6 ms·

Normally electron apps bother me on linux because they don't use my carefully selected GTK/QT/Openbox theming like most native apps do (whereas on windows I don

Normally electron apps bother me on linux because they don't use my carefully selected GTK/QT/Openbox theming like most native apps do (whereas on windows I don't care because I don't have the ability to make anything look how I want). But I expect games to be fullscreen and have their own bespoke UI look and feel anyway, so it's not really an issue with them.

OJFord 6y ago
Do you have consistency between GTK/Qt, or only within each? I've never really bothered to set it up (just installed some theme I pulled a name from Arch wiki for, so buttons look like they're from this century) because I assumed I could go to a load of effort and still notice which is used for each program I use. And then find myself caring which I install if I have the option, or not wanting to if it's only available in the wrong one.. whereas I'm presently free of that.
- p1necone 6y ago
  You can set up QT to use GTK themes (seems like this is the default in KDE Plasma): https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Uniform_look_for_Qt_and_GTK_applications https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Uniform_look_for_Qt_and... I currently just don't have any QT based apps on my Arch system though I don't think.
  - OJFord 6y ago
    Ah, thanks, I think it's adwaita (mentioned there) that I picked at (pseudo)random, so maybe I already have it. Not sure if I have any either to be honest, but that's what I mean, I like not worrying about it.
    - p1necone 6y ago
      I'm a big fan of the Arc theme.
  - sudosysgen 6y ago
    It's not actually translating GTK themes to QT, its special themes with both QT and GTK versions.
    - account42 6y ago
      The linked wiki page lists both.
      - sudosysgen 6y ago
        It lists both for Qt 4, but afaiu for Qt5 you need to use special combined themes.
    - throwaway98432 6y ago
      It's spelled Qt, not QT. QT means QuickTime.
  - dTal 6y ago
    I came at it the other way - make GTK apps look like Qt ones. Everything on my system uses Breeze Dark. The only way I can tell GTK programs from Qt ones is the "About" dialog, or the file picker. (Oh, how I wish I could use the Qt file picker in GTK programs) (edit: QT -> Qt. Seasons greetings to the flagkilled throwaway who informed me of my mistake.)
    - throwaway98432 6y ago
      It's spelled Qt, not QT. QT means QuickTime.
  - throwaway98432 6y ago
    It's spelled Qt, not QT. QT means QuickTime.
- toyg 6y ago
  With a bit of effort it’s a solved problem, however as soon as that was sorted, developers started using snaps and flatpaks that just Do Not Care about your system settings... and we’re back at square -1, because now you won’t even get consistency between Gtk apps and Gtk apps. The Linux desktop sometimes is like a bad comedy sketch.
  - p1necone 6y ago
    Do snaps/flatpaks really not look at your local configs? Thats... terrible. I've avoided them already anyway because they seem like wholly unnecessary (and quite significant) bloat.
    - julianlam 6y ago
      No, probably because that's outside their scope and so they're not allowed to read them.
      - p1necone 6y ago
        Surely the sane thing to do security wise would be to mark each flatpak as needing config files foo and bar, and sticking those into the sandbox as well on launch. The app itself doesn't need filesystem access at runtime. Linux apps suddenly not reading standard config files on my system would be a pretty big downside.
        toyg 6y ago
        I think part of the issue is that technically you cannot guarantee that config files written by the system-installed toolkit can be safely used by the flatpak-shipped toolkit. This said, I think flatpak actually makes an effort to use the ones available in the user’s home folder, whereas snap just does its own thing and screw everyone else.
    - sp1rit 6y ago
      Flatpak does respect your GTK+ Theme - but you have to either have it installed in ~/.local/share/themes or youbhave to download your theme as flatpak package aswell. But that implies that someone has to maintain the flatpak packge. While the most popular themes are available, more "niece" themes are missing. Do a `flatpak remote-ls flathub | grep --color "org.gtk.Gtk3theme"` to see all available themes. Note: I'm maintaining a theme on flathub.
- Macha 6y ago
  Yes: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Uniform_look_for_Qt_and_GTK_applications https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Uniform_look_for_Qt_and... (Distros that are not Arch usually set up one of these solutions out of the box). It works very well for traditional QWidget/GTK style desktop apps. However, with both QtQuick/QML apps and modern Gnome apps, they have more divergent paradigms and particularly the QML apps tend to be less consistent with each other, never mind other UI toolkits, for much of the same reason webapps also are.
fomine3 6y ago
I've never thought that Linux Desktop provides unified desktop experience.
- p1necone 6y ago
  It does out of the box on a lot of distros, and you absolutely can DIY it to the point where you have a consistent look and feel with even totally custom theming. Check out /r/unixporn for some examples. (Although they often lean towards a very specific aesthetic - bitmap fonts and anime girls are a bit of a meme there)
imtringued 6y ago
Electron apps bother me because nobody bothers to make Linux builds for proprietary electron apps. Running windows builds of electron apps under wine doesn't always work. At this point windows applications using Microsoft APIs are more cross platform portable than electron apps.
swiley 6y ago
Maybe I'm weird but I would rather use a wine app than a native electron app.
throwaway98432 6y ago
It's spelled Qt, not QT. QT means QuickTime.
- disgruntledphd2 6y ago
  I feel such persistence in the face of adversity should be rewarded :)

OJFord 6y ago

Do you have consistency between GTK/Qt, or only within each? I've never really bothered to set it up (just installed some theme I pulled a name from Arch wiki for, so buttons look like they're from this century) because I assumed I could go to a load of effort and still notice which is used for each program I use. And then find myself caring which I install if I have the option, or not wanting to if it's only available in the wrong one.. whereas I'm presently free of that.

p1necone 6y ago
You can set up QT to use GTK themes (seems like this is the default in KDE Plasma): https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Uniform_look_for_Qt_and_GTK_applications https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Uniform_look_for_Qt_and... I currently just don't have any QT based apps on my Arch system though I don't think.
- OJFord 6y ago
  Ah, thanks, I think it's adwaita (mentioned there) that I picked at (pseudo)random, so maybe I already have it. Not sure if I have any either to be honest, but that's what I mean, I like not worrying about it.
  - p1necone 6y ago
    I'm a big fan of the Arc theme.
- sudosysgen 6y ago
  It's not actually translating GTK themes to QT, its special themes with both QT and GTK versions.
  - account42 6y ago
    The linked wiki page lists both.
    - sudosysgen 6y ago
      It lists both for Qt 4, but afaiu for Qt5 you need to use special combined themes.
  - throwaway98432 6y ago
    It's spelled Qt, not QT. QT means QuickTime.
- dTal 6y ago
  I came at it the other way - make GTK apps look like Qt ones. Everything on my system uses Breeze Dark. The only way I can tell GTK programs from Qt ones is the "About" dialog, or the file picker. (Oh, how I wish I could use the Qt file picker in GTK programs) (edit: QT -> Qt. Seasons greetings to the flagkilled throwaway who informed me of my mistake.)
  - throwaway98432 6y ago
    It's spelled Qt, not QT. QT means QuickTime.
- throwaway98432 6y ago
  It's spelled Qt, not QT. QT means QuickTime.
toyg 6y ago
With a bit of effort it’s a solved problem, however as soon as that was sorted, developers started using snaps and flatpaks that just Do Not Care about your system settings... and we’re back at square -1, because now you won’t even get consistency between Gtk apps and Gtk apps. The Linux desktop sometimes is like a bad comedy sketch.
- p1necone 6y ago
  Do snaps/flatpaks really not look at your local configs? Thats... terrible. I've avoided them already anyway because they seem like wholly unnecessary (and quite significant) bloat.
  - julianlam 6y ago
    No, probably because that's outside their scope and so they're not allowed to read them.
    - p1necone 6y ago
      Surely the sane thing to do security wise would be to mark each flatpak as needing config files foo and bar, and sticking those into the sandbox as well on launch. The app itself doesn't need filesystem access at runtime. Linux apps suddenly not reading standard config files on my system would be a pretty big downside.
      - toyg 6y ago
        I think part of the issue is that technically you cannot guarantee that config files written by the system-installed toolkit can be safely used by the flatpak-shipped toolkit. This said, I think flatpak actually makes an effort to use the ones available in the user’s home folder, whereas snap just does its own thing and screw everyone else.
  - sp1rit 6y ago
    Flatpak does respect your GTK+ Theme - but you have to either have it installed in ~/.local/share/themes or youbhave to download your theme as flatpak package aswell. But that implies that someone has to maintain the flatpak packge. While the most popular themes are available, more "niece" themes are missing. Do a `flatpak remote-ls flathub | grep --color "org.gtk.Gtk3theme"` to see all available themes. Note: I'm maintaining a theme on flathub.
Macha 6y ago
Yes: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Uniform_look_for_Qt_and_GTK_applications https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Uniform_look_for_Qt_and... (Distros that are not Arch usually set up one of these solutions out of the box). It works very well for traditional QWidget/GTK style desktop apps. However, with both QtQuick/QML apps and modern Gnome apps, they have more divergent paradigms and particularly the QML apps tend to be less consistent with each other, never mind other UI toolkits, for much of the same reason webapps also are.

fomine3 6y ago

I've never thought that Linux Desktop provides unified desktop experience.

p1necone 6y ago
It does out of the box on a lot of distros, and you absolutely can DIY it to the point where you have a consistent look and feel with even totally custom theming. Check out /r/unixporn for some examples. (Although they often lean towards a very specific aesthetic - bitmap fonts and anime girls are a bit of a meme there)

imtringued 6y ago

Electron apps bother me because nobody bothers to make Linux builds for proprietary electron apps. Running windows builds of electron apps under wine doesn't always work. At this point windows applications using Microsoft APIs are more cross platform portable than electron apps.

swiley 6y ago

Maybe I'm weird but I would rather use a wine app than a native electron app.

throwaway98432 6y ago

It's spelled Qt, not QT. QT means QuickTime.

disgruntledphd2 6y ago
I feel such persistence in the face of adversity should be rewarded :)