Ubuntu 14.04/Gtk3.10 Unity Launcher icon background changed to black with Vertex 20140923 or greater

[wolfland]

For some reason the Unity Launcher icon background has changed from it's usual appearance (e.g. default is to add background color when application is opened) to black only. This occurs whether or not the application is open or closed (e.g. only black no matter what you do or what Launcher icons setting is selected in Unity Tweak). This started occuring after the Vertex 20140923 release and still occurs with 20140928 release. I will include screenshots for your parusal. The 2014-09-29 16:56:08 screenshot is normal functioning (e.g. prior to 20140923) and the 2014-09-29 16:53:53 is the one with the 20140923/20140928 issue. I was not sure if this was an intended change or an issue so I figured I would point it out.

Thanks, wolfland

[horst3180]

Yes, this was intentional, but now that you mention it I realize that running apps are a little hard to identify without the color. I will add the color back with the next update. For now you can delete all .svg files that begin with "launcher" in the "unity" folder of the theme. That will restore the default style.

[wolfland]

horst3180,

              Please don't change it back on my account.  Just add a 

comment in the readme file that states how to change back to the default icon backgrounds for those who prefer it.

              That way those who like the new launcher backgrounds 

can keep them and those who want the default launcher backgrounds can have them as well.

              I also forgot to mention that there is a small issue 

with missing/black backgrounds for apps and dialogs in both Ceti and Vertex. I am not sure this is a global Gtk 3.10 issue or just for Ubuntu/Unity. This occurs with gedit for example and the background behind the tabs is missing/black. To fix this I added GtkPaned to the Base States .background definition in gtk-widgets.css:

             /***************
              * Base States *
             ***************/

             .background,
             GtkPaned {
             color: @theme_fg_color;
             background-color: @theme_bg_color;
             }

             If I remember correctly I got this from 

KillHelloKitty's Delorean-Dark theme for Gtk 3.10 and it seems to correct the problem. I am not sure if it will fix the overlay-scrollbar problem you mentioned in your readme or not (I can't remember if I saw the problem before the fix or not) but the overlay scrollbars are working fine for me with the fix.

             I will attach screenshots so that you can see what I am 

talking about.

             Thanks for your hard work and awesome themes.

WolfLand

On 09/29/2014 06:38 PM, horst3180 wrote:

Yes, this was intentional, but now that you mention it I realize that running apps are a little hard to identify without the color. I will add the color back with the next update. For now you can delete all .svg files that begin with "launcher" in the "unity" folder of the theme. That will restore the default style.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/horst3180/Vertex-theme/issues/11#issuecomment-57241454.

[horst3180]

The issue with the black spaces is caused by the overlay scrollbars and is specific to ubuntu. If I remember correctly there is a bug report for this somewhere, so I won't include a workaround in the theme (which may introduce other bugs) since this is not a theming problem and from what i've seen it doesn't fix the problem completely. Disabling the overlay scrollbars will fix the black spaces. Also see here https://github.com/shimmerproject/Numix/issues/121

[wolfland]

horst3180,

              Thanks for the info. I'll disable the overlay 

scrollbars and try again. I can always add the "Ubuntu" hack if I decide to turn them back on and not use the .svg files to keep the default look. This is one of the hassles of running Ubuntu as Canonical just has to change things to be different.

              If I ever get around to starting my 14.10 respin I 

will either open a new bug report or add to yours if it reoccurs in 14.10 (maybe if enough of us report it they will get off their butt and fix it).

Thanks again for your hard work and great themes, WolfLand

On 10/03/2014 06:16 PM, horst3180 wrote:

The issue with the black spaces is caused by the overlay scrollbars and is specific to ubuntu. If I remember correctly there is a bug report for this somewhere, so I won't include a workaround in the theme (which may introduce other bugs) since this is not a theming problem and from what i've seen it doesn't fix the problem completely. Disabling the overlay scrollbars will fix the black spaces. Also see here shimmerproject/Numix#121 https://github.com/shimmerproject/Numix/issues/121

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/horst3180/Vertex-theme/issues/11#issuecomment-57870537.

[Sadi58]

I've found these bug reports that seem related with this problem: 1) https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gtk+3.0/+bug/1059374 2) https://bugs.launchpad.net/overlay-scrollbar/+bug/1096907 3) https://bugs.launchpad.net/overlay-scrollbar/+bug/1367764 Ubuntu users should report that they're affected by the bug so that we might attract developers' belated attention.

[wolfland]

horst3180,

              This started working for me with Ubuntu 14.10 as well 

as the latest Unity update in Ubuntu 14.04.1. The launcher icons change from black to another color if active depending on the Unity-Tweak launcher settings (e.g. Open applications only.. etc) I just found this out this week while working on my 14,10 respin and tried it again on 14.04.1 because I remembered seeing unity get updated with the latest batch of updates.

              So it appears that they must have fixed this in 14.10 

and propped it back to 14.04.1.

Thanks again for your hard work and awesome themes, Brett

On 11/01/2014 02:17 PM, Sadi Yumuşak wrote:

I've found these bug reports that seem related with this problem: 1) https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gtk+3.0/+bug/1059374 2) https://bugs.launchpad.net/overlay-scrollbar/+bug/1096907 3) https://bugs.launchpad.net/overlay-scrollbar/+bug/1367764 Ubuntu users should report that they're affected by the bug so that we might attract developers' belated attention.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/horst3180/Vertex-theme/issues/11#issuecomment-61377564.

[Sadi58]

wolfland, Apart from the Launcher icon bgcolor, I wonder if you also have my problem. The problem I see most often is that Nautilus bgcolor changes to black after this or that action (e.g. closing a tab or even an action in another app window. It was there in Ubuntu 14.04 and it's still here in Ubuntu 14.10. So I have to sacrifice "overlay scrollbars" (which I find very cute) for the sake of Vertex, which I think is far better than Ambiance. I don't get this problem with the latest Greybird (also my preferred alternative to Radiance) though. Life is full of difficult dilemmas ;-)

[horst3180]

As a temporary workaround create ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css with the following content

GtkWindow {
    color: @theme_fg_color;
    background-color: @theme_bg_color;
}

GtkPaned {
    background-color: @theme_bg_color;
}

GtkEventBox {
    background-color: @theme_bg_color;
}

This breaks themes that use different names for the colors, so better rename this file if you want to use a different theme.

[Sadi58]

Thank you very much! I can have both worlds now! :-)

[wolfland]

Folks,

      I tested the temporary workaround and it has problems with bad 

side effects(in 14.10 at least).

      The problem is incorrect tooltips in gedit buttons as well as 

other anomalies. For example the gedit button tooltips have a white background with a bold black font (yuk). This seems to be coming from the GtkWindow directive.

      I had better luck with the following which appears to work 

without any side effects that I could see:

     /**********************
      * Ubuntu Base States *
      *********************/

     GtkPaned,
     GtkEventBox {
         color: @theme_fg_color;
         background-color: @theme_bg_color;
     }

     GtkPaned:backdrop,
     GtkEventBox:backdrop {
         color: @theme_fg_color;
         background-color: @theme_bg_color;
     }

     This seemed to work well in either a .config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css 

file as well as a gtk-widgets-ubuntu.css file and directive added after the gtk-widgets.css file in the gtk-main-*.css file in the Vertex themes gtk-3.0 directory.

     This is similar to the changes that I normally make in the 

gtk-widgets.css file of any theme to fix these issues(e.g. black/missing backgrounds). This does not seem to be a overlay-scrollbar issue but a Unity desktop issue as I see issues even with overlay-scrollbars disabled.

     I have only tested this on 14.10 but will test it on 14.04 as 

soon as I get a chance.

     Hopefully this helps correct some of these issues as I am 

getting real tired of having to prop these Unity desktop specific changes all of the time. I have been doing this since Gtk3.6 or Gtk 3.8 at least this seems like a cleaner/easier way to implement them then to hack gtk-widgets.css every time.

     Let me know if this works for you and I will keep plugging away 

looking for better solutions until the problems are solved.

    Keep up the excellent work on your awesome themes and if you 

need me to test or help with anything let me know. I am running Unity on 14.04 and 14.10, GnomeShell on 14.04(Gtk3.12) and 14.10(Gtk3.14) and will be running KDE 4.14 on both 14.04 and 14.10 when I get a chance to do my 14.10 KDE respin. I am going to try and create a Vertex qtcurve theme and aurora based on the Vertex-Light version posted on kde-look.org recently when I have time and may do a Vertex-Dark as well(of course this is unless someone else beats me to it).

    The F1 Gran Prix is on and I have the Need for Speed so I have 

got to go. It's not very often that I get to see F1 on broadcast television so I need to take advantage of it.

Thanks, WolfLand On 11/02/2014 03:59 AM, horst3180 wrote:

As a temporary workaround create ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css with the following content

|GtkWindow { color: @theme_fg_color; background-color: @theme_bg_color; }

GtkPaned { background-color: @theme_bg_color; }

GtkEventBox { background-color: @theme_bg_color; } |

This breaks themes that use different names for the colors, so better rename this file if you want to use a different theme.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/horst3180/Vertex-theme/issues/11#issuecomment-61398684.

[horst3180]

Can confirm the tooltip problem and your suggestion seems to fix this, thanks. It would be great if you could look out for Unity/Ubuntu specific bugs, because I am only testing the theme in a Ubuntu vm and some bugs may go unnoticed.

[Sadi58]

WolfLand, thanks a lot for this fix...

[wolfland]

horst3180,

             I will be glad to as I am using Vertex in both 14.04 

and 14.10. So far nothing extra ordinary but I don't use too many applications. Mostly Browsing (e.g. Firefox, Nightly and Chromium) Email (Thunderbird or Daily), and a few others (GIMP, Transmission or Qtorrent, Videos/VLC Rhythmbox, Clamtk etc. All seem to work fine both Gtk2 and Gtk3. I also have awidgetfactory installed to help when debugging/making themes.

             So everything looks fine so far. I also am running 

Vertex in GnomeShell on both Gtk 3.12 and Gtk3.14 (14.04 and 14.10 respectively) and everything looks good there as well.

             If I see anything unusual I will let you know and 

thanks for the hard work and great themes!

WolfLand

On 11/02/2014 06:39 PM, horst3180 wrote:

Can confirm the tooltip problem and your suggestion seems to fix this, thanks. It would be great if you could look out for Unity/Ubuntu specific bugs, because I am only testing the theme in a Ubuntu vm and some bugs may go unnoticed.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/horst3180/Vertex-theme/issues/11#issuecomment-61429563.

[wolfland]

Sadi,

     You are most certainly welcome. Enjoy ..

WolfLand

On 11/03/2014 05:37 AM, Sadi Yumuşak wrote:

WolfLand, thanks a lot for this fix...

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/horst3180/Vertex-theme/issues/11#issuecomment-61460866.