Theme inconsistencies???

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NyxPDX

Theme inconsistencies???

Post by NyxPDX »

Okay, bear with me here folks, as this is going to take a bit of explaining, but my personality being the way it is these little details bother me to no end.

I've been searching for a theme for XFCE that I'm fond of, and I've found a few, but I've noticed some inconsistencies with how they get applied and I'm not really sure how to alter the themes to make them work how I want.

Here's what I'm talking about... some themes seem to apply graphic elements uniformly across windows, while others seem to only apply to certain types of windows and leave other windows at what looks like default settings. Here's an example (look at the scrollbars in particular):

Orta theme:
Image

Adwaita theme:
Image

Can I just change a gtkrc file somewhere in the theme to have it applied correctly, or is this more involved? Anybody know? Any theme developers on here?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
caribriz

Re: Theme inconsistencies???

Post by caribriz »

Hi NyxPDX ... and welcome to the Linux Mint forums :)

Where have you stored the themes you have downloaded?

I don't know if this is the problem ....
but if themes you download are stored in /home/username/.themes, the applications that you open as administrator (root)
- like Software Manager, or Synaptic Package Manager for example - won't display the same as if they were stored in /usr/share/themes.
Software Manager will look just like the picture of Orta theme you posted.

Adwaita is one of the themes that comes with the install, and is stored in /usr/share/themes so looks "uniform" when opening all apps.

To remedy this you can either move your downloaded themes to /usr/share/themes (as root) ...
or can do this - create a link between the ~/.themes folder and /usr/share/themes folder
(you only have to do this once, it will apply to any themes stored in the ~/.themes folder). Then you don't have to move them.

Open a terminal, and enter:

Code: Select all

sudo ln -s ~/.themes /root/.themes
press enter

Then the themes stored in /home/username/.themes should have the same uniform look as Mint-X and Adwaita.
eanfrid

Re: Theme inconsistencies???

Post by eanfrid »

Also notice that you have to carefully choose themes which are compatible with the current versions of GTK2/GTK3 libraries installed on your system. Too old or too new, that can behave strangely or look weird.
NyxPDX

Re: Theme inconsistencies???

Post by NyxPDX »

caribriz wrote:Hi NyxPDX ... and welcome to the Linux Mint forums :)
Thanks! :) Not new to Linux by any means (CS degree, been working as a Sys Admin for 8 years), but new to Mint. Used Ubuntu on and off personally for years, but went with Mint this time because, A) I think Ubuntu is getting a little big for their britches so to speak, and B) it's for my mom, and Unity is too dissimilar from the Windows she knows. </backstory>
Where have you stored the themes you have downloaded?

I don't know if this is the problem ....
but if themes you download are stored in /home/username/.themes, the applications that you open as administrator (root)
- like Software Manager, or Synaptic Package Manager for example - won't display the same as if they were stored in /usr/share/themes.
Software Manager will look just like the picture of Orta theme you posted.
BOOM! You nailed it! Moved the folder over to /usr/share/themes and all is right with the world. I shoulda know it was just a permissions thing, as much as I run into it on the servers I deal with. Lol!

Thanks caribriz
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