Why does my theme look so crappy?

sstapley_56 · 2015-02-20 07:51:40

Hey guys new here to XFCE theming and Linux theming in general. I've tried installing themes and the colors and window decorations change however I can never get it to look exactly like it does in the pictures. For example, dropdown menus look blocky (like boring GTK) and buttons and actions don't change theme. Is there something that I am missing in the configuration process to get these elements to carry across from the theme? The themes I have tried are Adawaita Graphene and Yosemyte from xfce-look.org. I have unpacked them and moved them to ~/.themes/ and changed the settings through Appearance and Window Mananger but still not 100% success.

How it looks (ugly)

How it is supposed to look (elegant)

Thanks

ToZ · 2015-02-20 13:33:58

First of all, make sure that you have all of the necessary gtk engines installed. It looks like Adwaita Graphene requires the clearlooks and adwaita engines.

Secondly, make sure that xfsettingsd (the Xfce Settings Daemon) is running:

pgrep xfsettingsd

Which distro and which version of Xfce are you running?

sstapley_56 · 2015-02-20 15:30:00

It looks like xfsettings daemon is currently running. I will try to install the theme engines and see what happens. I am running Kali (Debian based) and xfce 4.8. So quick question, how do you know which engines a certain theme depends upon?

ToZ · 2015-02-20 15:40:49

sstapley_56 wrote:

So quick question, how do you know which engines a certain theme depends upon?

Ideally, the theme designer should make some sort of comment about it, however, I run the following command in the root of the theme directory to find out:

fgrep -ri engine *

sstapley_56 · 2015-02-23 17:25:18

Alright, so I have installed the themes engines via gtk-engines but nothing has changed. Am I making this harder than it needs to be?

ToZ · 2015-02-23 18:38:55

I am unfamiliar with Kali Linux and 4.8 is an older version of Xfce.

Does Kali Linux come with Xfce pre-installed or was this added afterwards? If you added xfce afterwards, how did you install it?

Do you have both GTK2 and GTK3 libraries installed?

You might also look at log files for information when you try to change the theme. I'm not sure where they would exist on Kali, possibly ~/.xsession-errors? Or maybe run:

xfce4-appearance-settings

...in a terminal window, change the theme, and see if any messages appear in the terminal window.

Joxrox · 2015-06-08 21:39:38

I am having the exact same problem!
ToZ - I tried running "xfce4-appearance-settings" and when I changed the theme there was no error in the terminal.

ToZ · 2015-06-09 00:32:27

Joxrox wrote:

I am having the exact same problem!
ToZ - I tried running "xfce4-appearance-settings" and when I changed the theme there was no error in the terminal.

Are you using Kalu as well?

Try this:

xfconf-query -c xsettings -p /Net/ThemeName -s <theme_name>

...where <theme_name> is the name of the theme you want to use.

Can you also post back the results of:

pgrep -l xfsettingsd
pgrep -l xfconfd

Then, in a terminal window run:

xfconf-query -c xsettings -m

...and change the theme using the Appearance Settings dialog. Post back what shows up in the terminal window below the command that you ran.

And finally, can you confirm the version of Xfce that you are running and the theme that you are trying to use.

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#1 2015-02-20 07:51:40

Why does my theme look so crappy?

#2 2015-02-20 13:33:58

Re: Why does my theme look so crappy?

#3 2015-02-20 15:30:00

Re: Why does my theme look so crappy?

#4 2015-02-20 15:40:49

Re: Why does my theme look so crappy?

#5 2015-02-23 17:25:18

Re: Why does my theme look so crappy?

#6 2015-02-23 18:38:55

Re: Why does my theme look so crappy?

#7 2015-06-08 21:39:38

Re: Why does my theme look so crappy?

#8 2015-06-09 00:32:27

Re: Why does my theme look so crappy?

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