Wrong background color for google desktop tray icon

[scotty2718]

WORKAROUND FOR GMAIL-NOTIFY 1.6.1 TRAY ICON BACKGROUND COLOR NOT MATCHING GNOME PANEL IN UBUNTU 10.04

The problem can be fixed by changing the icons to match the new system theme.

The icons can be found in /usr/share/apps/gmail-notify. The icons that set the tray icon are icon.png (red) and icon2.png (blue). Both have transparent backgrounds, but that doesn't appear to be working with the notification applet. You can either manually change the icons with the ones included in the "new-icons.tar.gz" file or follow the terminal instructions below.

I've included instructions below:

Download the attached new-icons.tar.gz file and extract the contents to the desktop. To extract the contents, first move "new-icons.tar.gz" to your desktop, right click the icon, and then choose "extract here." A new folder called "new-icons" should now be visible on your desktop.

Before continuing, make sure the desktop has a new directory named "new-icons" with two pictures inside (icon.png and icon2.png).

Now run the following commands one at a time in the terminal:

mkdir ~/Desktop/original-icons
cd /usr/share/apps/gmail-notify
cp icon.png icon2.png ~/Desktop/original-icons
cd ~/Desktop/new-icons
sudo cp icon.png icon2.png /usr/share/apps/gmail-notify
cd ~/Desktop/new-icons
rm icon.png icon2.png
rmdir ~/Desktop/new-icons

Alternatively, you could run the bash script I attached. Note, the script has to be run after the "new-icons" directory exists.

How to run the script:
0) Make sure the "new-icons" folder is on your desktop
1) Download the "icon-change.sh" file and put it on the desktop.
2) Right click the file and choose properties.
3) Click on the "permissions" tab and check "allow executing file as program".
4) Double click the file.
5) When the dialog box pops up, choose "run in terminal"

So, what just happened? Well, three things.

1) The icons in the gmail-notify have been replaced with the ones in the "new-icons" folder.

2) The old icons have been backup up in the folder "original-icons" that is now on your desktop.

3) The "new-icons" folder you extracted earlier has been deleted.

It may take some time for the notifier icon to change (you have to wait until it checks for mail again). You could always restart the application or click the "Check now" button if you want it to change immediately.

[Knacker]

Just so that the above post doesn't cause anyone any confusion: please note that this is not a work around for the problem discussed in this thread. This is a fix for Gmail-Notify and has nothing to do (as far as I can tell) with google-desktop icon problem...which is still very much broken.

WORKAROUND FOR GMAIL-NOTIFY 1.6.1 TRAY ICON BACKGROUND COLOR NOT MATCHING GNOME PANEL IN UBUNTU 10.04

The problem can be fixed by changing the icons to match the new system theme.

The icons can be found in /usr/share/apps/gmail-notify. The icons that set the tray icon are icon.png (red) and icon2.png (blue). Both have transparent backgrounds, but that doesn't appear to be working with the notification applet. You can either manually change the icons with the ones included in the "new-icons.tar.gz" file or follow the terminal instructions below.

I've included instructions below:

Download the attached new-icons.tar.gz file and extract the contents to the desktop. To extract the contents, first move "new-icons.tar.gz" to your desktop, right click the icon, and then choose "extract here." A new folder called "new-icons" should now be visible on your desktop.

Before continuing, make sure the desktop has a new directory named "new-icons" with two pictures inside (icon.png and icon2.png).

Now run the following commands one at a time in the terminal:

mkdir ~/Desktop/original-icons
cd /usr/share/apps/gmail-notify
cp icon.png icon2.png ~/Desktop/original-icons
cd ~/Desktop/new-icons
sudo cp icon.png icon2.png /usr/share/apps/gmail-notify
cd ~/Desktop/new-icons
rm icon.png icon2.png
rmdir ~/Desktop/new-icons

Alternatively, you could run the bash script I attached. Note, the script has to be run after the "new-icons" directory exists.

How to run the script:
0) Make sure the "new-icons" folder is on your desktop
1) Download the "icon-change.sh" file and put it on the desktop.
2) Right click the file and choose properties.
3) Click on the "permissions" tab and check "allow executing file as program".
4) Double click the file.
5) When the dialog box pops up, choose "run in terminal"

So, what just happened? Well, three things.

1) The icons in the gmail-notify have been replaced with the ones in the "new-icons" folder.

2) The old icons have been backup up in the folder "original-icons" that is now on your desktop.

3) The "new-icons" folder you extracted earlier has been deleted.

It may take some time for the notifier icon to change (you have to wait until it checks for mail again). You could always restart the application or click the "Check now" button if you want it to change immediately.

[Knacker]

though it seems like google is paying, and intends to pay zero attention to google-desktop on linux, i've posted questions/requests on the google group for google-desktop on linux...

i hope i described the problem correctly:

http://groups.google.com/group/googl...bcc6bdb62d7583

[florin-ganea]

Well... it's within Google application; no workaround spotted.

I did the following:
- thunderbird (3.1.2) with firetray (0.2.8) add-on
- I changed in firetray configuration the icon both to:
---- /opt/google/desktop/resource/gdl_large.png
and
---- /opt/google/desktop/resource/gdl_small.png
In both cases the icon was shown perfectly. Therefore the problem is not in icons, nor in notification area, nor in gnome, nor in gtk.

So, unless Google fixes it or someone likes to decompile GDS... we need to live with it.

All the best,
Florin

[florin-ganea]

I have performed further testing... and it might be the case that also the theme (controls part) has something wrong.

I noticed that the GDS icon is displayed perfectly in the following themes (controls):
- clearlooks
- clearlooks classic
- crux
- dust sand
- high contrast - all
- industrial
- inverted
- mist
- qtcurve
- raleigh
- redmond
- simple
- thin ice

Other themes display the GDS icon wrong:
- ambiance
- dust
- new wave - all
- radiance

All the best,
Florin

[fpoehler]

The themes that work should be the ones which have the same panel background as normal application windows. That's why the problem is not apparent there. However, newer themes often use a different color or a background image for the panel.

The fix is to apply the panel's properties (background color or background image) to GtkPlug widget class, which is not considered in most stock themes.

Steps:

1. Find out your panel's background color or the path to its background image (in case it has one).
   For the color the hexadecimal value is needed (e.g. "#A1B2C3).
   The image in most cases resides in /usr/share/themes/<Your_Theme's_Name>/gtk-2.0/ or a subfolder of that.
   
   For Radiance theme it is
   

   /usr/share/themes/Radiance/gtk-2.0/apps/img/panel.png

2. (In case there is a background image) copy the background image to your home folder (or a subfolder of your home folder).
3. Open (or create) the file named ".gtkrc-2.0" in your home folder.
4. Copy the following into the file:
   

   style "GoogleDesktopIconFix" {
       # In case your panel has a background image, add this line
       bg_pixmap[NORMAL] = "subfolder/panel.png"     # replace "panel.png" with the actual file name or (relative) path
   
       #In case your panel has no background image, add this line
       bg[NORMAL] = "#000000"              # replace "#000000" with your color value
   }
   class "*oPlug"    style "GoogleDesktopIconFix"

5. Open a terminal and type

   pkill gnome-panel

6. enjoy

[Zaff]

The themes that work should be the ones which have the same panel background as normal application windows. That's why the problem is not apparent there. However, newer themes often use a different color or a background image for the panel.

The fix is to apply the panel's properties (background color or background image) to GtkPlug widget class, which is not considered in most stock themes.

Steps:

1. Find out your panel's background color or the path to its background image (in case it has one).
   For the color the hexadecimal value is needed (e.g. "#A1B2C3).
   The image in most cases resides in /usr/share/themes/<Your_Theme's_Name>/gtk-2.0/ or a subfolder of that.
   
   For Radiance theme it is
   

   /usr/share/themes/Radiance/gtk-2.0/apps/img/panel.png

2. (In case there is a background image) copy the background image to your home folder (or a subfolder of your home folder).
3. Open (or create) the file named ".gtkrc-2.0" in your home folder.
4. Copy the following into the file:
   

   style "GoogleDesktopIconFix" {
       # In case your panel has a background image, add this line
       bg_pixmap[NORMAL] = "subfolder/panel.png"     # replace "panel.png" with the actual file name or (relative) path
   
       #In case your panel has no background image, add this line
       bg[NORMAL] = "#000000"              # replace "#000000" with your color value
   }
   widget "GtkPlug"    style "GoogleDesktopIconFix"

5. Open a terminal and type

   pkill gnome-panel

6. enjoy

Would this work for wine applications ? I'm running spotify and it's the only icon still having this problem (banshee used to do the same in 10.04 but it's not anymore).
I'll look into it but if anyone knows how to fix spotify's icon in the tray that'd be great.

[fpoehler]

Unfortunately I can't answer your question since I don't have Wine applications in use.
I suggest you simply try it out. It does not take you longer than 2 minutes and if it does not work for you, just delete the image and the .gtkrc-2.0 file (or undo the changes if the file was already there), restart the gnome panel and you're done.

[Zaff]

Unfortunately I can't answer your question since I don't have Wine applications in use.
I suggest you simply try it out. It does not take you longer than 2 minutes and if it does not work for you, just delete the image and the .gtkrc-2.0 file (or undo the changes if the file was already there), restart the gnome panel and you're done.

Just tried it, doesn't look like it's working though, could be a wine problem. Not too concerned about it, just thought I'd give it a shot.
Thanks.

[fpoehler]

Maybe the icon itself has no transparent background. In that case, the only way is to replace it with another icon that does have a transparent background.