HOWTO: Make QT apps look more Gnome'ish

[FLeiXiuS]

Ever wonder how to get your QT/KDE applications to look more "gnome-like"? Well now this is the answer you've been waiting for.

Kassetra was greatly angered after installing skype and noticing how large and UGLY everything really was. No offense to KDE users, BUT WOW! It was horrible. So whats the solution?

Polymer QT Theme
This sorta looks exactly like gnomes clearlooks. So users will enjoy what they see.

Before / After Screenshots Below!

ALRIGHT LETS DO IT
Note: The "$" symbol denotes a terminal command.

1.) You will need to install qt3-qtconfig in order to change the styles.

$ sudo apt-get install qt3-qtconfig

2.) Now it's time to install the theme. Lucky I have created a binary package this way you don't have to go through and download the thousands of KDE/QT libs.

HOARY USERS
$ wget http://fleixius.com/files/downloads/polymer-0.3.1_0.3.1-1_i386.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i polymer-0.3.1_0.3.1-1_i386.deb

BREEZY USERS
$ wget http://fleixius.com/files/downloads/polymer-0.3.2_0.3.2-1_i386.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i polymer-0.3.2_0.3.2-1_i386.deb

3.) Lastly install msttcorefonts. (This are not required but it makes the style look SMOOTH!)

$ sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts

4.) Now that the files are installed lets get to the config!

$ qtconfig

5.) Lets change the font before hand to make it look even sweeter in the end. I decided to use Trebuchet MS 10pt. Make the following changes...

-Default Font-
Family: Trebuchet MS
Style: Normal
Point Size: 10

6.) Time to make it SCHAWEET! Click on the Library Paths tab. In the input-box at the bottom enter "/usr/plugins" then click add.

7.) Now in the Appearance tab, select Polymer as your GUI style.


8.) Sweet eh? Got to File>Save. Exit the program and your almost done!


Another great benefit of this theme is that it has TRANSPARENCY!!

$ polymer-config

Down around the bottom you'll see "KDE Style Settings", chagne the "Transparency Engine" to "Software Tint" and then close the application. You will be prompted to save, click yes of course.

How sweet is that?

EDIT: For other KDE applications, you'll need kcontrol.
(Credits: GilGalad)

1.) Instal kControl

$ sudo apt-get install kcontrol

2.) Configuring the new theme.

$ kcontrol

3.) Click "Appearance" then "Style". From here select the "Polymer" theme. Save and exit.


Before


After



Credits:
Kassetra: For the motivation of installing over 30megs of QT/KDE libraries and for 2 hours on skype . I have screenshots to prove it... She also found Polymer, so give a w00t w00t when you see her.
Polymer Project: http://static.int.pl/~mig21/dev/rele...r/#screenshots
KDE: Thanks for providing so many libraries to install!!!


EDIT: Step 7 added and fixed the msstcorefonts -- Breezy/Hoary Debs

[MBro]

Good work, Stop those things from looking but ugly

[benplaut]

typo:

msttcorefonts instead of msstcorefonts

great tutorial... i was using a jerry-rigged solution with a bit of tweaking in qtconfigm but this makes it look alot better

[celticmonkey]

This worked great. Skype really didn't look right before. Now it looks fantastic!

[crvendramini]

Great job!!!

[Baltor]

This is really awesome! I can finally stand to look at my qt apps.

[dbeckham32]

Great tweak!! All bow and pay homage to FLeiXiuS!

fleixius-
I owe u a six pack for this one.
-arnieboy

[Remix_88]

Great HOW-TO!

I was using a manually hacked '~/.qt/qtrc' to get my QT apps looking a little less ugly. This is a much nicer solution and I still don't need to install any kdelibs or kcontrol, Yah!

The Polymer theme is a nice find. 'esvn' and 'lincvs' (the only QT apps I use) look pretty now so I am a very happy man

[idn]

Awesome



You could always use gizmo project instead of skype, that uses gtk so integrates into your desktop really well.



Also the UI is much better than skype's