Panel color issue 2: Remove org.mate.panel.toplevel.background to allow background colors for all themes

This issue (#106) can be evaluated, but it should not be solved before Panel color issue 1: trisquel-gtk-theme, greybird-gtk-theme: Set theme colors for the MATE Panel has been fixed, in order for the Trisquel and Greybird themes to be compatible with it.

1. Affected Package revision / version

This is not a package issue, but a configuration issue:

  • The system-wide default background color for the mate-panel in Ubuntu MATE 22.04 is system theme.
  • The system-wide default background color for the mate-panel in Trisquel 11/11.01 is set to black, instead of system theme:

2. Steps to Reproduce

/usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/x_trisquel.gschema.override contains

[org.mate.panel.toplevel.background]
opacity=30000
color='#000000'
type='color'

3. Current Behavior

All themes (mate-appearance-properties -p theme) with light text on 50% transparent window buttons are virtually useless on dark panel background colors because the text is too difficult to read:

  • BlueMenta
  • GreenLaguna
  • High Contrast
  • Menta
  • These themes are also affected but to less degree since they add gray window button color (but the rest of the panel, for example the text on the ayatana clock is affected): TraditionalGreen, foo: YaruGreen, YaruOK, TraditionalOK

Screenshot of BlueMenta theme with the default Trisquel panel background color:

Screenshot_trisquel_11.0_amd64.iso-keyboard_2023-08-30_14_21_24

This is not easy to configure for most users

Changing the mate-panel background color through the GUI, dconf, or gsettings does not provide a lasting effect. When you right-click the mate-panel, select Properties, and adjust the color in the "Background" tab, your changes will not persist. This is because the panel is prone to crashing, and when it does, using "Reset All Panels" only restores the system-wide default settings-specifically, the color defined in /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/x_trisquel.gschema.override (such as #000000 for Trisquel 11)-not your customizations made via the GUI, dconf, or gsettings. As a result, after each crash and reset, you must manually reapply your preferred background color, which can be frustrating and requires you to remember the steps each time. In Trisquel 11, these crashes happen frequently enough that this becomes a recurring annoyance.

image

4. Expected Behavior (optional)

  • Screenshot with the workaround. Here the BlueMenta theme used again:

Screenshot_0default-trisquel_11.0_amd64.iso-clone_2023-09-20_12_28_02

5. Workaround (optional)

Remove these lines from /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/x_trisquel.gschema.override:

[org.mate.panel.toplevel.background]
opacity=30000
color='#000000'
type='color'
  • Run sudo glib-compile-schemas /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/
  • Sign out of your desktop environment, then sign back in.
  • Sign in to your desktop environment. This will update the MATE panel background color. You can manually update the MATE panel if you need to test it by running pkill mate-panel or right-click on the MATE panel and choose "Reset All Panels"

6. Suggestions, Investigation and Possible Causes (optional)

7. Other Tests (optional)

Additional information

Guide how to "Reset All Panels"

  • Change the panel color to red from the GUI.
  • Click on "Reset All Panels":

image

  • The color will be not red anymore.

Related issues

Edited by David Hedlund
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