Making GTK applications look good

[sempsteen]

Hi everyone,
Because I'm spending lots of time by using my computer appearance is very important for me. I'm a KDE user but not every application is built on KDE. My GTK based applications were looking bad but finally today I managed to fix it. I'm going to write here so that maybe it can help others like me. It is very easy.

First emerge these two packages:

• x11-themes/gtk-engines-qtcurve
  x11-themes/qtcurve-qt4

Then create a file named ".gtkrc-2.0" in your home directory put this line in it:

• include "/usr/share/themes/QtCurve/gtk-2.0/gtkrc"

That's all!

References:

• Gentoo KDE 4.1 Guide - Hints
  TIP Change Appearance of GTK Applications
  GTK Engines and Themes * seems like a good read but i haven't read yet

[timeBandit]

Moved from Desktop Environments to Documentation, Tips & Tricks.

[notHerbert]

Thanks sempsteen, nice howto.

I like to also set the font so my .gtkrc-2.0 looks like this

Code: Select all

$ cat .gtkrc-2.0
include "/usr/share/themes/Qt/gtk-2.0/gtkrc"

style "user-font"
{
    font_name="Dejavu Sans 10"
}
widget_class "*" style "user-font"

gtk-theme-name="Qt"
gtk-font-name="Dejavu Sans 10"

[bblount]

Could you post some screenshots?

[sempsteen]

Could you post some screenshots?

Sorry for the late reply. Here are the screenshots:

• before
• after

[sempsteen]

Thanks sempsteen, nice howto.

I like to also set the font so my .gtkrc-2.0 looks like this

Code: Select all

$ cat .gtkrc-2.0
include "/usr/share/themes/Qt/gtk-2.0/gtkrc"

style "user-font"
{
    font_name="Dejavu Sans 10"
}
widget_class "*" style "user-font"

gtk-theme-name="Qt"
gtk-font-name="Dejavu Sans 10"

Thanks for the info notHerbert.

[notHerbert]

Sure, no problem.

Here is another screenshot that shows the Gtk-2.0-Qt theme.

[timeBandit]

Here is another screenshot ....

Nice cow.
Looks related to Larry.

[bblount]

Thanks for the screenshots, great tip.

[notHerbert]

In fact if you emerge gtk-engines-qt, any of the Gtk themes can be set via GUI in the menu of KDE and Gnome.

[Sotol]

Did you grab gtk-engines-qt from an overlay? The one in portage only seems to support kde 3.5.

[shickapooka800]

this strikes me as a bit opinionized. here is a meta-tip for looking good with gtk:

emerge --search engines

pick some random ones and emerge them.

emerge gtk-chtheme

run gtk-chtheme

flip through the gtk themes until you are blue in the face.

[notHerbert]

Did you grab gtk-engines-qt from an overlay? The one in portage only seems to support kde 3.5.

I'm referring to x11-themes/gtk-engines-qt from portage, which may well not function in KDE-4. I don't know. I'm waiting for KDE-4.2.2-r2.

this strikes me as a bit opinionized. here is a meta-tip for looking good with gtk:

Well of course, choice of themes, wm, etc... can't be anything more than personal taste.

I think sempsteen's point was just to throw some ideas out there, good for me.

Thanks for your meta-tip, I'm going to try it right now.



Hmmmm

Code: Select all

$ gtk-chtheme

(gtk-chtheme:10525): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Segmentation fault

[shickapooka800]

what gtk-chtheme are you running and what arch?

[notHerbert]

This is ARCH=x86 x11-themes/gtk-chtheme-0.3.1-r1

I do get the GUI but it segfaults when I click on a theme.

I was thinking just the other day that it would be nice to have a Gtk theme changer, but I was unaware of gtk-chtheme. I tried re-emerging gtk-engines.

[shickapooka800]

This is ARCH=x86 x11-themes/gtk-chtheme-0.3.1-r1

I do get the GUI but it segfaults when I click on a theme.

I was thinking just the other day that it would be nice to have a Gtk theme changer, but I was unaware of gtk-chtheme. I tried re-emerging gtk-engines. :cry:

hmmm I have the same version, but am using amd64 arch. there is a gtk-chthtme-0.3.1.ebuild in the tree, maybe try that one? it is small, maybe you could compile it by hand (maybe with some debug options) and send a backtrace of the crash to the developer (or gentoo bugzilla).

edit: I assure you, this is THE gtk theme changer that people use all the time, so it should work just fine. maybe re-merge the apps in the DEPEND and RDEPEND list in the gtk-chthtme ebuild (looks like >=gtk+-2 and pkgconfig...... and its not pkgconfig's fault...)....
what are your USE flags that GTK+ cares about?

another idea: compile gtk+ with debug USE flag, then run gtk-chthtme in gdb and run a backtrace when it crashes. gtk-chthtme itself doesn't seem to be affected by the debug USE flag, so either adjust the ebuild and digest it, or compile gtk-chtheme by hand with ./configure --enable-debug. when it crashes in gdb, run `bt full' and either read through the output yourself, or post a bug with it.

[Sadako]

this strikes me as a bit opinionized.

++

It's kinda suggesting that the only way gtk+ can look good is by emulating kde/qt, which is just inviting yet another flamewar on that issue...

I prefer gtk-chtheme too, but you can try lxappearance instead, which is actively developed (gtk-chtheme hasn't seen any updates in over 4 years...), doesn't have any gnome dependencies either and also lets you browse and set your gtk icon theme(s).

[notHerbert]

Here is another screenshot ....

Nice cow.
Looks related to Larry.

Yep, I wonder who drewed em.