Colors and system icons

[sarether]

Suggestion

• FEATURE: Implement new icon/color theme (now-im, xavier2k6)

These colors are very bright, especially in the torrent list. At least with a dark theme.

• LINUX: Remove option of using icons from system theme (now-im)

Return the ability to use system icons, please.

[Pentaphon]

@sarether Just use another qB theme for now? Linux system icons weren't made for qBittorrent so it was decided against in favor of in-house icons and custom qB themes like the ones you will find below.

https://github.com/jagannatharjun/qbt-theme

If you want to help tweak the new theme, go here and tell them what colors and icons to fix.

https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorrent/issues/18078

[mar04]

Not only do those icons look worse than the system ones, they look pixelated in the context menu of the tray icon. Give us an option to use system theme.

[TheYMI]

Inactive torrents used to be black, and uploading ones were blue. That made it very easy to identify torrents that are currently uploading (great when trying to decide which to delete). Now everything is blue, which makes it very hard to differentiate.

[sarether]

@sarether Just use another qB theme for now? Linux system icons weren't made for qBittorrent so it was decided against in favor of in-house icons and custom qB themes like the ones you will find below.

https://github.com/jagannatharjun/qbt-theme

If you want to help tweak the new theme, go here and tell them what colors and icons to fix.

18078

I don't use any special themes for individual applications (this is common in Linux desktop environments). The theme and icons are the same as defined in the DE settings, in my case KDE Plasma. In GTK-based DE, such as GNOME, Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce, LXDE, Pantheon, Budgie etc., Qt-applications are configured using the qt5ct/qt6ct utility, which allows Qt-applications to inherit the theme and icons from GTK DE settings. All applications look the same, except for qBittorrent, because it now uses third-party icons.

4.4.5

4.5.0

[AlexCzar]

Removal of system icons support is a definite downgrade. Now qbittorrent sticks out like a sore thumb.

In system themes there were a couple of icons missing, but it is much easier to add them to the system theme, than create a whole new qBittorrent theme.

As mentioned above colours in the latest release got worse, too.

Please, revert the theme changes.

[glassez]

In system themes there were a couple of icons missing,

It was like that before. In this release, qBittorrent has more different icons in its design, so the number of missing icons in the system theme would be much greater than before.

[AlexCzar]

That may be, but nothing new jumps out at me in the main window and context menu, other places matter much less and can be ignored In any case, adding new items into system themes is easy and not application-specific, whereas qbittorrent themes have their own format one would need to learn, I tried messing with it once without much success. I would rather edit system themes and/or ignore missing icons in irrelevant places. It was a setting, so default experience can be the new one, for those who don't like qB's icons or how different they are to the system theme the option to follow system theme should be there.

[dullahan2084]

Whatever led to this, the end result for the linux version is very sad. Uniform look across applications and user choices are paramount so, please, restore the option to use system icons at least.

[Pentaphon]

Whatever led to this, the end result for the linux version is very sad. Uniform look across applications and user choices are paramount so, please, restore the option to use system icons at least.

I disagree. Developers are under no obligation to use somebody else's incompatible system icons to define the look of their software. The devs should always be in charge of their own icons for their software to make it look complete and in line with the overall functionality. The only thing users should ask for is custom theme support because those custom themes at least are designed for qBittorrent while system icons are made for something else entirely. I voted not to allow system icons any longer and it is the right direction for the devs to take so their software looks the same and the way they want it to look on all platforms.

All applications look the same, except for qBittorrent, because it now uses third-party icons.

So what? To the qB devs, your system icons are the third party icons. They are supposed to provide a consistent experience across all platforms for THEIR software. Not to please Linux users by having all their software look the exact same. They should certainly fix the bugs that affect all platforms and make sure that the Linux port looks good, but they are not obligated to support system icons when they are trying to provide their own icons across all platforms.

[dullahan2084]

@Pentaphon, couldn't disagree more. Sounds like the point of system icons is missed entirely. Icons are a visual language, and as a language, it makes sense when applications use the same "word" for each concept, like opening a file, for example. That's why system icons exist, they are meant to be used by all applications. The removal of system icons, even as an option, is objectively a step backward for the Linux version. No doubt about it.

[Pentaphon]

they are meant to be used by all applications.

More like: they are meant to be used by all applications that do not have their own iconography. qBittorrent now has their own iconography that is more complete than ever. I don't think there's anything wrong with them making sure their software looks the same on all major platforms. They are not in charge of making sure their software uses somebody else's incomplete, outdated, non-customized icons. They are in charge of making sure their software uses their own, complete, up-to-date, fully-customized icons that work well on their torrent client on every platform.

The only thing they have to do is tweak the theme further so it looks its best on all 3 major platforms. I am not saying 4.5.0 has perfect icons and colors right now. Far from it. I am saying they need to keep perfecting the current theme and stick to their theme instead of having their software continue to use system icons that weren't meant to be used on their torrent client.

[dullahan2084]

No, all platforms have system icons to fulfill the goal of all applications having the same look and feel. And no, the goal for multi-platform applications never was to look the same across platforms, just the opposite, it always was to match as much as possible the native look and feel of each platform.

[Pentaphon]

it always was to match as much as possible the native look and feel of each platform.

That's already done with the GUI toolkit. Nobody says the icons have to be the same on every application. Every app can have its own icons and should. I'd rather let the qBittorrent devs provide a complete icon theme themselves than have my Gnome install do a bad job of providing all the icons for qBittorrent. I have yet to see a system icon set that fills in all the icons that qBittorrent requires.

You're just upset that you don't like how the new theme in 4.5.0 looks. If you give the qBittorrent devs a chance to tweak the current theme to make it look better on Linux, it will end up looking just fine.

[dullahan2084]

Icons are part of the look and feel and they should be the same on every application, sure they should, and you have the system icons for that. See what KDE says: "Use icons from the system icon theme whenever possible. Avoid using custom icons.", and what GNOME says: "Where possible, it is recommended to reuse these existing icons, as opposed to creating your own." A couple of missing icons? If they're really needed (using icons for the sake of it is just clutter) create them following the platform rules. Having an own iconography for the application isn't a merit, it's a burden. Are you happy with it? good for you, but don't justify it with wrong assumptions nor expect others to agree. I'm not going to be arguing about this over and over again.

[Pentaphon]

See what KDE says: "Use icons from the system icon theme whenever possible. Avoid using custom icons."

That's only if you want your app to follow KDE guidelines. There is no obligation for a Linux app to follow KDE guidelines, especially considering that not every Linux user runs KDE. If you want to use a KDE HIG app, use ktorrent. If you want to use a Gnome HIG app, use Fragments. qBittorrent is not associated with any OS or DE guideline in particular. They only have to make their icons work on every platform they support.

There's a reason qBittorrent always made their own icons (like we saw in 4.4.5) instead of just relying on system icons. They've finally broken away from using system icons on Linux and there is no reason to go back. Why should qBittorrent devs make icons for every desktop environment instead of just making 1 set of icons for their 1 torrent client? It's better to just make 1 set of icons that works for every platform and desktop so their client looks the same no matter what OS you use.

[sarether]

Why should qBittorrent devs make icons for every desktop environment instead of just making 1 set of icons for their 1 torrent client? It's better to just make 1 set of icons that works for every platform and desktop so their client looks the same no matter what OS you use.

What? Why should developers create an icon theme? There was no icon theme (as well as these colors), and why create an icon theme if the OS (Linux, Windows, etc.) already has its own icons. And it worked until version 4.5.0.

[Pentaphon]

Why should developers create an icon theme?

Because they want to. If they want their own icons for their own software, what's the issue?

There was no icon theme (as well as these colors)

Yes there was. You just didn't see it because qBittorrent was set to show system icons by default on Linux until they turned it off on 4.5.0. Before that, the Linux port had the same icons as 4.4.5 on Windows. Just load up 4.4.5 on Linux and turn off system icons if you don't believe me. How can you be arguing if you didn't even know this basic fact?

and why create an icon theme if the OS (Linux, Windows, etc.) already has its own icons.

Because they want their own icons. Its a torrent client. Linux and Windows devs don't include their own torrent client with those platforms so why would they have a complete set of icons for a torrent client? That's why the qBittorrent devs included their own icons with Linux and Windows (not sure about Mac since I don't use it).

[sarether]

Did they disable the system icons because they created their own icon theme? What for? Because they wanted it? And some users don't like it.

All of this smells bad for open source software and for the GPL in particular.

There was no icon theme (as well as these colors)

Yes there was. You just didn't see it because qBittorrent was set to show system icons by default on Linux until they turned it off on 4.5.0.

I saw this setting, but there was only a choice of theme and not a word about qBittorrent's icon set. There are enough system icons and I didn't have any themes for qBittorrent, so there was no need to change themes.

Because they want to have their own icons. This is a torrent client. Linux and Windows developers don't include their own torrent client with these platforms, so why would they have a full set of icons for a torrent client? That's why the qBittorrent developers have included their own icons in Linux and Windows (I'm not sure about Mac, since I don't use it).

Find out for yourself what Linux Desktop Environments are.

And, as it is written in the first message, they are asked to return the use of system icons. Return/change the color palette in the torrent list.

//"Linux port" of qBittorrent realeased with the first version (for Windows it started with version 2.2.9).

[Pentaphon]

Did they disable the system icons because they created their own icon theme? What for? Because they wanted it? And some users don't like it.

To ensure a consistent appearance across all platforms.

The "Linux port" of qBittorrent appeared with the first version

And? It's still the same project. Did you expect things to stay the same forever? They went a long time with using incomplete icons and for the first time they have a complete iconset because of this. Now they just have to tweak it some more so it looks better on all platforms including Linux.

[sarether]

To ensure a consistent appearance across all platforms.

OK. You are right, because different icons in different programs create a global look'n'feel and make it easier to understand the same icons.

//Find out what "port" means.

[Pentaphon]

because different icons in different programs create a global look'n'feel and make it easier to understand the same icons.

That's not the qB devs responsibility. When I use a new application, I expect to learn the new icons, how it works, etc.

Find out what "port" means.

I know what it means. I was just being loose with the term. There's a Windows "port" and a Mac "port" too ok? Not a big deal to fuss over.

[skaendo]

OMG Please bring back the system icons for Linux users. These current icons look like some little kid is in charge of design here.

[dullahan2084]

Did they disable the system icons because they created their own icon theme? What for? Because they wanted it? And some users don't like it.

To ensure a consistent appearance across all platforms.

@Pentaphon, to justify the removal of system icons you're always dismissing consistency within platforms and emphasizing across them. It's the former not the latter what matters to users, as I told you many times before, but you always ignore it. Users of each platform care about how the application looks on the platform they use, not how it looks on platforms they don't use. Therefore consistency within platforms is valuable to users while consistency across them is not. Removing system icons for the sake of a consistent look across platforms means losing something valuable to gain something that has no value. A net loss.

[Pentaphon]

Removing system icons for the sake of a consistent look across platforms means losing something valuable to gain something that has no value. A net loss.

Again, the current devs have no obligation to honor your system icons. Their own torrent client is the only thing that matters to them and all that is left is to tweak the current theme until it looks as good as it possibly can on all platforms including Linux. Your only issue is that "qBittorrent sticks out" which seems more like a personal issue. A torrent client is going to use different buttons than most applications on any platform. It's supposed to stick out somewhat because there is no platform that provides a torrent client in the original install.

There's nothing valuable about a torrent client that isn't completely icon-ifed because of a system icon set that wasn't meant for it.

If you guys wanted to create something valuable, make qBittorrent themes that actually fit your system icon theme and actually give qBittorrent a complete set of icons.

[nick-s-b]

@Pentaphon why are you writing post after post, paragraph after paragraph, about limiting people's choices? How does giving people a choice limit or affect your usage? And you're not even a developer of qB. I don't get it...

[Pentaphon]

@Pentaphon why are you writing post after post, paragraph after paragraph, about limiting people's choices? How does giving people a choice limit or affect your usage? And you're not even a developer of qB. I don't get it...

I actually was the one that requested that the checkbox simply be unchecked by default on new installs here since I do use Linux and Windows because I was watching the theme changes and I thought it was pointless to make a new theme only to not showcase it by default:

https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorrent/issues/17150

Then somewhere up to here:

https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorrent/pull/17292

It was decided by the devs to remove it altogether. I don't remember what the reasoning was.

I am fine with either outcome, but I dislike system icons and prefer going with the current qB theme + custom themes solution.

I do wish people would actually help perfect the existing theme and contribute custom themes instead of wishing for old system icon support that never actually looked good or complete.

[luni3359]

I do wish people would actually help perfect the existing theme and contribute custom themes instead of wishing for old system icon support that never actually looked good or complete.

While it definitely could use some improvements, I don't think there's anything that could possibly match the niceness of integration with the system. That being said, I don't really mind.

[xavier2k6]

These colors are very bright, especially in the torrent list. At least with a dark theme.

@sarether Just for clarification.

Do you mean the icon colors in the torrent list?

or

Do you mean the text colors in the torrent list?

or

Both?

[Pentaphon]

Looks like system icons are coming back so this discussion is partially over.

https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorrent/pull/18195

I would not be surprised if everything theme-related started over in 4.5.1.

We still need a new default theme for 5.x and the upcoming Qt changes and dark/light mode so I hope the people reading this issue will help come up with one.

[dullahan2084]

Looks like system icons are coming back so this discussion is partially over.

I'm glad to read this.

Thanks for listening and re-enabling support for system icons.

[skaendo]

I hope the people reading this issue will help come up with one.

That is part of the problem. There are very few places to discuss things, like here and the forum. I am not going to sign up to yet another forum to talk about a issue and then end up never going back to that forum, and most "end-users" probably don't have or want a github account. Programmers today "live" in a bubble where only a few will actually do such things, so only a percent of the users actually get some form of input. Meanwhile some will just accept the changes and others will simply walk away and find something different.

[maboroshin]

Relatd: https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorrent/issues/18123 : 4.5.0 "Stalled" colour

[yepyepyep4711]

I'm not sure why this discussion is focusing on Linux. I'm on windows 7 and I actually downgraded back to 4.4.5 to escape the garish colours. While I respect the devs' right to make whatever they change they want to their application, I do hope a future version will offer users the possibility to use the new or the old theme.

If you've been using FOSS for a while, you might remember a similar debate when Notepad++ changed its shortcut icon. in the end, it became a choice users could make when installing. I hope this is where this is going, eventually.

[karabaja4]

Inactive torrents used to be black, and uploading ones were blue. That made it very easy to identify torrents that are currently uploading (great when trying to decide which to delete). Now everything is blue, which makes it very hard to differentiate.

While I really don't care about the aesthetics (heck, I'd still be using Windows XP if it were viable), what really bothers me here is that this change made it impossible to see which torrents are actively seeding, and which are just idle seeding (before they were blue/black respectively).

Is there a workaround to get this feature back (other then downgrading) until this is fixed?

[glassez]

18214

[Pentaphon]

18214

That's great but I think everybody wants what @karabaja4 describes to be the default again so they don't have to tinker with theme colors at all.

[glassez]

I think everybody wants what @karabaja4 describes to be the default again so they don't have to tinker with theme colors at all.

No one has yet offered PR to get this off the ground.

[Pentaphon]

No one has yet offered PR to get this off the ground.

This is @now-im 's theme so perhaps he can reverse the text colors for people with a PR

[yepyepyep4711]

18214

So I updated to 4.5.1 because the Release notes said "Re-allow to use icons from system theme (glassez)", which I naively assumed to mean "revert to the old look-and-feel if you want to". But nowhere does it say how to do so, and I can't for the life of me find a setting that says "use the old look" or "use system theme".

What am I missing?

EDIT: if I understand this committed code correctly, the option should be right there under the "Use custom UI Theme" option, but it's not. Has this somehow not been merged, or is it only for some OS's ? I'm on win 7.

Going back to 4.4.5. If anyone's in the same situation, the old installers are here: https://www.fosshub.com/qBittorrent-old.html

[Pentaphon]

@yepyepyep4711 that is for Linux users. It means "use the system icons that your Linux distro uses instead of the ones we supplied".

If you want to go back to the old theme I suggest using a theme file from https://github.com/jagannatharjun/qbt-theme or https://www.reddit.com/r/qBittorrent/comments/znm5ot/a_theme_with_a_changed_tone

[Ofunniku]

I'm not sure where else to ask this because I can't find any concrete information on it: What are the original color values of the transfer list before and after 4.5.x? (For both Light and Dark theme on Windows, at least)

I'm asking because while we seem to be getting the ability to change the colors ourselves soon enough, nobody seems to have put the original values up anywhere I could find, and I REALLY loved the colors for 4.4.5 and prior.

I'd be very grateful if anyone could provide those original color values and the new ones for 4.5.0 and newer.

Thank you in advance.

[thalieht]

What are the original color values of the transfer list before and after 4.5.x?

https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorrent/blob/1b0fd456439e5ce461189c6234b10b52b98d88f8/src/gui/transferlistmodel.cpp#L705

and after 4.5.x?

https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorrent/blob/97853f31f25bd427b7f821f16c8b1d7131842db8/src/gui/transferlistmodel.cpp#L56

And their "translation"": https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorrent/blob/ee6f699b48045cccf3d1e19f4ba4e43b76626642/src/gui/color.h#L38

[luzpaz]

What's the verdict here ?