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You cannot change that UI toolkit an existing application uses. Only change the theming if that toolkit supports theming, and change the desktop shell. This is

You cannot change that UI toolkit an existing application uses. Only change the theming if that toolkit supports theming, and change the desktop shell. This is true for Linux as well as Windows.

p4bl0 4y ago
On Linux, KDE is able to theme GTK apps to match it's own theme. It has limitations of course but it does a very good job.
- int_19h 4y ago
  It can do that because Gtk allows for custom themes, so it's possible to make one that looks like Qt. The opposite - making Qt look like a Gtk theme - is also possible. But Windows deprecated support for user-configurable themes ages ago, and none of the new frameworks have it.
- laumars 4y ago
  That’s not a KDE thing, it’s a Qt and GTK thing. Those toolkits support themes and all you’re doing in KDE is specifying a two different themes (albeit named the same) that is visually similar. However if you look closer at the widgets you’ll notice how theming on Qt and GTK differ, so even the “same” theme across those two toolkits will look and behave subtly different.
Uehreka 4y ago
I think they’re referring to the fact that, within the system apps that Microsoft controls, there are multiple generations of UI design. Like, last I checked I think Device Manager still has a Windows 98-ish look (there are many others).
- int_19h 4y ago
  These also correspond to different UI frameworks. You can change between themed and unthemed Win32 apps (although doing so can break layout, since themed widgets may have different sizes). But you can't easily change from Win32 to "modern", which is where the main disconnect is. (Device Manager is a themed Win32 app. I actually can't think of any piece of Win10+ that isn't themed.)
  - kilpikaarna 4y ago
    Isn’t unthemed Win32 the same as ”Classic style”? So it hasn’t been supported post-Windows 7.
    - laumars 4y ago
      Similar but not identical. The different Windows UI toolkits have slight nuances that are sometimes only noticeable if you’re looking but sometimes stand out.
    - int_19h 4y ago
      It hasn't been supported in a sense that there's no checkbox in OS settings to enable it for all apps. But any Win32 app that doesn't declare itself as compatible with theming (either via the manifest or via an API call) will still get the old slate grey 3D widgets, and even the old UI font. (It has to work that way for backwards compatibility reasons, since some very old apps make assumptions about how exactly the widgets are rendered in their static UI layouts.)
- laumars 4y ago
  I got that. But the reason it looks different is because it’s literally different APIs drawing the widgets. You cannot “fix” those programs to use the same APIs without access to the source code. And clearly 3rd party desktop shells are not going to have access to the source of Microsoft Windows.

You cannot change that UI toolkit an existing application uses. Only change the theming if that toolkit supports theming, and change the desktop shell. This is true for Linux as well as Windows.

p4bl0 4y ago

On Linux, KDE is able to theme GTK apps to match it's own theme. It has limitations of course but it does a very good job.

int_19h 4y ago
It can do that because Gtk allows for custom themes, so it's possible to make one that looks like Qt. The opposite - making Qt look like a Gtk theme - is also possible. But Windows deprecated support for user-configurable themes ages ago, and none of the new frameworks have it.
laumars 4y ago
That’s not a KDE thing, it’s a Qt and GTK thing. Those toolkits support themes and all you’re doing in KDE is specifying a two different themes (albeit named the same) that is visually similar. However if you look closer at the widgets you’ll notice how theming on Qt and GTK differ, so even the “same” theme across those two toolkits will look and behave subtly different.

Uehreka 4y ago

I think they’re referring to the fact that, within the system apps that Microsoft controls, there are multiple generations of UI design. Like, last I checked I think Device Manager still has a Windows 98-ish look (there are many others).

int_19h 4y ago
These also correspond to different UI frameworks. You can change between themed and unthemed Win32 apps (although doing so can break layout, since themed widgets may have different sizes). But you can't easily change from Win32 to "modern", which is where the main disconnect is. (Device Manager is a themed Win32 app. I actually can't think of any piece of Win10+ that isn't themed.)
- kilpikaarna 4y ago
  Isn’t unthemed Win32 the same as ”Classic style”? So it hasn’t been supported post-Windows 7.
  - laumars 4y ago
    Similar but not identical. The different Windows UI toolkits have slight nuances that are sometimes only noticeable if you’re looking but sometimes stand out.
  - int_19h 4y ago
    It hasn't been supported in a sense that there's no checkbox in OS settings to enable it for all apps. But any Win32 app that doesn't declare itself as compatible with theming (either via the manifest or via an API call) will still get the old slate grey 3D widgets, and even the old UI font. (It has to work that way for backwards compatibility reasons, since some very old apps make assumptions about how exactly the widgets are rendered in their static UI layouts.)
laumars 4y ago
I got that. But the reason it looks different is because it’s literally different APIs drawing the widgets. You cannot “fix” those programs to use the same APIs without access to the source code. And clearly 3rd party desktop shells are not going to have access to the source of Microsoft Windows.