Strange text behaviour in Icon view.

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caz
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Strange text behaviour in Icon view.

Post by caz »

I've been having a problem with the icon view which I thought was related to the theme which I'm using, here's the original thread on the subject - http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=184691 - Further investigation has revealed that it may not be the theme causing the problem. I've discovered that although the text below the icons is white instead of black in all of the folder inside my Home folder if I copy and paste one of the folders onto the desktop then the text below the icon turns back to black. I have no idea as to why this is happening.

I can change to one of the Mint themes and the text is displayed in black inside and out of the Home folder but this screws with the Gimp theme I use, which appears to rely on the Aurora theme to function correctly.

So maybe it is still a problem with the theme but the behaviour of the text colour depending on whether it is in the Home folder or on the desktop does make me wonder what's going on.

I'm going to continue looking into this to see if I can find a solution. If anyone has any ideas as to what may be the cause I would much appreciate hearing them.

Running Mint 17.1 Mate desktop.
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DrHu

Re: Strange text behaviour in Icon view.

Post by DrHu »

Folder icon settings should be checked for colors fg/bg (foreground/background) + highlight (text colors..)

Pick a completely different theme and see if the behavior changes..
--not as you used in your linked posts; the gtk-engines-aurora theme

From your post in the link supplied..
I also have the same problem in Compact view but not in List view.
So list view is text only, and compact is icon view: suggesting something is incorrect for the icons set you have (comes from the supplied/used theme)

Other info
http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/ ... tent=56438
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2059896
http://www.webhostingsearch.com/article ... themes.php
--bunch of theme choices !
caz
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Re: Strange text behaviour in Icon view.

Post by caz »

Thanks for the info DRHu. I have tried a few different themes out but the only ones where the text under the icon is black are any of the Mint-X- themes, any other theme and the text is white. I have also tried many variations on the icon theme but this has no effect on the text colour being white.
If I use a dark theme, like Equinox Evolution Midnight, then the text below the icon is black, but to be honest I can't spend a long time with these dark themes as they're hard on my eyes.
I have also noticed that after spending some time changing the gtkrc Mint-X-Blue theme it too has decided to display the text as white instead of black. I removed any of the changes I made so it should still act as the other Mint-X- themes but for some reason it doesn't.

gtk_color_scheme = "fg_color:#212121\nselected_fg_color:#f5f5f5\ntext_color:#000000" # Foreground, text.
I assume that the ntext colour line refers to the colour of the icon text? not sure though.

I haven't been able to find the Folder icon settings you mention.
DrHu wrote:Folder icon settings should be checked for colors fg/bg (foreground/background) + highlight (text colors..)

!


Any pointers as to where this is are much appreciated.

Not sure if this is relevant but I have noticed a few other problems since updating to 17.1. I have tried out Compiz and although some of the effects work things like the cube and desktop wall refuse to. I have tried logging out and back in after changing the settings but to no avail.
I'm just starting to wonder if there is a bigger fault with my system than the text issue. Might need to go for a fresh install, not sure about that just yet.
Some stuff I made using FOSS http://caz747.deviantart.com/
DrHu

Re: Strange text behaviour in Icon view.

Post by DrHu »

Bigger fault: I think so
--since the normal behavior of a theme is missing from your setup

I personably don't bother with compiz setups and tend to avoid themes that are too colorful, because I find the standard theme (MintX) usually to be good enough
--I sometimes tweak the background color
  • But I have never found invisible text entries under icons or elsewhere, unless I had mangled the text highlight/background
    --and that usually happened because I was changing the terminal look (Linux 17 XFCE is the desktop I use..); I did sometimes get invisible text, but that was my fault, and easily fixed since I saw the problem immediately..
The fact that other themes -- although dark themes aren't the best choice as they tend to have shadow effects -- fail to display text correctly
--infers that the whole desktop is somehow mangled in this install ..
caz
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Re: Strange text behaviour in Icon view.

Post by caz »

Yes, I think you're right, it does appear as if there is a problem with the desktop setup. I will go for a fresh install of 17.1 and see if that cures the text and other issues.
Must admit I'm happy with the standard Mate desktop, Compiz is just one of those things that was there so I gave it a go out of curiosity.
Some stuff I made using FOSS http://caz747.deviantart.com/
Hoser Rob
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Re: Strange text behaviour in Icon view.

Post by Hoser Rob »

caz wrote:... I will go for a fresh install of 17.1 and see if that cures the text and other issues....
Very bad idea. Try and fix the problem first. I switched to Mint on 2 computers because Ubuntu 14.04 isn't as stable as it should be, and I'm sticking with 17.0.

And in general upgrading or installing a bunch of apps is not the way to solve problems without checking first.

The bottom line with Mate and themes seems to be to not install a shedload of themes that aren't designed for it, Unfortunately a lot of themes that don't work properly in Mate are nevertheless in the repos right in front of you in Synaptic.

I've seen a ton of stuff about problems with Mate and various gnome/gtk themes.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong - H. L. Mencken
caz
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Re: Strange text behaviour in Icon view.

Post by caz »

Thanks for the info, Houser Rob. I saw your post a bit too late though and have already downloaded and installed a fresh copy of 17.1, but alas the problem persists, still suffering from the same white text below the icons in my Home folder.
So as things stand at the moment the only themes that will display the text in the correct black colour are all of the Mint-X- themes that are available via Appearance Preferences. In the Customise Theme section under the Controls tab all of the Mint-X- themes display the text as black, but none of the other themes that come pre-installed with Mint 17.1 will show black text with the exception of the ThinIce theme. I have no idea as to why the ThinIce theme behaves correctly and the others don't but that's how things are working at the moment.

I'm wondering if someone else can try out some of the non Mint-X- themes to see if they get the same problem with the icon view inside their Home folder, then at least it can be confirmed, if not as a bug, then as a glitch with themes that are not designed for Mint.

My main reason for wanting to solve this problem and not just switch to one of the Mint-X- themes is the effect they have on the Gimp theme I use.
Screenshot.png
With Aurora theme set on controls.
Screenshot-1.png
Mint-X-Blue theme
Screenshot-2.png
ThinIce theme

The Mint-X- Blue theme completely kills the Gimp theme but ThinIce appears to salvage some of the original look. I might have a look at altering the ThinIce theme to see if I can get it to display Gimp the same way that the Aurora theme does. I'm always in slightly murky waters when I try making changes to gtkrc files though.

Might need to start this off as a new thread as it seems to be more to do with the Gimp theme than it was, I'll wait and see on that one.
Some stuff I made using FOSS http://caz747.deviantart.com/
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