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#1 2006-10-01 06:37:19

neri
Forum Fellow
From: Victoria, Canada
Registered: 2003-05-04
Posts: 553

The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

As stated on http://blog.archlinux.org I posted the files for the contest on my server: http://arch.justdreams.net/xfce44-themings.tar.gz

I recommend to either fetch shadowhands xfce4-svn packages or the set I offer here http://arch.justdreams.net/xfce4-pkgs/
I use it already for daily use and didn't encounter serious problems.

The things you should consider if you like to add an entry.

· a usable, nice WM theme not too small and not too large, fitting for users from laptop sized screens to dual widescreen setups.
· a background image, that doesn't steal focus from work (read: no strong contrast, everything in like colors, makes it possible to use (semi)-transparent terminals, scales well over several desktop sizes, also fits on non 4:3 screens)
· a nice gtk-theme using gtk-xfce-engine (read: come with corporate colors, don't waste space but have usable handles) gtk-xfce-engine stays part of 4.4 (there were discussions to ditch the gtk-xfce-engine in favor of gtk's new standard engine clearlooks)
· a nice splashscreen theme (no real reglementations apart from colors)


for xfwm4 themes you wanna read http://www.xfce.org/xfwm4-theme-howto/
Xfwm-4.4 has some new features:
- you can use svg instead of png files (check: http://foo-projects.org/pipermail/xfce4 … 21447.html for some details)
- you can replace the menu button by adding "show_app_icon=true" in themerc
The files you find in my tarball reflect the way I was working:
- create the design
- split design into the shape parts (provided by the xpm picturesthat can actually pick up gtk colours) and the shade parts(transparent pictures on top of xpms either png or svg)
- build the actual buttons (shape, colour etc)
- I exported the xpm from gimp and used a whole bunch of sed lines to flip colours to get the pressed and -active state (se the shell script in te directory for details)

The background image isn't tricky.

I added my gtkrc file in the tarball. It was mainly created from studying other gtkrc files since I didn't find some serious documentation on it.

The splashscreen is pretty much straight forward. I added a .blend file for a rendered Arch symbol. You don't have to use it. The old theme used the balou engine - you can use any other or write your own. Doesn't matter.

XFCE-4.4 is at rc1 at the moment. I think it's gonna take another month b4 it hits the final. After that we will have a poll at the forum to figure which theme the users like best.

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#2 2006-10-01 07:16:52

iphitus
Forum Fellow
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2004-10-09
Posts: 4,927

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

maybe you should make it a requirement that it picks up gtk colours, it's an annoyance when there's an attractive theme that doesnt and would make this more than a silly distro theme.

James

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#3 2006-10-01 10:58:53

Howitzer
Member
From: Belgium (Antwerp)
Registered: 2006-09-29
Posts: 43
Website

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

I have a suggestion:
Use cimi86's work.
He's an Archer and has made truly stunningly beautiful engines and themes (MurrinaCool being my favorite, not made by cimi86 though).

[URL=http://img435.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot14lh8.png]screenshot14lh8.th.png[/URL]
Engine: http://xfce-look.org/content/show.php?content=42755
Theme: http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show. … tent=43354
Wallpaper: http://xfce-look.org/content/show.php?content=43375
XFWM: http://xfce-look.org/content/show.php?content=43083[/url]

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#4 2006-10-01 14:00:16

TomE
Member
Registered: 2005-08-06
Posts: 164

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

This is something I did when you fisrt announced this awhile back.
[URL=http://img405.imageshack.us/my.php?image=200610011428111152x864scrotqn9.png]200610011428111152x864scrotqn9.th.png[/URL]
the wm theme does not fit that well and there's no wallpaper or splash,
but anyone can use this to as base to there theme.
I'll have a go at a better wm theme when I get the time
download

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#5 2006-10-01 15:08:28

elasticdog
Member
From: Washington, USA
Registered: 2005-05-02
Posts: 995
Website

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

Howitzer wrote:

I have a suggestion:
Use cimi86's work.
He's an Archer and has made truly stunningly beautiful engines and themes (MurrinaCool being my favorite, not made by cimi86 though).

[URL=http://img435.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot14lh8.png]screenshot14lh8.th.png[/URL]
Engine: http://xfce-look.org/content/show.php?content=42755
Theme: http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show. … tent=43354
Wallpaper: http://xfce-look.org/content/show.php?content=43375
XFWM: http://xfce-look.org/content/show.php?content=43083[/url]

Wow!  That is gorgeous!!!  I've always wanted to dabble in making themes.  Maybe if I get a chance, I'll look into this...I loves me some Xfce  big_smile

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#6 2006-10-01 15:53:03

rezza
Member
From: Edinburgh, uk
Registered: 2004-07-08
Posts: 237

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

Howitzer wrote:

I have a suggestion:
Use cimi86's work.
He's an Archer and has made truly stunningly beautiful engines and themes (MurrinaCool being my favorite, not made by cimi86 though).

Yeah, Cimi does some excellent stuff, he puts a lot of work into his engines (some of which I steal and backport into Rezlooks wink) and it shows.

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#7 2006-10-01 18:09:03

slackhack
Member
Registered: 2004-06-30
Posts: 738

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

Howitzer wrote:

I have a suggestion:
Use cimi86's work.
He's an Archer and has made truly stunningly beautiful engines and themes (MurrinaCool being my favorite, not made by cimi86 though).

[URL=http://img435.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot14lh8.png]screenshot14lh8.th.png[/URL]
Engine: http://xfce-look.org/content/show.php?content=42755
Theme: http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show. … tent=43354
Wallpaper: http://xfce-look.org/content/show.php?content=43375
XFWM: http://xfce-look.org/content/show.php?content=43083[/url]

those work in xfce4? :shock:  i've been using the murrine theme for a while, but i can only get it with those widgets on the left instead of the app icon. i thought that was a gtk2-only theme and didn't work in xfce:

murrine-engine_th.jpg

the font shadowing in the title bar of murrine is ugly, too - does anyone know where to edit that? :?: (n/m, found it in themerc big_smile app icon still won't display though, even though set for true :?)


i really like Cimi's themes, though. there really aren't many other good ones for xfce4. if 4.4 is still lacking, i don't see why not just run metacity to be able to use the gtk2 themes, which there seems to be a lot more of.

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#8 2006-10-01 18:51:01

neri
Forum Fellow
From: Victoria, Canada
Registered: 2003-05-04
Posts: 553

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

iphitus wrote:

maybe you should make it a requirement that it picks up gtk colours, it's an annoyance when there's an attractive theme that doesnt and would make this more than a silly distro theme.

James

That's a good idea. You guys can grab the ArchLinux blue from the svg files on the homepage, it is #759fbf

  -neri

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#9 2006-10-02 01:45:23

benplaut
Member
Registered: 2006-06-13
Posts: 383

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

.

Last edited by benplaut (2021-06-25 12:44:10)

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#10 2006-10-02 05:59:17

neri
Forum Fellow
From: Victoria, Canada
Registered: 2003-05-04
Posts: 553

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

benplaut wrote:

does an `entry' require all four parts, or can i just submit a gtk theme?  i've been working on a xfce engine theme for a while, this is perfect timing!  smile

Well, I have this idea that a complete entry is better since a theme might be more coherent if everything is adjusted to each other. We don't get that if we picka theme here and a theme there for another component. So what about to team up with someone else, since crafting gtk themes is not everyones favorite. There might be enough people who wanna do background images or WM themes but have no clue how to come up with a nice gtk theme.

-neri

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#11 2006-10-04 10:07:28

benplaut
Member
Registered: 2006-06-13
Posts: 383

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

.

Last edited by benplaut (2021-06-25 12:43:34)

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#12 2006-10-04 10:31:53

Cimi
Member
From: Padova, Italy
Registered: 2006-01-16
Posts: 301
Website

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

rezza wrote:
Howitzer wrote:

I have a suggestion:
Use cimi86's work.
He's an Archer and has made truly stunningly beautiful engines and themes (MurrinaCool being my favorite, not made by cimi86 though).

Yeah, Cimi does some excellent stuff, he puts a lot of work into his engines (some of which I steal and backport into Rezlooks wink) and it shows.

Yeah thanks! I think you can redraw buttons in rezlooks and use my function with CL_CORNER_NONE to get better look with squared theme.

Anyway what have you *stealed* from my works? yes i like that someone appreciate my works but it's always not fun thinking you've worked for days and someone *copy* your code. I hope this *steals* are originals since that could be an improvement not a simple copy! My engines are based on rezlooks/clearlooks but i've done a lot of original work for them!

"God bless opensource" as you said, I totally agree, expecially it the ways it comes with original things and not copies!

Remember we have to write the DEFINITIVE new cairo *BETTER LOOKING* engine human eyes has never seen! big_smile As we talk on irc...

See ya and keep up the GREAT work!


Murrine Creator - GNOME Developer

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#13 2006-10-05 12:01:09

Cimi
Member
From: Padova, Italy
Registered: 2006-01-16
Posts: 301
Website

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

Cimi wrote:
rezza wrote:
Howitzer wrote:

I have a suggestion:
Use cimi86's work.
He's an Archer and has made truly stunningly beautiful engines and themes (MurrinaCool being my favorite, not made by cimi86 though).

Yeah, Cimi does some excellent stuff, he puts a lot of work into his engines (some of which I steal and backport into Rezlooks wink) and it shows.

Yeah thanks! I think you can redraw buttons in rezlooks and use my function with CL_CORNER_NONE to get better look with squared theme.

Anyway what have you *stealed* from my works? yes i like that someone appreciate my works but it's always not fun thinking you've worked for days and someone *copy* your code. I hope this *steals* are originals since that could be an improvement not a simple copy! My engines are based on rezlooks/clearlooks but i've done a lot of original work for them!

"God bless opensource" as you said, I totally agree, expecially it the ways it comes with original things and not copies!

Remember we have to write the DEFINITIVE new cairo *BETTER LOOKING* engine human eyes has never seen! big_smile As we talk on irc...

See ya and keep up the GREAT work!

Updated:
There's a way to get perfect rectangles with cairo. Rezlooks has a little bug (unless it is done for your choice) that is the corners are darker than lines/edges. This is due to the white inner border that overlaps more on edges than corners.
Since I found these corners not as good as the rest of the theme i suggest to refine the inner border and play with shade of borders.
This will give you a great performance boost, since cairo will slowdown all path with misplaced pixels.

I hope you have understood what I mean...


Murrine Creator - GNOME Developer

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#14 2006-10-05 18:43:15

Howitzer
Member
From: Belgium (Antwerp)
Registered: 2006-09-29
Posts: 43
Website

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

While your here, could you suggest a different setup Cimi86?
(Based on Murrine ofcourse big_smile )

(PS. You ever going to make KDE themes? sad )

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#15 2006-10-06 13:42:46

rezza
Member
From: Edinburgh, uk
Registered: 2004-07-08
Posts: 237

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

Cimi wrote:

Yeah thanks! I think you can redraw buttons in rezlooks and use my function with CL_CORNER_NONE to get better look with squared theme.

Anyway what have you *stealed* from my works? yes i like that someone appreciate my works but it's always not fun thinking you've worked for days and someone *copy* your code. I hope this *steals* are originals since that could be an improvement not a simple copy! My engines are based on rezlooks/clearlooks but i've done a lot of original work for them!

"God bless opensource" as you said, I totally agree, expecially it the ways it comes with original things and not copies!

Hehehe, by "stealing", I only mean stuff like using that function to draw rectangles instead of just cairo_rectangle, stuff that you suggested anyway... most of the original stuff you do for Murrine would be wrong for Rezlooks anyway.

Yeah, I'll chat to you on IRC sometime soon, we can discuss some things. I've been very busy with real life recently, haven't had a chance to do any work on Rezlooks for a while, I am still planning on releasing 0.7 at some point though... And yeah, that collaborative engine we talked about will be awesome smile

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#16 2006-10-06 17:33:24

Cimi
Member
From: Padova, Italy
Registered: 2006-01-16
Posts: 301
Website

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

rezza wrote:
Cimi wrote:

Yeah thanks! I think you can redraw buttons in rezlooks and use my function with CL_CORNER_NONE to get better look with squared theme.

Anyway what have you *stealed* from my works? yes i like that someone appreciate my works but it's always not fun thinking you've worked for days and someone *copy* your code. I hope this *steals* are originals since that could be an improvement not a simple copy! My engines are based on rezlooks/clearlooks but i've done a lot of original work for them!

"God bless opensource" as you said, I totally agree, expecially it the ways it comes with original things and not copies!

Hehehe, by "stealing", I only mean stuff like using that function to draw rectangles instead of just cairo_rectangle, stuff that you suggested anyway... most of the original stuff you do for Murrine would be wrong for Rezlooks anyway.

Yeah, I'll chat to you on IRC sometime soon, we can discuss some things. I've been very busy with real life recently, haven't had a chance to do any work on Rezlooks for a while, I am still planning on releasing 0.7 at some point though... And yeah, that collaborative engine we talked about will be awesome smile

Ok I just want to focus that murrine_rounded_rectangle has to be rewrite for with the next release of cairo (1.4.0) that will be released the next month will have a great performance improvement where lines are drawn aligned. In the current cairo version there's a bug in cairo_stroke which is twice slow than cairo_fill, so unless you fill the stroke of unaligned lines appears slow as aligned ones.
With next cairo release the "stroke bug" will be fixed and we'll have to rewrite function to get the new performance boost.

I had found occasionaly this bug yesterday when i was stripping down murrine toghether with benzea and thos, gnome developers.

If you see in the gnome cvs you'll find new fixing in a lot of engines that get twice as fast by implementing cairo_fill instead of cairo_stroke, waiting new cairo release for reverting it back...


Murrine Creator - GNOME Developer

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#17 2006-10-06 17:41:43

Cimi
Member
From: Padova, Italy
Registered: 2006-01-16
Posts: 301
Website

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

Howitzer wrote:

While your here, could you suggest a different setup Cimi86?
(Based on Murrine ofcourse big_smile )

(PS. You ever going to make KDE themes? sad )

A different setup for the xfce on arch?

These are my horrible Kde themes, I'm not good with KDE in theming. (Also because I don't like Kde)
http://cimi.netsons.org/pages/themes/kde.php


Murrine Creator - GNOME Developer

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#18 2006-10-22 14:48:07

TomE
Member
Registered: 2005-08-06
Posts: 164

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

I had go at a better wm theme (looks like a rounded Murrine) and made a quick wallpaper and splash.
200610152255561152x864scrotoi1.th.png
download

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#19 2006-10-27 21:25:46

neri
Forum Fellow
From: Victoria, Canada
Registered: 2003-05-04
Posts: 553

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

Allright, I know it's not pretty but the dbus move surprised me a bit so
I updated in a rush. I tried to figure the actual culprits but it didn't
quite work sad
so, the packages in this directory:
http://arch.justdreams.net/xfce4-pkgs/
are all recompiled and if you download all of them and reinstall xfce4 -
it will work. The version numbers haven't been updated but thes are
new packages!

   -neri

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#20 2006-11-07 02:44:33

neri
Forum Fellow
From: Victoria, Canada
Registered: 2003-05-04
Posts: 553

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

Updated to RC2:
New packages are in the still in the pkg directory:
http://arch.justdreams.net/xfce4-pkgs/

PKGBUILD files are here:
http://arch.justdreams.net/xfce4-4.4-rc2/

Changes:
most sources moved over to goodies.xfce.org/releases  (yeah)
some more plugins are available such as datetime and wavelan

   -neri

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#21 2006-11-07 05:34:12

AndyRTR
Developer
From: Magdeburg/Germany
Registered: 2005-10-07
Posts: 1,641

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

Can you please write down the build order for the most important packages and put it there: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Cat … Management

I've done this already for Gnome. Maybe more will follow. This can save me and other users a lot of trial and error resolving dependencies.

Thx.
AndyRTR

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#22 2006-11-07 06:50:36

neri
Forum Fellow
From: Victoria, Canada
Registered: 2003-05-04
Posts: 553

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

AndyRTR wrote:

Can you please write down the build order for the most important packages and put it there: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Cat … Management

I've done this already for Gnome. Maybe more will follow. This can save me and other users a lot of trial and error resolving dependencies.

hm, the whole xfce4 subdir is optimized for makeworld so that all dependencies get figured out automatically by the build script. I mean I can write down the order in which the script works down the directory. What do you need this list for, exactly?
It basically goes this way:
1. alphabetically
2. if package needs dependency it builds this first
3. goes back to alphabetical order

  -neri

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#23 2006-11-07 11:12:30

Romashka
Forum Fellow
Registered: 2005-12-07
Posts: 1,054

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

TomE wrote:

I had go at a better wm theme (looks like a rounded Murrine) and made a quick wallpaper and splash.

Very nice and clean theme!


to live is to die

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#24 2006-11-09 01:43:20

neri
Forum Fellow
From: Victoria, Canada
Registered: 2003-05-04
Posts: 553

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

I think I can put xfce4-4.4 into testing as soon as the next weekend. So getting the packages will become even easier.

    -neri

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#25 2006-12-13 20:14:16

Howitzer
Member
From: Belgium (Antwerp)
Registered: 2006-09-29
Posts: 43
Website

Re: The xfce-4.4 themes contest discussion

So ehh.
What theme won? big_smile

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