Description: To those who vote bad, please write a comment with the reasons, it will give me more to work with in order to improve the theme.
Info for updating from v1.0 The files and folders has been restructured since v1.0, some files moved and some renamed etc. Because of this it is best to completely remove any previous installations of the Darkness theme prior to installing this (only the actual theme, the murrine engine and rgba module can remain unchanged).
ABOUT:
Darkness is a set of different themes and skins wich main purpose was not to publish here but rather to have a consistent look for my own desktop. The complete sets does have inspirations from both windows and mac but is not intended to be a lookalike for either (wich should be quite obvious from the screenshots).
This GTK theme primarily uses the Murrine gtk2 engine with rgba enabled but also has a few areas using pixmaps. It is however not a "plug & play" theme and does require a little bit of work to install.
INSTALLATION:
To use this theme you first need to enable window transparency (rgba). I don't know how that works for all distributions so the guide below is for Ubuntu only. For those using other distributions you will unfortunately have to find another solution.
Notice/Warning: Not all computers and/or applications will play nice with this enabled. If you want to install the theme i advice you to first test rgba on your system by following the instructions on the wiki-link below. Darkness is only a murrine theme and i do not have anything to do with the repository or rgba window opacity other then having it enabled in my theme, my help for troubleshooting if any problem may occur will therefor be limited.
Darkness gtk theme uses different opacity-settings then the default. Because of this we need to change the opacity levels manually and then recompile the murrine gtk2 engine.
Scroll down to find the section "/*Opacity Settings*/". You can change the opacity levels to what you want but for the windows to blend in nicely with my emerald theme you need to set WINDOW_OPACITY to 70 or 85 (depending on what emerald version you use). My own personal settings are as below:
When the changes are done, save and go back to terminal.
[quote]./configure --prefix=/usr/ --enable-animation make sudo checkinstall[/quote]
After the above steps to activate window opacity you may however need to restart X or simply log out and then back in. When that is done you can install the theme as you would with any other gtk theme.
Please note that it has been a while since i did this myself and may have forgotten or left out something. If something is not working with the guide above, drop me a note and i will try to figure out what may be missing.
CUSTOMIZING & OPTIONAL SETTINGS
Blur Windows: First off it is adviced to activate Blur Windows in compiz. This will make it much easier to see the active window.
[quote]1. Start CompizConfig Settings Manager. 2. Go to "Blur Windows". 3. In the textfield for "Alpha blur windows" type in "any". 4. Activate the checkbox for "Alpha Blur". 5. Change "Blur Filter" to "Gaussian". 6. Change "Gaussian Radius" to 5 (or play around some until it suits you). 7. Change "Gaussian Strength" to 0.2 (or same as gaussian radius, play around some).[/quote]
Colortones: Each of my Darkness gtk themes has 10 colortones to choose from. Since there are a rgba version and a non rgba version i have chosen not to make each colortone into a separate theme since that would result in 20 different themes.
Inside the gtk-2.0 folder you will find an additional folder named "colors". To change the colortone simply copy (not cut/move) the 2 files (colors.rc + panel_button_prelight.png) from a specific colorfolder and paste into top of the colors-folder, replace the existing files. Example: copy the files from gtk-2.0/colors/red and paste into gtk-2.0/colors/
After you have changed the color you will need to reload the theme or simply log out and then back in.
Gnome-panel: The gnome panels has a default background. If you wish to change this background and/or make them transparent follow these steps:
[quote]1. Open the file panel.rc inside the gtk-2.0 folder. 2. Add a # at the beginning of the line: bg_pixmap[NORMAL] = "pixmaps/panel_bg_default.png" 3. Open up the panel properties window and click "Background". 4. Choose a background image for the panel. 5. Reload the Darkness theme (or log out and then back in).[/quote]
The theme has a few different panel backgrounds included inside the gtk-2.0/pixmaps folder, each are 32px high: panel_bg_default.png = Default background, not transparent, made for top panels panel_70_btm.png = Transparent, bottom panels, opacity settings at 70 panel_70_top.png = Transparent, top panels, opacity settings at 70 panel_85_btm.png = Transparent, bottom panels, opacity settings at 85 panel_85_top.png = Transparent, top panels, opacity settings at 85
Open Office: The theme has a small fix included for Open Office when using a dark theme. The actual fix may not be perfect but it should work fine. For now i have temporary made use of the NOX theme for gtk2 but with a few minor changes in base colors and also making it possible for it to read chosen colortones of the Darkness theme.
Install method 1: [quote]in terminal, cd into the fixes folder included inside the theme
mkdir ~/bin cp ooffice ~/bin/ooffice
Open the file ooffice located in ~/bin with a suitable texteditor and uncomment the correct line wich corresponds to install method 1 and location of where darkness theme is installed.[/quote]
Install method 2 (requires root-privileges): [quote]in terminal, cd into the fixes folder included inside the theme
Open the file ooffice located in /usr/bin with a suitable texteditor and uncomment the correct line wich corresponds to install method 2 and location of where darkness theme is installed.[/quote]
Please note that the ooffice file located in either ~/bin or /usr/bin must be set as an executable file.
v1.3b - Fixed a minor error with the paths in the fix for open office
v1.3 - Completely remade the fix for open office, no longer based on Nox theme - Moved sections from gtkrc into the colorfiles to improve the customization of each colortone - Improved appearance of each colortone - Tabs modified slightly for a more smooth look
v1.2 - Slightly increased the size of scrollbars to increase it's usability
v1.1 - Cleaned up the filestructure a bit - Remade the panelbackground and added alternate versions depending on opacity settings - A small fix for Open Office by making use of a modified version of the NOX theme
2010-05-12 17:51 Same version of the theme but updated installation guide with optional opacity levels to match v1.1 of emerald theme.
I forgot : in gnome-color-chooser go to the last tab (engine), and choose another engine for the panel ("Mist" for example"). You will see the gnome panel as it was before.
Is there a way to increase frames per secound of the progressbar animation? It would look much smoother with 30fps. I was looking around in the gtkrc, but i didn't find something.
Unfortunately i have no idea, this is my first gtk-theme to make so am no expert on it. But i would guess that it would be something in the murrine engine in that case.
when i type the command sudo apt-get build-dep gtk2-engines-murrine the terminal gives me: couldn't find a source package for gtk2-engines-murrine
any solution?
Hey i think two heads works better than one and the work reduces to the halve¡¡¡
If you allow me to express my opinion i think you should reflect about the offer of Ribon
Instead of me hosting my mod separately, would you like to perhaps work on a way to collaborate here? You've done most of the work, all I did was patch a few apps (gnome-panel included) to work better with the theme. I don't want to be seen as trying to take credit for your work.
My icons are a bit mixed, the folder icons are primarily Pry with a few minor modifications on a some.
http://jonasraskdesign.com/iconarchive/iconarchive.html
Glad you got it sorted, for any uninstallation in the future i think you can just follow the guide on the bottom of this page:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopTeam/RgbaGtkWithPPA/
Such an amazing theme. With the combination of emerald , dockbarx, it looks out of the world. But as usual, Openoffice applications suffers from dark themes.
Above all, the transparency in all gtk application creates a wow factor.
I wish a non dark theme would have the same effects as yours.
Thanks for making our desktop smiles.
I am very pleased to hear you like it since it is my first gtk theme to make.
I still have a few things to do with the whole darkness themeset, a better fix for open office without the use of Nox, a non rgba version of it with metacity windowborders and finish up some themes for screenlets and so.
When all of that is done i have plans on making a "white" version of darkness.
Not sure wich one, all images has a different wallpaper.
The Ubuntu wallpaper can be found here: http://awesomewallpapers.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/ubuntu-wallpaper-set-4/
For the rose: http://dianephotos.deviantart.com/art/Passion-Wallpaper-98698962
Last one i can't remember where i found it.
Ratings & Comments
57 Comments
9 +Nice job. It is still actual and works well.
Problem videos in the browser After installing a theme that seems successful. I get to see more videos, there's sound but the frame is black.
Thank you for this works pretty
Hi! All works fine, except some applets for gnome-panel (including DockbarX): they have black background. How can I fix this?
For the gnome panel I solved this issue by creating a transparent background with gimp. A 1*24 pixels png image with an alpha channel for example.
I forgot : in gnome-color-chooser go to the last tab (engine), and choose another engine for the panel ("Mist" for example"). You will see the gnome panel as it was before.
Is there a way to increase frames per secound of the progressbar animation? It would look much smoother with 30fps. I was looking around in the gtkrc, but i didn't find something.
Unfortunately i have no idea, this is my first gtk-theme to make so am no expert on it. But i would guess that it would be something in the murrine engine in that case.
Thanks
when i type the command sudo apt-get build-dep gtk2-engines-murrine the terminal gives me: couldn't find a source package for gtk2-engines-murrine any solution?
Hey i think two heads works better than one and the work reduces to the halve¡¡¡ If you allow me to express my opinion i think you should reflect about the offer of Ribon
Instead of me hosting my mod separately, would you like to perhaps work on a way to collaborate here? You've done most of the work, all I did was patch a few apps (gnome-panel included) to work better with the theme. I don't want to be seen as trying to take credit for your work.
What is the name of the icons? and where i can find them?
My icons are a bit mixed, the folder icons are primarily Pry with a few minor modifications on a some. http://jonasraskdesign.com/iconarchive/iconarchive.html
I'm sorry for the stupid question, but how can I remove the theme, because I had some problems installing it and I need to reinstall it.
Everything is fine now :)
Glad you got it sorted, for any uninstallation in the future i think you can just follow the guide on the bottom of this page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopTeam/RgbaGtkWithPPA/
Such an amazing theme. With the combination of emerald , dockbarx, it looks out of the world. But as usual, Openoffice applications suffers from dark themes. Above all, the transparency in all gtk application creates a wow factor. I wish a non dark theme would have the same effects as yours. Thanks for making our desktop smiles.
I am very pleased to hear you like it since it is my first gtk theme to make. I still have a few things to do with the whole darkness themeset, a better fix for open office without the use of Nox, a non rgba version of it with metacity windowborders and finish up some themes for screenlets and so. When all of that is done i have plans on making a "white" version of darkness.
can I get the wallpaper in screenshot one? voted good.
Not sure wich one, all images has a different wallpaper. The Ubuntu wallpaper can be found here: http://awesomewallpapers.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/ubuntu-wallpaper-set-4/ For the rose: http://dianephotos.deviantart.com/art/Passion-Wallpaper-98698962 Last one i can't remember where i found it.
Which msn screenlet are you using?
Pidgin screenlet with the facebook plugin
SShot: http://uppix.net/d/b/6/910a20238054dbb2d5a6e84615429.png
i have suggested to incorporate this to the win2-7 project