, rather than replacing it. (just in case). After your finished, gnome-tweak-tool should see your theme and you can simply switch to it. (

But ideally, as Wonder pointed out - you might want a matching theme that contains both gtk2/3 themes.

cheerz

EDIT: you might also want to mark this thread solved, being as you've figured out how to change your Metacity theme in Gnome 3.4

Last edited by triplesquarednine (2012-04-24 13:05:30)

digitaldingo · 2012-04-24 13:06:01

wonder wrote:

well, you talked about metacity theme (the title bar theme) and not about gtk2 themes.
there are different things. gtk themes are changed from one location, gnome-tweak-tool and is better to have a theme that supports gtk2 and gtk3

Ah, sorry about that! Yes, I mean the GTK theme, but shouldn't there be a way of changing the default theme for GTK 2 application only? I mean, the Adwaita theme obviously falls back to the Clearlooks theme for GTK 2 applications, so it must be an option somewhere. It could of course be hard coded into the theme, but that would be kinda stupid in my opinion...

I agree that one would do best in choosing a theme that supports both GTK 2 and 3, but until the themes get updated with GTK+ 3.4 support, we are stuck with either bad-looking GTK 2 or GTK 3 applications. It would be nice to not have to choose between those.

digitaldingo · 2012-04-24 13:12:06

triplesquarednine wrote:

Well, if you are planning on using 2 different themes (1 gtk3 + 1 gtk2)... you could simply copy your theme's folder (/usr/share/themes/your-theme), keep the gtk3 part, but replace the gtk-2.0 folder inside of the theme, with your (other) GTK2 theme. ~ this method would keep your gtk3 theme, while changing the gtk2 part.
however, if you are going to do this - you might want to copy (and rename the folder) your theme, rather than replacing it. (just in case). After your finished, gnome-tweak-tool should see your theme and you can simply switch to it.

Superb! Exactly what I wanted! Can't believe I didn't think of this solution.

Thanks a bunch!

triplesquarednine · 2012-04-24 14:22:54

digitaldingo wrote:

I agree that one would do best in choosing a theme that supports both GTK 2 and 3, but until the themes get updated with GTK+ 3.4 support, we are stuck with either bad-looking GTK 2 or GTK 3 applications. It would be nice to not have to choose between those.

You're not 'stuck', depending on if your are able to fix the theme, yourself. CSS isn't very difficult to read/edit... I've already been fixing a dark theme to work with gtk-3.4. Mostly, certain things have just been deprecated. So usually, it is as simple as launching a gtk app from a terminal (while using your broken theme) and looking at the gtk-related errors (usually parsing errors) then fixing them in your theme, accordingly. It's pretty easy because it will tell you exactly which line(s) need to be changed... The most common problem i've seen that pixel sizes must now have 'px'. And there are also some fixing to do, in terms of fixing parts/widgets that don't look quite right - like maybe having to adjust a color, or border or something. but obviously mileage varies, depending on theme + it's engine.

maybe i've just been lucky, i don't know - but i've got a semi-decent theme working, although there are still things to change and fix

cheerz

Last edited by triplesquarednine (2012-04-24 14:24:01)

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#1 2012-04-24 12:01:08

[SOLVED] How to change metacity theme in Gnome 3.4?

#2 2012-04-24 12:23:30

Re: [SOLVED] How to change metacity theme in Gnome 3.4?

#3 2012-04-24 12:28:23

Re: [SOLVED] How to change metacity theme in Gnome 3.4?

#4 2012-04-24 12:33:11

Re: [SOLVED] How to change metacity theme in Gnome 3.4?

#5 2012-04-24 12:41:14

Re: [SOLVED] How to change metacity theme in Gnome 3.4?

#6 2012-04-24 12:42:50

Re: [SOLVED] How to change metacity theme in Gnome 3.4?

#7 2012-04-24 12:45:47

Re: [SOLVED] How to change metacity theme in Gnome 3.4?

#8 2012-04-24 12:50:27

Re: [SOLVED] How to change metacity theme in Gnome 3.4?

#9 2012-04-24 13:03:23

Re: [SOLVED] How to change metacity theme in Gnome 3.4?

#10 2012-04-24 13:06:01

Re: [SOLVED] How to change metacity theme in Gnome 3.4?

#11 2012-04-24 13:12:06

Re: [SOLVED] How to change metacity theme in Gnome 3.4?

#12 2012-04-24 14:22:54

Re: [SOLVED] How to change metacity theme in Gnome 3.4?

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