Latest Greybird theme

[vasa1]

I'm thinking of trying this theme on my Xfce 4.10 sitting on 12.04 even though the link below refers to quantal. (I haven't tried any *bird theme before.)

I came across http://xubuntu.org/news/xubuntus-default-theme-gets-a-refresh-for-quantal/ which has a link to the tarball. Has anyone tried this out?

This quote promises interesting times ahead:
"After having had a tendency to soften colors and contrasts, I’ve decided to take a (bold?) step and counter this tendency. This is why the changes for the upcoming Quantal release might seem more drastic then between the releases before. After playing with it for a while, I realized that going this direction half-way wouldn’t work well, so while I’m aware that there might be quite a bit of whining (partly because people may miss the “old Greybird”, partly because change always provokes whining) I really hope that many and most of you will fall in love with the changes the way I did while working on it."

[Toz]

I've tried it out. It looks okay, but a little too bright for my liking. Note that the tarball referenced in that link doesn't work any more. You can grab the latest version directly from here: https://github.com/shimmerproject/Greybird/downloads.

[vasa1]

Thanks for the response and the link. I've downloaded it, extracted to .themes and installed it.

Now to play with it :)

[vasa1]

I'm obviously going to have a lot of questions!
My first one is this: In themerc, I want to turn off all shadows.
This one should be simple I hope:
title_shadow_active=true
I'm going to change it to false.

But I'm not sure about:
(in)active_text_shadow_color=#ececec
and
shadow_delta_height=2
shadow_delta_width=0
shadow_delta_x=0
shadow_delta_y=-10
shadow_opacity=50

Can I just delete those lines?

Edit: deleting doesn't break anything but it doesn't remove the shadow effect either.

[Toz]

If you have the compositor enabled (Settings Manager -> Window Manager Tweaks -> Compositor Tab), you can disable them there.

[vasa1]

If you have the compositor enabled (Settings Manager -> Window Manager Tweaks -> Compositor Tab), you can disable them there.
Will enabling the compositor make things more heavy? I had that impression and so I didn't want to.

In any case, it looks like even simple changes to themerc aren't working. I changed to another theme and back. Do I have to log out and log in? That would make tweaking more laborious.

[Toz]

The themerc file is only for the window manager (not appearance) configuration and to make it take effect, change the window manager theme away from and back to Greybird ('xfwm4 --replace' may also work - not tested).

As for the compositor, I'm not sure of the load it will carry, but I don't believe its alot. Its not as performance-heavy as compiz. Try enabling it and seeing.

[vasa1]

The themerc file is only for the window manager (not appearance) configuration and to make it take effect, change the window manager theme away from and back to Greybird ('xfwm4 --replace' may also work - not tested).

As for the compositor, I'm not sure of the load it will carry, but I don't believe its alot. Its not as performance-heavy as compiz. Try enabling it and seeing.

Good point! I was changing the appearance. I will try with the window manager. Now that you mention it, I remember you had pointed it out before as well. So most likely I won't have to enable compositing.

[vasa1]

Worked perfectly.

I also changed these two trues to false:
title_shadow_active=false
title_shadow_inactive=false

(I don't like text shadows anywhere. I've even disabled them globally in my browsers.)

Now to explore further. Mainly, I want to darken anything brighter than #BBBBBB.

[vasa1]

Editing just the first line of gtkrc
#gtk_color_scheme = "bg_color:#CECECE\nselected_bg_color:#398ee7\nbase_ color:#fcfcfc" # Background, base.
gtk_color_scheme = "bg_color:#999999\nselected_bg_color:#398ee7\nbase_ color:#aaaaaa" # Background, base.

has made Thunar to my liking.

[vasa1]

One task for the day is to sort out the title bars. I got the text color the way I want by editing themerc but I can't figure out whether it's possible to alter the background. Right now, it's pale grey with a gradient effect.
(I had the title bar sorted out in Ambiance and I may have kept notes.)

Other than that, I think I have my gtk2 stuff in order. gtk3 is pending :)

As a general observation, I feel that this gtk stuff is more complicated than web page css and browser chrome themes because in gtk, a lot of "elements" share the same "symbolic color". The knock-on effect of changing something can later be seen in an unexpected place.

And, in one case, I got the impression that only symbolic colors are accepted and not hex code or RGB or standard names.

[Toz]

One task for the day is to sort out the title bars. I got the text color the way I want by editing themerc but I can't figure out whether it's possible to alter the background. Right now, it's pale grey with a gradient effect.
These are made up of image files in the xfwm folder - you'll need to edit them individually to change the colour. For this particular theme, the image files for the title bar are only 1 pixel wide, so it makes it difficult to see. Have a look at some the other theme files and their xfwm folders for exampled.


(I had the title bar sorted out in Ambiance and I may have kept notes.)

Other than that, I think I have my gtk2 stuff in order. gtk3 is pending :)

As a general observation, I feel that this gtk stuff is more complicated than web page css and browser chrome themes because in gtk, a lot of "elements" share the same "symbolic color". The knock-on effect of changing something can later be seen in an unexpected place.

And, in one case, I got the impression that only symbolic colors are accepted and not hex code or RGB or standard names.

Yes I agree. There is also a lack of documentation on how to do this, so I find its more investigation than configuration.

[vasa1]

These are made up of image files in the xfwm folder - you'll need to edit them individually to change the colour. For this particular theme, the image files for the title bar are only 1 pixel wide, so it makes it difficult to see. Have a look at some the other theme files and their xfwm folders for exampled.

Yes I agree. There is also a lack of documentation on how to do this, so I find its more investigation than configuration.

Second point first: it's a relief that it's not just me :)
I was hoping to pick up some tips from here: http://worldofgnome.org/making-gtk3-themes-part-1-basics/

Re. the xfwm folder, thanks for the pointer. I will poke around there.

[vasa1]

Minor point about the title bar. The choices I have when I open Settings, Settings Manager, Window Manager are:
Default
Daloa
Greybird
Kokodi
Moheli

From my past experience with Ambiance, I remember being able to alter the color of the title bar relatively simply when I chose "Default". So I went back to Default instead of Greybird and the title bar color is controlled by selected_bg_color.

Edit:
I think Greybird is the only totally "problematic" one in this respect. The others do take up the selected_bg_color to a large extent.

[vasa1]

I've tried it out. It looks okay, but a little too bright for my liking. Note that the tarball referenced in that link doesn't work any more. You can grab the latest version directly from here: https://github.com/shimmerproject/Greybird/downloads.
@Toz, I've managed to darken it to my liking. I don't like bright stuff either.

[vasa1]

Incidentally, http://shimmerproject.org/ is currently down for everyone, not just me. Have they moved? (I got this link from the github page.)

[Toz]

Not just shimmerproject, but all of Xfce (Xfce.org, Xfce Forums, Xfce git). I wonder whats up?

[SantaFe]

No wonder I got It's not just you! http://www.xfce.org looks down from here on http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com

Boy, wish that had an easier web address. ;)

[vasa1]

No wonder I got It's not just you! http://www.xfce.org looks down from here on http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com

Boy, wish that had an easier web address. ;)
There is:
http://www.isup.me/ ;)

[vasa1]

I just solved a small issue.

Since my set-up is Xfce 4.10 on Ubuntu 12.04, I've gotten to like the overlay scrollbars on gtk3 apps (as expected) but also on Thunar.

With the Ambiance theme, both gtkrc and gtk-widgets.css had clear sections on the overlay scrollbar and I could tweak those sections.

But with Greybird, the gtkrc section is missing any mention of overlay scrollbars.

The workaround for that is to copy over

style "overlay_scrollbar"
{
bg[SELECTED] = shade (1.0, @selected_bg_color)
bg[INSENSITIVE] = shade (0.85, @bg_color)
bg[ACTIVE] = shade (0.6, @bg_color)
}

and
# Overlay scrollbar
widget_class "*<OsScrollbar>" style "overlay_scrollbar"
widget_class "*<OsThumb>" style "overlay_scrollbar"

from the Ambiance gtkrc and stick it into Greybird's gtkrc in roughly equivalent positions.

[vasa1]

Now I need to figure out how to tweak Sudoku's grid to make the squares we have to fill less white (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=12055099&postcount=1).

[SantaFe]

Ask and Ye shall receive! Thanks for the link!:D

And Xfce is back up now. ;) Still wondering why no announcement on the forums as to why it was down. {sniff} ;)

[vasa1]

I tried to post a comment on the http://shimmerproject.org/ site but I get "Dang, you didn't check the box indicating you are human". Dang!

[vasa1]

Is ~/.themes/Greybird/gtk-3.0/settings.ini functional? I can put any colors in there without any effect at all.
What is its purpose?
IIRC, it was functional in 11.04 (and maybe even 11.10).

[Toz]

Is ~/.themes/Greybird/gtk-3.0/settings.ini functional? I can put any colors in there without any effect at all.
What is its purpose?
IIRC, it was functional in 11.04 (and maybe even 11.10).

Should be. Do you have a theme called Greybird in /usr/share/themes? If so, maybe that one is taking precedence.

[vasa1]

Should be. Do you have a theme called Greybird in /usr/share/themes? If so, maybe that one is taking precedence.

No, I don't have a Greybird in /usr/themes. I unpacked this one into ~/.themes. And, I understand that anything in ~/.themes should take precedence over anything in /usr/share/themes.

BTW, as I mentioned a couple of posts earlier, I can't post a comment on this site:
http://shimmerproject.org/project/greybird/. The last entry (by Simon Steinbeiß) was on January 4, 2012. So maybe it's not just me? I get a Word Press error about not proving I'm human. I've even accessed that page with another browser and no ad or script or plug-in blockers of any sort.

[Toz]

I was going to suggest the #shimmer IRC channel, but I see you're already there.

EDIT: Just had a thought - the gtk3.0 config files only affect gtk3 apps. Are you testing the changes on a gtk3 app?

[vasa1]

I was going to suggest the #shimmer IRC channel, but I see you're already there.

EDIT: Just had a thought - the gtk3.0 config files only affect gtk3 apps. Are you testing the changes on a gtk3 app?

This is aesthetically offensive but I wanted to see a difference!

[Settings]
gtk-color-scheme = "base_color:green\nbg_color:#cecece\ntooltip_bg_col or:#000000\nselected_bg_color:#398ee7\ntext_color: #000000\nfg_color:#3c3c3c\ntooltip_fg_color:#e1e1e 1\nselected_fg_color:green\nlink_color:#2c82dd"
gtk-auto-mnemonics = 1
And here's an image of gedit and its help screen:

[vasa1]

Couple of points ...

Greybird recently became available via ppa (http://www.webupd8.org/2012/08/greybird-default-xubuntu-theme-gets.html) and the authors feel it can be used for DEs other than Xfce as well.

The other is that, depending on circumstances, it is possible to avoid the use of .gtkrc-2.0 for doing stuff like that described by VTPoet in Changing Desktop Tile/Grid Spacing (Placement of Icons) (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=12196490#post12196490).
Those entries can be placed in the Greybird's gtkrc file itself.

Other entries related to the panels can be found and modified if needed (or entered de novo) in xfce-panel.rc.

[Toz]

The other is that, depending on circumstances, it is possible to avoid the use of .gtkrc-2.0 for doing stuff like that described by VTPoet in Changing Desktop Tile/Grid Spacing (Placement of Icons) (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=12196490#post12196490).
Those entries can be placed in the Greybird's gtkrc file itself.

I'm not a fan of editing the theme file directly because there is a chance that on an update, the file (and your changes) will get over-written. Better options include making a copy of the theme files and editing the copy, or placing the changes in /etc/gtk-2.0/gtkrc or /etc/gtk-3.0/* for system-wide effect.

For single-user changes, ~/.gtkrc-2.0 & ~/.config/gtk-3.0/* is the correct place to make the edits.

[vasa1]

I'm not a fan of editing the theme file directly because there is a chance that on an update, the file (and your changes) will get over-written. Better options include making a copy of the theme files and editing the copy, or placing the changes in /etc/gtk-2.0/gtkrc or /etc/gtk-3.0/* for system-wide effect.

For single-user changes, ~/.gtkrc-2.0 & ~/.config/gtk-3.0/* is the correct place to make the edits.

But isn't it that the updates will affect only themes in /usr/share/themes and not those in ~/.themes?

While installing via the ppa, I don't think I was offered a destination. It installed in /usr/share/themes.

What I did then was to copy over the folder to ~/.themes where I renamed it to MyGreybird. I can mess around with that knowing that the original is always available in /usr/share/themes.

The ppa has updated twice already and it affects only the theme in /usr/share/themes.

My thinking behind not using .gtkrc-2.0 is that that file is available to any theme. And sometimes I log into a Unity session and use the Ambiance theme which I've set up differently.

(I think there's a way around that by adding theme-specific suffixes to .gtkrc-2.0.)

[Toz]

Yes you are right - updates won't affect themes in ~/.themes. Copying them over to ~/.themes is a good idea.

I haven't come across any options for theme-specific settings in .gtkrc-2.0. That would be interesting though.

[vasa1]

...
I haven't come across any options for theme-specific settings in .gtkrc-2.0. That would be interesting though.

I'll try to describe what I mean by that. Let's say I have some Greybird-specific content I want to include in .gtkrc-2.0. Instead of doing so, I put the content in another file called /home/vasa1/.gtkrc.greybird. And then include just a line such as:

include "/home/vasa1/.gtkrc.greybird"
in .gtkrc-2.0.

GNOME Color Chooser does something like that as well. It creates a file called ".gtkrc-2.0-gnome-color-chooser" and modifies .gtkrc-2.0 to "include" it.

I guess the downside will be having to comment out the unwanted "include" when some other theme is to be used.

[vasa1]

I'm attaching an image of part of Thunar's window. I want to know the technical name of the part marked red.

[Toz]

Its the GTKTreeView widget. Here is the relevant code from the Bluebird theme:



style "murrine-treeview-header" = "murrine-button"
{
xthickness = 2
ythickness = 1

bg[NORMAL] = shade (1.14, @bg_color) # Color for treeview headers.
bg[PRELIGHT] = shade (0.98, @bg_color) # Color for treeview header prelight.
bg[ACTIVE] = shade (0.85, @bg_color) # Color for pressed-treeview.

engine "murrine"
{
roundness = 0 # This makes treeview progressbars square.
}
}


widget_class "*.<GtkTreeView>.<GtkButton>" style "murrine-treeview-header"

[vasa1]

Its the GTKTreeView widget. Here is the relevant code from the Bluebird theme:
...
Thanks a lot. :)

That was one of the few remaining aspects that was bugging me.

[vasa1]

I was going nuts trying to compare the changes I make relative to the Greybird ppa each time it (it = ppa) updates.

Then I came across sdiff.

Now I use, for example,

alias diffgtkr='sdiff -s --width=148 /usr/share/themes/greybird-git/gtk-2.0/gtkrc /home/vasa1/.themes/NewGreybird/gtk-2.0/gtkrc > ~/Desktop/gtkrc-diff'

Then I can view the output in gedit (with wrapping turned off).