How do I make GTK apps look good in KDE?

August 23, 2004 12:52 AM

How do I make GTK apps look good in KDE? Although I use KDE exculsively, I still use some GTK apps, like Firefox. (Oh for a Qt build of Firefox!) I hate the default look of GTK. I can use the GNOME theme editor to change the GNOME theme to something acceptable. The trouble is, 1) This seems to make the fonts in all my GTK apps too big, and 2) I lose the changes as soon as I log out. (And no, I'm not about to start using GNOME.)
posted by salmacis to computers & internet (9 comments total)

GTK Theme Switcher
posted by PenDevil at 2:40 AM on August 23, 2004

1) GTK Theme Switcher, the tool suggested by PenDevil above, lets you change the font size.

2) try loading "gnome-session-manager" at the start of each KDE session. i had this exact problem when i was using fluxbox as a window manager and would lose my theme at logout. loading the session manager in the background did the trick (and with minimal overhead, iirc).
posted by slhack3r at 5:12 AM on August 23, 2004

there should be a .gtk2rc (and .gtkrc) or something similar in your home dir that you can specify settings in. I've done it before, but have since forgetten anything else, including the actual filename.
posted by angry modem at 5:27 AM on August 23, 2004

Also, check out the GTK-Qt theme engine which makes all your GTK apps use your Qt theme. It's got a few bugs but it works quite well.
posted by zsazsa at 5:52 AM on August 23, 2004

Thanks all, but I'm not sure anyone has actually answered either of my problems. I don't need GTK-Qt theme, since I've found a GTK theme I'm reasonably happy with. I don't see how GTK theme switcher helps at all. gnome-session-manager is not recognised as a command.
posted by salmacis at 1:45 PM on August 23, 2004

The GTK theme switcher should write a new .gtkrc-2.0 and .gtkrc for you, with the theme and font size. If your fonts end up being too big in your GTK apps, just bump the font size down. As for the second problem, are these files somehow being deleted or altered after logging out?
posted by zsazsa at 2:12 PM on August 23, 2004

Maybe I'm just being dense here, but I don't see how the GTK theme switcher helps me. I already know how to change the theme from within KDE. I'm after a way to make the change persistent - and to fix the font problem as well.
posted by salmacis at 3:32 PM on August 23, 2004

..oh, and BTW, gtk theme switcher doesn't compile anyway.
posted by salmacis at 3:35 PM on August 23, 2004

The GTK theme switcher should write a new .gtkrc and .gtkrc-2.0 for you. These files are the key, not whatever program you use to create them. Are these files being written by whatever you're using to pick the themes? If so, are they being deleted/overwritten at logout/login? Creating your own .gtkrc files by hand shouldn't be hard either, and then you can also change the font size by hand.
posted by zsazsa at 9:49 AM on August 24, 2004