Xfce Forum

otyugh

Member

Registered: 2015-01-11

Posts: 34

[Solved]Bigger corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing

Hey,
this is a very frequently asked feature (hence 1px border is hard to grab; impossible for oldies, and they won't memorize they could do alt+right click) I wish to change the Greybird theme with an "easier way to grab left/right corners". I found 4-5 walkthrought, but my guess is that they aren't up to date anymore because following their step didn't have any observable effect at all.

From https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=6113&p=2 : I tried copy/paste a few .xpm files from a blog, and then to copy theses from Daloa which is supposed to have big handles too. Each time refreshing with "xfwm4 --replace" or reloading the themes using lxappearance. But every time with no avail, no observable effect !
I also tried editing ~/.gtkrc-2.0.mine.

I'm using xfwm4.12.5-1

Last edited by otyugh (2019-08-23 12:07:16)

Doest

Member

Registered: 2019-08-22

Posts: 5

Re: [Solved]Bigger corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing

Hey,
this is a very frequently asked feature (hence 1px border is hard to grab; impossible for oldies, and they won't memorize they could do alt+right click) I wish to change the Greybird theme with an "easier way to grab left/right corners". I found 4-5 walkthrought, but my guess is that they aren't up to date anymore because following their step didn't have any observable effect at all.

From https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=6113&p=2 : I tried copy/paste a few .xpm files from a blog, and then to copy theses from Daloa which is supposed to have big handles too. Each time refreshing with "xfwm4 --replace" or reloading the themes using lxappearance. But every time with no avail, no observable effect !
I also tried editing ~/.gtkrc-2.0.mine.

I'm using xfwm4.12.5-1

Hi. otyugh

It seems easier than it looks and everything is in your house (~/user/.themes/your-theme) or /usr/share/themes/your-theme (copy to ~/.themes or edit and reintroduce with root later).

In order to be able to enlarge the borders like the corners of the windows you must enlarge the size of the layer and the image (gimp functions for example) of the border of the theme you are using and make the border thicker.

The files you need to edit are using the Greybird theme:
~/.themes/Greybird/xfwm4/left-active.xpm
~/.themes/Greybird/xfwm4/left-inactive.xpm

~/.themes/Greybird/xfwm4/right-active.xpm
~/.themes/Greybird/xfwm4/right-inactive.xpm

~/.themes/Greybird/xfwm4/bottom-left-active.xpm
~/.themes/Greybird/xfwm4/bottom-left-inactive.xpm

~/.themes/Greybird/xfwm4/bottom-right-active.xpm
~/.themes/Greybird/xfwm4/bottom-right-inactive.xpm

~/.themes/Greybird/xfwm4/bottom-active.xpm
~/.themes/Greybird/xfwm4/bottom-inactive.xpm

In my case. I'm working on a theme and I have to edit:
~/.themes/your-theme/xfwm4/top-left-inactive.xpm
~/.themes/your-theme/xfwm4/top-right-inactive.xpm
~/.themes/your-theme/xfwm4/bottom-right-active.xpm
~/.themes/your-theme/xfwm4/right-active.xpm
~/.themes/your-theme/xfwm4/left-active.xpm
~/.themes/your-theme/xfwm4/bottom-left-active.xpm
~/.themes/your-theme/xfwm4/bottom-active.xpm
~/.themes/your-theme/xfwm4/bottom-right-inactive.xpm
~/.themes/your-theme/xfwm4/top-right-active.xpm
~/.themes/your-theme/xfwm4/top-left-active.xpm
~/.themes/your-theme/xfwm4/right-inactive.xpm
~/.themes/your-theme/xfwm4/left-inactive.xpm
~/.themes/your-theme/xfwm4/bottom-left-inactive.xpm
~/.themes/your-theme/xfwm4/bottom-inactive.xpm

I leave you two themes that i'm working on so that you can get an idea of what i'm saying. Just leave the folders inside .themes in your home page and then in the xfce window manager change the theme.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eZfBT_ … sp=sharing

Good luck

Last edited by Doest (2019-08-22 12:06:13)

otyugh

Member

Registered: 2015-01-11

Posts: 34

Re: [Solved]Bigger corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing

Hey and thanks,
I downloaded your files, replaced on of yours xfwm4/ folder to the one in greybird, reloaded (tried to switch theme or xfwm4 --replace) and... Seen no difference. I wonder why. I don't get how this works. I tried a whole set of intrusive edition for hours without seeing any modification (I only got a few change while tinkering with the .css part) ! Is there a cache hidden somewhere or what ?

Last edited by otyugh (2019-08-22 20:13:36)

Spass

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2016-12-07

Posts: 133

Re: [Solved]Bigger corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing

Just to clarify, are you changing your window themes in the Window Manager settings (xfwm4-settings) or in the Appearance (xfce4-appearance-settings)? There should be no need to use "xfwm4 --replace" command.

In the Window Manager settings do you see 'Greybird-accessibility' and/or 'Default-hdpi' themes? Those should have bigger borders.

Last edited by Spass (2019-08-23 07:36:21)

Doest

Member

Registered: 2019-08-22

Posts: 5

Re: [Solved]Bigger corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing

Hey and thanks,
I downloaded your files, replaced on of yours xfwm4/ folder to the one in greybird, reloaded (tried to switch theme or xfwm4 --replace) and... Seen no difference. I wonder why. I don't get how this works. I tried a whole set of intrusive edition for hours without seeing any modification (I only got a few change while tinkering with the .css part) ! Is there a cache hidden somewhere or what ?

You didn't have to replace anything. Simply put the two folders into /~/.themes or root into /usr/share/themes and change it into Window Manager settings (xfwm4-settings).

Even so I have taken the trouble to adapt the edges of greybird with 6px (original) and 12px (double_border) edge.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14uuU7V … sp=sharing

Just to clarify, are you changing your window themes in the Window Manager settings (xfwm4-settings) or in the Appearance (xfce4-appearance-settings)? There should be no need to use "xfwm4 --replace" command.

In the Window Manager settings do you see 'Greybird-accessibility' and/or 'Default-hidpi' themes? Those should have bigger borders.

The truth is that it only increases the title bar in Greybird-accessibility' and 'Default-hidpi'.

For the rest. The edges and corners still have a size of 1px

Last edited by Doest (2019-08-22 22:24:26)

Spass

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2016-12-07

Posts: 133

Re: [Solved]Bigger corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing

The truth is that it only increases the title bar in Greybird-accessibility' and 'Default-hidpi'.

For the rest. The edges and corners still have a size of 1px

No, that's not the case. At least on my system (Xubuntu 18.04), 'Greybird-accessibility' has 3px borders and 'Default-hdpi' has 6px borders.

otyugh

Member

Registered: 2015-01-11

Posts: 34

Re: [Solved]Bigger corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing

Just to clarify, are you changing your window themes in the Window Manager settings (xfwm4-settings) or in the Appearance (xfce4-appearance-settings)? There should be no need to use "xfwm4 --replace" command.

The later. Well as I see no effect to my changes, I'm trying everything I can think of. I'm desesperate you know !

In the Window Manager settings do you see 'Greybird-accessibility' and/or 'Default-hdpi' themes? Those should have bigger borders.

I'm using Debian Buster and I don't have such option.

You didn't have to replace anything. Simply put the two folders into /~/.themes or root into /usr/share/themes and change it into Window Manager settings (xfwm4-settings).

Even so I have taken the trouble to adapt the edges of greybird with 6px (original) and 12px (double_border) edge.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14uuU7V … sp=sharing

Thanks !
What I did is erase all my tentatives (rm -r /usr/share/themes/Greybird*) and reinstall the Greybird package, then I unpacked your archive into ~/.themes and then selected every themes named after Greybird*.

There is the result (as far as I can see, 0 difference, but the theme seem broken too. Maybe because debian has old definition or something ?) :

I don't know why it doesn't behave as it should é_è
There is no change if I deleted the native's Greybird theme ; seem like it's overwritten.

Last edited by otyugh (2019-08-23 11:16:38)

Spass

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2016-12-07

Posts: 133

Re: [Solved]Bigger corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing

Just to clarify, are you changing your window themes in the Window Manager settings (xfwm4-settings) or in the Appearance (xfce4-appearance-settings)? There should be no need to use "xfwm4 --replace" command.

The later. Well as I see no effect to my changes, I'm trying everything I can think of. I'm desesperate you know !

Well here's the problem. Window border themes should be changed in the Window Manager settings (xfwm4-settings). That's why you don't see any difference, you're only changing GTK themes in the Appearance settings, border themes are separate in Xfce (when using Xfwm).

otyugh

Member

Registered: 2015-01-11

Posts: 34

Re: [Solved]Bigger corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing

Oh, come on ! This is so god damn stupid !

... Well at least the issue is crystal clear now. Thanks everybody, that's solved now