emerald dificulties - themes not applying completely

[flyinggeko]

I can get emerald themes to apply partially with some commands but even then the colors and buttons from the metacity theme i was using are kept.
I would like to like to know how i can get emerald themes to apply permanently. (emerald theme manager doesn't do the trick more than partially and temporarily after a few commands)

[coz]

Hey flyinggeko,
First could you tell us which distribution...video card..and desktop environment please.?
Also, is it possible to take a screenshot of this problem?


coz

[flyinggeko]

I've got an nvidia quadro nvs 120 but it is almost entirely identical to a go 7400, I use the drivers supplied by nvidia on their website sooooo the cube switcher and 3d stuff like that work fine and can't be the problem...

I'm running fedora 8 with gnome.

to clarify my initial post: I can get emerald themes to work partialy and compiz fusion settings to apply with this command:

compiz --replace ccp && emerald --replace &

Should the effects of this be permanent?

the screen shots:

Before I run the command: ccsm settings not taking effect, emerald themes not loaded
539
After I run the replace command: ccsm settings mostly work, emerald themes partially load (only window borders) 540 541

Soooo, by the screenshot of the emerald theme I'm using all the scroll bars and colors should be shades of black... instead they are the colors that from the theme I was using before I decided to attempt using emerald.

[coz]

Hey flyinggeko,
I think I know what the problem is! :)
Your emerald is working the way it should be, honest. From the screenshots you gave me and mentioning the scroll bars...scroll bars..menu colors..panel colors are all taken care of by gtk2 themes. So if you go under System/ Preferences/Theme and click the Customize button, you should then see Controls..Colors..Window Border...and Icons. With compiz fusion running the only things available for use will be the "Controls" and "Icons" tabs.
If none of the themes under the "Controls" tab are to your liking, then go to http://www.gnome-look.org and in the left column, click "GTK2.x". Clicking that will then list all of the gtk2 themes avaiiable. Look at the screenshots carefully to see which of the themes colors the panels, and scroll bars , etc to your liking.
So..Emerald ONLY decorates the window borders. It does nothing for gnome panels or window interiors such as scroll bars, color of backgrounds on the windows and menus , etc. That is all taken care of by GTK2.
Give it a try and see if that works for you.

coz

[flyinggeko]

Wow, I'm a noob:)

I've still got one question though: Should this comand permanently apply emerald over Gnome for window border decoration?
compiz --replace ccp && emerald --replace &

[Deciare]

to clarify my initial post: I can get emerald themes to work partialy and compiz fusion settings to apply with this command:

compiz --replace ccp && emerald --replace &

Should the effects of this be permanent?
Yes and no. Neither Compiz nor Emerald directly changes the settings on your computer, so they won't be responsible for permanently changing the behaviour of your computer. But you can make the effects seem permanent by automatically starting them when you log in.

That's kind of what Fedora already does, but the Fedora auto-starts Compiz using different commands than what you posted above.

Before I run the command: ccsm settings not taking effect, emerald themes not loaded
539
Fedora is probably starting Compiz using the gconf plugin instead of the ccp plugin. The ccp plugin is needed for Compiz to interact with settings made in ccsm, so even though Compiz is running in that screenshot, it's reading settings from the wrong place.

When you run the compiz --replace ccp command, you're restarting Compiz with the ccp plugin, so it now reads settings from the right place.

To fix it, open /usr/bin/gnome-wm in a text editor and change the line that looks something like OPT3=gconf to say something closer to OPT3=ccp
(The specific number after the "OPT" may be different, but the important detail is that the value should read "ccp" instead of "gconf".)

The second part of your command, emerald --replace solves a similar problem in a similar way. Compiz uses programs called "window decorators" to draw borders around each window, and the decorator Fedora starts by default is called gtk-window-decorator. It draws window borders using the same theme as GNOME's window manager.

You wish to use Emerald themes, so you'll have to auto-start Emerald instead of gtk-window-decorator. You can do that by making another edit to gtk-window-decorator: change the line containing "gtk-window-decorator" to say "emerald" instead.

[spirov92]

Hi guys, I have the same problem on KDE. I'm attaching a screenshot.
1598
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[coz]

Hey spirov92,
If you are concerned that emerald is only displaying window borders that is not a problem because that is all that emerald does =window borders.
You can use kde themes to generate the colors for menus, window interiors etc.
let me know

coz

[spirov92]

Thanks, coz. I'll try it, there must be a way to do that. I'll post some screenshots when I figure it out.

[spirov92]

Here's what I got it to look like after 15 minutes messing with the KDE settings.
1603

[coz]

Hey spirov92,
yep..looks like emerald is working fine from that screenshot!
congratulations! :)
The rest of the themeing will have to take place with whichever kde theme you choose...now to be honest.. I never use KDE at all so I am assuming that if you go into KDE settings and choose a theme from that list that actually colors the window interiors and menus that it will change that for you while maintaining the emerald theme you have chosen.

coz