4 ms·

Sorry for the OT but this is driving me crazy. How does "dark mode" work in desktop linux? I'm using i3wm and I haven't been able to find a way to "press a bu

Sorry for the OT but this is driving me crazy. How does "dark mode" work in desktop linux? I'm using i3wm and I haven't been able to find a way to "press a button and every app turns into dark mode". To be clear, all my apps are already configured to take the theme from "system theme", I just haven't been able to find how to change this system theme. On android this is pretty well integrated, what's the deal with desktop?

Aardwolf 3y ago
Not sure about dark mode, but theming in general in Linux is so broken for me compared to the past. Many applications now use themes set by desktop configuration (but with some choosing gtk-related settings, others choosing qt-related settings, which can differ). But no matter what theme I choose, there will always SOMETHING be broken. In one theme some part of an application will have black text on a black background. Another theme fixes that, but them makes in the alt+tab application switcher the part that highlights which application you're selecting invisible. Other themes have almost invisible scrollbars. Various applications have missing icons because they no longer have their own built-in ones. I wish every application just had its own actually working built-in theme, rather than trying to shoehorn a global desktop theme inside of everything. It used to be like that in the past and it looked perfect compared to the mess now. Desktop theme settings should just be about the outer window borders and stuff. Also, does there even exist ONE theme still today that actually visually distinguishes the selected and non-selected windows well? They're all super subtle about this now. Give me a bright blue selected window, gray non-selected window titlebar please so I can tell at a side-eye glance what's focused.
- tristan957 3y ago
  Sounds like you want GNOME + libadwaita or KDE + Breeze. Never had theming issues with that combination.
  - Aardwolf 3y ago
    Thanks, I'm using cinnamon. I loved KDE 3.5, but ever since KDE 4 and plasma, I've tried multiple times and never liked it. I also don't like Gnome, doesn't fit my workflows well, it doesn't support moving windows between multiple desktops well, no window list enabled by default, ...
  - WhereIsTheTruth 3y ago
    If one user wants theming, he certainly doesn't "want" Gnome, themes break every versions https://medium.com/@fulalas/gnome-42-the-nonsense-continues-7d96c3287f7 https://medium.com/@fulalas/gnome-42-the-nonsense-continues-...
    - tristan957 3y ago
      They said each application should have its own theme that it supports, which is exactly what libadwaita is. A theme that apps can bundle and force.
      - WhereIsTheTruth 3y ago
        Can't you see the contradiction? What's a theme and customization if the DE/app forces 'themes' on the user? Getting downvoted over this further prove my whole point https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38696961 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38696961
        Aardwolf 3y ago
        What I'm looking for is: -Allow to choose theme for the window decorations (titlebar etc...) and the desktop itself in its settings and have this applied consistently in the desktop (all applications use same window decorations on the outer part of their windows, ...). -Let application have their own icons inside of the window (I have nothing against applications reusing icons, but let the developer choose them, not desktop-dependent since that's clearly not working out). Like say the "save file" icon in a text editor: I'd rather have a well-chosen one by the developer of this text editor, than one that either doesn't work or look completely out of place but was enforced by some desktop standard. What I don't like is: -applications changing / removing the outer window borders. They have no business changing that, only the inside content of their windows. E.g. a browser removing the title bar of its window can make some menus the desktop provides there inaccessible, make it invisible which window is focused, etc... -application using external theme (e.g. based on some desktop standard) icons for its internal contents and then not working properly because the creator of the application could not know what the external theme would look like. This does not work out for various reasons: having 1 desktop setting makes it impossible to fix individual programs since changing theme to fix 1 may break another, e.g. say you have themes "adwaita" and "greybird" in your desktop setting, theme adwaita breaks program A (e.g. it shows black text on black background; just arbitrary example, not saying adwaita actually does this but I know at least one epub reader that showed black text on black background for some desktop settings in real life) but works in program B, and theme greybord works in program A but breaks program B (e.g. its icons will be invisible or whatever): If program A and program B just had their own inner contents, this problem would not exist. Also, different applications having to be consistent across each other for their inner contents is something I couldn't care less about, so it's not worth all the problems it causes.
- jwells89 3y ago
  For things like text readability, much of the fault lies on developers for not using parameterized colors (e.g. “primary text”, “secondary text”, etc) which can change as needed to fit light/dark mode, accessibility modes, and even things like user-preference UI tints. Use of CSS in GTK for theming (maybe Qt too, not sure?) doesn’t help matters since both user applied-themes and developer-applied CSS can screw things up by overriding things in a half-baked way.
jcastro 3y ago
> On android this is pretty well integrated, what's the deal with desktop? I have a button in gnome that toggles dark mode on/off that switches the desktop over that works for just about everything (not discord though).
tristan957 3y ago
On GNOME and KDE, this is simple. Window managers, of course, are going to come with their own solutions. The setting is exposed through the XDG Desktop Portal.
- rthkljlkrj 3y ago
  > The setting is exposed through the XDG Desktop Portal. Is this something I can use if I'm using i3wm?
  - yoyohello13 3y ago
    A desktop environment like Gnome or KDE does a lot of this for you. You can try using a stand alone program like lxappearance (from LXDE) to tweak your settings. Or you can configure it yourself https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GTK#Dark_theme_variant https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GTK#Dark_theme_variant
- yoyohello13 3y ago
  You're being downvoted but you're right. If you're using a Window Manager (like i3) they are unlikely to come with utilities like this. You need to download another app (lxapperance for Xorg) or write a script to flip the appropriate settings.
squigz 3y ago
I use `lxappearance` to modify theme and other such UI settings from within i3wm.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
codenaught 3y ago
I wrote a little toggle script for the Gnome apps: #!/bin/bash color_scheme=$(gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme) case $color_scheme in *default* ) new_color_scheme="'prefer-dark'";; * ) new_color_scheme="'default'";; esac gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme "$new_color_scheme"
sevagh 3y ago
i3wm and Android are polar opposites in terms of how much power users have to customize the experience (almost a necessity for using i3wm, and almost impossible on a unrooted Android). Strange situation you're in if you want a locked down, polished end-user experience on i3.

Aardwolf 3y ago

Not sure about dark mode, but theming in general in Linux is so broken for me compared to the past. Many applications now use themes set by desktop configuration (but with some choosing gtk-related settings, others choosing qt-related settings, which can differ). But no matter what theme I choose, there will always SOMETHING be broken. In one theme some part of an application will have black text on a black background. Another theme fixes that, but them makes in the alt+tab application switcher the part that highlights which application you're selecting invisible. Other themes have almost invisible scrollbars. Various applications have missing icons because they no longer have their own built-in ones. I wish every application just had its own actually working built-in theme, rather than trying to shoehorn a global desktop theme inside of everything. It used to be like that in the past and it looked perfect compared to the mess now. Desktop theme settings should just be about the outer window borders and stuff. Also, does there even exist ONE theme still today that actually visually distinguishes the selected and non-selected windows well? They're all super subtle about this now. Give me a bright blue selected window, gray non-selected window titlebar please so I can tell at a side-eye glance what's focused.

tristan957 3y ago
Sounds like you want GNOME + libadwaita or KDE + Breeze. Never had theming issues with that combination.
- Aardwolf 3y ago
  Thanks, I'm using cinnamon. I loved KDE 3.5, but ever since KDE 4 and plasma, I've tried multiple times and never liked it. I also don't like Gnome, doesn't fit my workflows well, it doesn't support moving windows between multiple desktops well, no window list enabled by default, ...
- WhereIsTheTruth 3y ago
  If one user wants theming, he certainly doesn't "want" Gnome, themes break every versions https://medium.com/@fulalas/gnome-42-the-nonsense-continues-7d96c3287f7 https://medium.com/@fulalas/gnome-42-the-nonsense-continues-...
  - tristan957 3y ago
    They said each application should have its own theme that it supports, which is exactly what libadwaita is. A theme that apps can bundle and force.
    - WhereIsTheTruth 3y ago
      Can't you see the contradiction? What's a theme and customization if the DE/app forces 'themes' on the user? Getting downvoted over this further prove my whole point https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38696961 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38696961
      - Aardwolf 3y ago
        What I'm looking for is: -Allow to choose theme for the window decorations (titlebar etc...) and the desktop itself in its settings and have this applied consistently in the desktop (all applications use same window decorations on the outer part of their windows, ...). -Let application have their own icons inside of the window (I have nothing against applications reusing icons, but let the developer choose them, not desktop-dependent since that's clearly not working out). Like say the "save file" icon in a text editor: I'd rather have a well-chosen one by the developer of this text editor, than one that either doesn't work or look completely out of place but was enforced by some desktop standard. What I don't like is: -applications changing / removing the outer window borders. They have no business changing that, only the inside content of their windows. E.g. a browser removing the title bar of its window can make some menus the desktop provides there inaccessible, make it invisible which window is focused, etc... -application using external theme (e.g. based on some desktop standard) icons for its internal contents and then not working properly because the creator of the application could not know what the external theme would look like. This does not work out for various reasons: having 1 desktop setting makes it impossible to fix individual programs since changing theme to fix 1 may break another, e.g. say you have themes "adwaita" and "greybird" in your desktop setting, theme adwaita breaks program A (e.g. it shows black text on black background; just arbitrary example, not saying adwaita actually does this but I know at least one epub reader that showed black text on black background for some desktop settings in real life) but works in program B, and theme greybord works in program A but breaks program B (e.g. its icons will be invisible or whatever): If program A and program B just had their own inner contents, this problem would not exist. Also, different applications having to be consistent across each other for their inner contents is something I couldn't care less about, so it's not worth all the problems it causes.
jwells89 3y ago
For things like text readability, much of the fault lies on developers for not using parameterized colors (e.g. “primary text”, “secondary text”, etc) which can change as needed to fit light/dark mode, accessibility modes, and even things like user-preference UI tints. Use of CSS in GTK for theming (maybe Qt too, not sure?) doesn’t help matters since both user applied-themes and developer-applied CSS can screw things up by overriding things in a half-baked way.

jcastro 3y ago

> On android this is pretty well integrated, what's the deal with desktop? I have a button in gnome that toggles dark mode on/off that switches the desktop over that works for just about everything (not discord though).

tristan957 3y ago

On GNOME and KDE, this is simple. Window managers, of course, are going to come with their own solutions. The setting is exposed through the XDG Desktop Portal.

rthkljlkrj 3y ago
> The setting is exposed through the XDG Desktop Portal. Is this something I can use if I'm using i3wm?
- yoyohello13 3y ago
  A desktop environment like Gnome or KDE does a lot of this for you. You can try using a stand alone program like lxappearance (from LXDE) to tweak your settings. Or you can configure it yourself https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GTK#Dark_theme_variant https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GTK#Dark_theme_variant
yoyohello13 3y ago
You're being downvoted but you're right. If you're using a Window Manager (like i3) they are unlikely to come with utilities like this. You need to download another app (lxapperance for Xorg) or write a script to flip the appropriate settings.

squigz 3y ago

I use `lxappearance` to modify theme and other such UI settings from within i3wm.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

codenaught 3y ago

I wrote a little toggle script for the Gnome apps: #!/bin/bash color_scheme=$(gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme) case $color_scheme in *default* ) new_color_scheme="'prefer-dark'";; * ) new_color_scheme="'default'";; esac gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme "$new_color_scheme"

sevagh 3y ago

i3wm and Android are polar opposites in terms of how much power users have to customize the experience (almost a necessity for using i3wm, and almost impossible on a unrooted Android). Strange situation you're in if you want a locked down, polished end-user experience on i3.