[SOLVED]global application appearance settings

dsar · 2014-10-14 14:01:42

I am using arch-linux with i3 window manager and I have recently installed
[bold]gnome-color-chooser[/bold] because I need to change the global settings
for the text color in every installed app.

For example:
- in skype, everything is coloured with a light grey so it is impossible to read my contacts names
- in vlc menu the same colour...
plus in google chrome when I hover a bookmark inside a folder the text disappears..

As I mentioned before, I am trying to change some settings via gnome-color-chooser (GUI) but
nothing changes at all in the application's menus.

I would appreciate it if somebody give me his lights! Thanks!

Last edited by dsar (2014-10-15 12:50:28)

teateawhy · 2014-10-15 09:24:17

The color-chooser changes the appearance of gtk 2.0 applications. Google chrome does not use gtk. For skype i found a thread that says that it does not follow gtk themes: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=132275 . VLC does not use gtk.

dsar · 2014-10-15 10:22:45

teateawhy wrote:

The color-chooser changes the appearance of gtk 2.0 applications. Google chrome does not use gtk. For skype i found a thread that says that it does not follow gtk themes: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=132275 . VLC does not use gtk.

According to skype settings, it can use gtk

Trilby · 2014-10-15 12:02:57

dsar wrote:

According to skype settings, it can use gtk

Can you elaborate? Skype, in the multilib repo, is build against qt4. Is this the skype you are using?

$ pacman -Si sykpe
...
Depends On     : ... lib32-qt4 ...

There are several wiki pages about theming the UI, you may want to see this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Un … plications

dsar · 2014-10-15 12:06:34

Trilby wrote:

dsar wrote:
According to skype settings, it can use gtk
Can you elaborate? Skype, in the multilib repo, is build against qt4. Is this the skype you are using?
$ pacman -Si sykpe
...
Depends On     : ... lib32-qt4 ...
There are several wiki pages about theming the UI, you may want to see this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Un … plications

Depends On     : xdg-utils  hicolor-icon-theme  lib32-libpulse  lib32-qt4  lib32-libxss  lib32-libxv  lib32-libxcursor  lib32-v4l-utils

Trilby · 2014-10-15 12:10:45

*confused* yes, that's the full dependency list. There is no gtk toolkit there, only qt4 as I indicated in my post.

dsar · 2014-10-15 12:14:23

Trilby wrote:

*confused* yes, that's the full dependency list. There is no gtk toolkit there, only qt4 as I indicated in my post.

so generally, everytime for each app I have to see the dependency list and then apply the changes to the corresponding toolkit?

Trilby · 2014-10-15 12:17:29

The dependency list is one way of checking whether a toolkit was used. But just knowing what you have installed would be sufficient.

If all of the programs of interest use a toolkit, though, you should not need to worry about this. Follow the wiki page I linked to. If you set up themes for gtk and qt that you like, then you wont need to care which one a new program uses as you will have already set the theme for both.

dsar · 2014-10-15 12:49:24

Trilby wrote:

But just knowing what you have installed would be sufficient

Which is the best way to know what you have installed?
For example when I want to install an application like skype, I am searching archwiki and
usually in the installation section, they say "Install skype from the official repositories"

Then, I guess I am going to skype package and I can read from there the dependencies...
but most of them, I do not know what they are...

and of course you can say, go and search each of them... but when you do not need something
it's hard to understand it I think..

Thanks for your response.

Last edited by dsar (2014-10-15 12:49:40)

dsar · 2014-10-15 13:23:34

teateawhy wrote:

Google chrome does not use gtk.

here I see the opposite
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/google-chrome/ but again... gnome-color-chooser doesn't work

Trilby · 2014-10-15 14:47:55

dsar wrote:

Which is the best way to know what you have installed?

The only things you should have installed, you have installed with pacman - you should know what you have done.

Personally I avoid toolkits - this is a personal preference that would not fit others well at all, so I don't advise avoiding them, this is just me. So if I try to install a package, and pacman reports that qt4 will be installed as a dependency, then I know the package of interest uses qt. In my case, I'd probably just chose not to use it. I've learned to tolerate gtk2, but if I try to install a package and pacman reports that it will install gtk3 as a dependency, then I cancel it and I find another alternative.

So you should know which toolkit(s) you already have installed - if new ones are to be added as new dependencies, pacman will report this to you before you says 'Y' to continue.

If you install a new program and pacman does not report that it will install any new toolkit dependencies, then the new program either uses no toolkit, or only uses one that you have already installed and configured, so there is no reason to worry about it.

In other words - if you have qt4 and gtk2 installed and themed as you like, then you try to install package X. Pacman reports no new toolkit dependencies, so package X either uses qt4 or gtk2 (or no toolkit), as you have already themed those two, there is nothing else you need to worry about. If pacman reports that package X will pull in gtk3 as a dependency, then you might need to recheck your themes to make sure they will also apply to gtk3.

dsar · 2014-10-15 14:51:36

Trilby wrote:

dsar wrote:
Which is the best way to know what you have installed?
The only things you should have installed, you have installed with pacman - you should know what you have done.
Personally I avoid toolkits - this is a personal preference that would not fit others well at all, so I don't advise avoiding them, this is just me. So if I try to install a package, and pacman reports that qt4 will be installed as a dependency, then I know the package of interest uses qt. In my case, I'd probably just chose not to use it. I've learned to tolerate gtk2, but if I try to install a package and pacman reports that it will install gtk3 as a dependency, then I cancel it and I find another alternative.
So you should know which toolkit(s) you already have installed - if new ones are to be added as new dependencies, pacman will report this to you before you says 'Y' to continue.
If you install a new program and pacman does not report that it will install any new toolkit dependencies, then the new program either uses no toolkit, or only uses one that you have already installed and configured, so there is no reason to worry about it.
In other words - if you have qt4 and gtk2 installed and themed as you like, then you try to install package X. Pacman reports no new toolkit dependencies, so package X either uses qt4 or gtk2 (or no toolkit), as you have already themed those two, there is nothing else you need to worry about. If pacman reports that package X will pull in gtk3 as a dependency, then you might need to recheck your themes to make sure they will also apply to gtk3.

Very well! It Seems very organized to me! Thank you

Arch Linux

#1 2014-10-14 14:01:42

[SOLVED]global application appearance settings

#2 2014-10-15 09:24:17

Re: [SOLVED]global application appearance settings

#3 2014-10-15 10:22:45

Re: [SOLVED]global application appearance settings

#4 2014-10-15 12:02:57

Re: [SOLVED]global application appearance settings

#5 2014-10-15 12:06:34

Re: [SOLVED]global application appearance settings

#6 2014-10-15 12:10:45

Re: [SOLVED]global application appearance settings

#7 2014-10-15 12:14:23

Re: [SOLVED]global application appearance settings

#8 2014-10-15 12:17:29

Re: [SOLVED]global application appearance settings

#9 2014-10-15 12:49:24

Re: [SOLVED]global application appearance settings

#10 2014-10-15 13:23:34

Re: [SOLVED]global application appearance settings

#11 2014-10-15 14:47:55

Re: [SOLVED]global application appearance settings

#12 2014-10-15 14:51:36

Re: [SOLVED]global application appearance settings

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