A straight & subtotal dark theme, with a focus on a quiet look and compatibility with openoffice, web-browsers, web-sites, evolution, thunderbird etc...
> > > >feedback wanted< < < <
-code completely reworked and rewritten- -newest svn-murrine-engine strongly recommended-
original great wallpaper from cb2k is here: http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php/White+Tiger?content=91800
original great Emerald-theme can be found here: http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php/mac%27a%27like?content=91867
The Icons are a mix I made between the "Smokikon 0.9", "Black&White2" and the "MinimalPerception"-Icon-Set and some icons i made myself. As soon I published them, I will put here the link.
I use the newest Cairo-Dock from svn with openGL. Installation-guide for svn-version is here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=993952&page=3
thx to thuban who made an openbox-version, d-link below
I'm working on it, check for updates and ENJOY!Last changelog:
v0.7.3 -workaround for compiz config settings manager, that way options are readable again -desktop-applet got a better text-entry
v0.7.2 -found better solution for removing ugly murrine dots from selected items -fixed several invisible text / arrows-issues in widgets and lists -slight modification of scrollbar
v0.7.1 -important fix-
-commented out "style = MURRINE" option, which leads to conflicts under different murrine-engine-versions (thx to tksmashiw for his very useful hint)
-added a great new feature: mozilla-browsers got own check- and radio-buttons that fit better with most web-sites out there
-fixed notify-widgets background color on non ubuntu-boxes (it was white, should be gray now)
Everything is perfect, except for the emerald theme. I cannot install it. It is a .tar.bz2 file. I've tried many things, even renaming the file to .emerald, but it doesn't work.
Sorry, I like former scrollbar style, it's too common...
Tips for users: If you use Murrine which is newer than revision 64, widgets are ugly and you may get a warning like this.
"error: unexpected identifier `style', expected character `}'"
In such case, open terminal and try this.
sed -r -i~ 's@style(\s+=\s+MURRINE)@profile\1@g' .themes/TheGreyhoundTheme_v0.7/gtk-2.0/gtkrc
i confess that i am also not quite satisfied with the scrollbar yet, but i was not satisfied with the old one either... i am trying to make a new one...
any suggestions welcome :)
I had been using the previous version. When I downloaded 0.6.2, it was a tar.bz2 file, which displays error messages when I try to install it from the Appearance dialog.
this is probably due to your murrine-engine-version. it should work with 0.5.6
but it def. will work with svn-version 0.6.
try if the theme 'dust' works on your machine.. if not than update your murrine-engine. good luck
ah good news!
how did u install it? what went wrong?
i always test my themes myself before publishing, but i am depending on those reports to know of errors i am not conscious of...
No idea what when wrong or how the error got corrected. But the error message with the earlier version read something like "Cannot write directory over directory". (Preferences->Appearance->Install->selected tar.bz2 file.)
As you asked, there is a few think I noticed :
Text in notifications can't be read. (for guake, It use Libnotify I think...)
The same thing in Mplayer to choose skins
Scrollbar seems enormous compared to buttons of the scrollbar.
Thank you for transmission and the link ;)
Just a small question. Would you change progressbar in transmission : they are blue and flat.
The other prograssbar are black and grey, and animated, they look very fine! but in transmission (maybe other programs?)...
Good luck for your work!
I tried to make an openbox theme matching with your gtk theme.
If you want to add a link :
http://www.box-look.org/content/show.php?content=96078
If you want me to remove it, or have any suggestions, do not hesitate!
Hey guy,
I just reinstalled murrine svn and all is working well.
sorry to have put you through this!
next time a second look at the install should prevent me from complaining too soon :)
thanks again for the time and I do like the theme.
i find that creating dark themes are the most difficult..values matching..proper hues etc etc.
coz
hey guy,
Ok here is the terminal readout when having gcalctool opened and switching to greyhound;
error: unexpected identifier `gradient_shades', expected character `}'
Also , no none of the dust themes work either with similar errors;;
error: unexpected identifier `colorize_scrollbar', expected character `}'
coz
Well, dark themes tend to be done by younger kids and newborn adults that focus on how the screen looks when they are 4 inches from it. That hurts their overall color scheme as they must feel that it looks good up close so it should look good farther away.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Dark schemes tend to overdo the dark aspect without contrasting colors. Examples are light gray text on the menus or on white backgrounds. That simply dulls or makes it look faded. It doesn't help with the eye-hand coordination. We don't want to think about what we are clicking on, we just want it to be a semi-visual key as to which to pick.
For instance, even though blue is used they tend to forget that the inverse of blue is yellow and that to put a dark gray or red selector doesn't help at all in determining what we have clicked on. You put white on black or black on white but never gray on white or yellow on white.
This theme tends to cover that though the yellows aren't used as an inverse of blue. Even so, what has been done with it makes the scheme more consistent.
The dark scrollbars does affect the theme negatively. It should be a gray background with a ligher scrollbar, even a blue one would work, though blue doesn't really fit. Even so, a change is necessary to make the scroll bar more visible than it is now.
I think, from my initial review of it that's where this theme stands. In the past week I have looked at so many dark themes that finding one like this is a real pleasure. I can't tell you how many times dark black has been set as the backdrop to some other dark color, making it unusable.
thank you very much for your review!
you are right: scrollbars have to be changed and they will. this is an interim solution till i got the time to do them with inkscape or with murrine, but the last things i tried were not nice. so this is indeed a weak point.
and yes, i am really trying hard to take care of nice contrasts, that is were the most work goes, but you will still find occasionally a semi-white button with white text, especially on web-sites,
i am working on it though and think to have fixed this issues with release version 0.7
thx for your time :)
byebye!
I noticed in pidgin that the name at the top (the name of the person I'm chatting with) is black on dark gray (not so dark black). Also, I noticed the progress bar in the copy files dialog is black color on dark so I have to take a focused look just to see how far it has progressed. Also, the lower right hand corner of the windows normally where you'd see something indicating resize (not the mouse pointer) -- you can see it in other dark themes-- you might want to have something there.
I think your choice of icon themes isn't to my tastes. What I am finding is that with these themes we have theme designers actually altering the icon theme choice. As an FYI, I chose mine for a reason. That means that the theme designer would make me happier if they didn't alter my choice. If I'm correct it is possible to create the color portion of the theme, without the need to require any icons (in other words, just forget to reference the icons). Unfortunately I have no knowledge about how to alter these files other than I looked at the theme text file and the gtkrc associated with it.
So, some more things you can pick at to come up with a better solution.
hey, thanks for that hint, i never use pidgin, so i never saw that.
but it is fixed now!
I will upload it soon along with other fixes around weekend or begin next week..
the process-bar is too dark, that is true, like the scroll-bars it is an interim solution, but i am working on it..
and will be fixed in 0.7
if u see more i should know, just tell let me know!..
byebye
if u could give me some debugging error output, than i could be of a much greater help!!
just do the following:
-
open the appearance-manager and switch to a working theme,
-
open a terminal and start gcalctool
-
open the appearance-manager and switch to the greyhound-theme
-
what do you read on the terminal?
paste that info here and i will be able to have a look..
also, my other question:
did u try other new murrine-themes, like dust? are they working on your sys?
-
Ratings & Comments
79 Comments
Everything is perfect, except for the emerald theme. I cannot install it. It is a .tar.bz2 file. I've tried many things, even renaming the file to .emerald, but it doesn't work.
Just unpack the file into /home/yourusername/.emerald/themes. (if a themes folder is not present must be created) Cris
Sorry, I like former scrollbar style, it's too common... Tips for users: If you use Murrine which is newer than revision 64, widgets are ugly and you may get a warning like this. "error: unexpected identifier `style', expected character `}'" In such case, open terminal and try this. sed -r -i~ 's@style(\s+=\s+MURRINE)@profile\1@g' .themes/TheGreyhoundTheme_v0.7/gtk-2.0/gtkrc
i confess that i am also not quite satisfied with the scrollbar yet, but i was not satisfied with the old one either... i am trying to make a new one... any suggestions welcome :)
the problem with installing theme with newest murrine should be fixed now! thx tksmashiw!
this is the best dark theme ever! everything works, no hassles with openoffice, nor with web-browsers... fantastic!! beautiful! functional! thank you!
I had been using the previous version. When I downloaded 0.6.2, it was a tar.bz2 file, which displays error messages when I try to install it from the Appearance dialog.
this is probably due to your murrine-engine-version. it should work with 0.5.6 but it def. will work with svn-version 0.6. try if the theme 'dust' works on your machine.. if not than update your murrine-engine. good luck
Hi. I am using murrine-engine v 6.0; at least, that's what Synaptic tells me. Anyway, the happy news is I was able to install v 7 of your theme.
0.7, sorry.
ah good news! how did u install it? what went wrong? i always test my themes myself before publishing, but i am depending on those reports to know of errors i am not conscious of...
No idea what when wrong or how the error got corrected. But the error message with the earlier version read something like "Cannot write directory over directory". (Preferences->Appearance->Install->selected tar.bz2 file.)
As you asked, there is a few think I noticed : Text in notifications can't be read. (for guake, It use Libnotify I think...) The same thing in Mplayer to choose skins Scrollbar seems enormous compared to buttons of the scrollbar. Thank you for transmission and the link ;)
Just a small question. Would you change progressbar in transmission : they are blue and flat. The other prograssbar are black and grey, and animated, they look very fine! but in transmission (maybe other programs?)... Good luck for your work!
ha! yes, that is true! they are flat.. i'll work on that and will be included on release 0.7, which i am working on very hard for some weeks now :)
I tried to make an openbox theme matching with your gtk theme. If you want to add a link : http://www.box-look.org/content/show.php?content=96078 If you want me to remove it, or have any suggestions, do not hesitate!
Hey guy, I just reinstalled murrine svn and all is working well. sorry to have put you through this! next time a second look at the install should prevent me from complaining too soon :) thanks again for the time and I do like the theme. i find that creating dark themes are the most difficult..values matching..proper hues etc etc. coz
ah, good news, and yes you re right, dark is very challenging :) thxss!
hey guy, Ok here is the terminal readout when having gcalctool opened and switching to greyhound; error: unexpected identifier `gradient_shades', expected character `}' Also , no none of the dust themes work either with similar errors;; error: unexpected identifier `colorize_scrollbar', expected character `}' coz
Well, dark themes tend to be done by younger kids and newborn adults that focus on how the screen looks when they are 4 inches from it. That hurts their overall color scheme as they must feel that it looks good up close so it should look good farther away. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Dark schemes tend to overdo the dark aspect without contrasting colors. Examples are light gray text on the menus or on white backgrounds. That simply dulls or makes it look faded. It doesn't help with the eye-hand coordination. We don't want to think about what we are clicking on, we just want it to be a semi-visual key as to which to pick. For instance, even though blue is used they tend to forget that the inverse of blue is yellow and that to put a dark gray or red selector doesn't help at all in determining what we have clicked on. You put white on black or black on white but never gray on white or yellow on white. This theme tends to cover that though the yellows aren't used as an inverse of blue. Even so, what has been done with it makes the scheme more consistent. The dark scrollbars does affect the theme negatively. It should be a gray background with a ligher scrollbar, even a blue one would work, though blue doesn't really fit. Even so, a change is necessary to make the scroll bar more visible than it is now. I think, from my initial review of it that's where this theme stands. In the past week I have looked at so many dark themes that finding one like this is a real pleasure. I can't tell you how many times dark black has been set as the backdrop to some other dark color, making it unusable.
thank you very much for your review! you are right: scrollbars have to be changed and they will. this is an interim solution till i got the time to do them with inkscape or with murrine, but the last things i tried were not nice. so this is indeed a weak point. and yes, i am really trying hard to take care of nice contrasts, that is were the most work goes, but you will still find occasionally a semi-white button with white text, especially on web-sites, i am working on it though and think to have fixed this issues with release version 0.7 thx for your time :) byebye!
I noticed in pidgin that the name at the top (the name of the person I'm chatting with) is black on dark gray (not so dark black). Also, I noticed the progress bar in the copy files dialog is black color on dark so I have to take a focused look just to see how far it has progressed. Also, the lower right hand corner of the windows normally where you'd see something indicating resize (not the mouse pointer) -- you can see it in other dark themes-- you might want to have something there. I think your choice of icon themes isn't to my tastes. What I am finding is that with these themes we have theme designers actually altering the icon theme choice. As an FYI, I chose mine for a reason. That means that the theme designer would make me happier if they didn't alter my choice. If I'm correct it is possible to create the color portion of the theme, without the need to require any icons (in other words, just forget to reference the icons). Unfortunately I have no knowledge about how to alter these files other than I looked at the theme text file and the gtkrc associated with it. So, some more things you can pick at to come up with a better solution.
hey, thanks for that hint, i never use pidgin, so i never saw that. but it is fixed now! I will upload it soon along with other fixes around weekend or begin next week.. the process-bar is too dark, that is true, like the scroll-bars it is an interim solution, but i am working on it.. and will be fixed in 0.7 if u see more i should know, just tell let me know!.. byebye
hey guy, Unfortunately it is still white. i dont understand is murrine 0.6-1 not the svn version? that is the one I have installed! thanks coz
if u could give me some debugging error output, than i could be of a much greater help!! just do the following: - open the appearance-manager and switch to a working theme, - open a terminal and start gcalctool - open the appearance-manager and switch to the greyhound-theme - what do you read on the terminal? paste that info here and i will be able to have a look.. also, my other question: did u try other new murrine-themes, like dust? are they working on your sys? -