Panel color issue 1: trisquel-gtk-theme, greybird-gtk-theme: Set theme colors for the MATE Panel

The trisquel-gtk-theme and greybird-gtk-theme must have their theme background colors set for the MATE Panel so a solution for the following issue can be implemented:

1. Affected Package revision / version

$ apt show trisquel-gtk-theme
Package: trisquel-gtk-theme
Version: 11.1

$ apt show greybird-gtk-theme
Package: greybird-gtk-theme
Version: 3.23.1-0ubuntu1+11.0trisquel13

2. Steps to Reproduce

Important note before you begin: For the most reliable results when evaluating this issue, use a hard drive installation of Trisquel. This setup ensures the transparency effect functions correctly, whereas running Trisquel in virt-manager may cause the transparency effect to fail or display incorrectly. I have already spent hours on this and, out of respect for my time, I am unable to provide further documentation or answer questions related to virt-manager issues for this case. Once again, please use a hard drive installation of Trisquel for guaranteed results.[1]

Steps to reproduce:

  1. First run #106 to avoid system override:

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"
  1. Set the MATE panel toplevel background to None to use system theme:
  • Right click on the MATE Panel
  • Select: Panel properties -> Background
  • Change "Solid color" to "None (use system theme)"

Or run: gsettings set org.mate.panel.toplevel.background:/org/mate/panel/toplevels/top/background/ type 'none'

  • This will update the background color on the MATE panel directly
  1. Change the wallpaper to white background
  • mate-appearance-properties -p background
  • Select the "No Desktop Background" entry located to the top left
  • Click on it and change it from Black to White

Or run:

gsettings set org.mate.background picture-options 'wallpaper'
gsettings set org.mate.background picture-filename ''
gsettings set org.mate.background color-shading-type 'solid'
gsettings set org.mate.background primary-color 'rgb(255,255,255)'
gsettings set org.mate.background secondary-color 'rgb(255,255,255)'
  1. Run mate-appearance-properties -p and select one of following themes:
  • Greybird
  • Greybird-dark
  • Trisquel
  • Trisquel Dark

or run:

gsettings set org.mate.interface gtk-theme 'Greybird'
gsettings set org.mate.interface gtk-theme 'Greybird-dark'
gsettings set org.mate.interface gtk-theme 'Trisquel'
gsettings set org.mate.interface gtk-theme 'Trisquel Dark'

Note: Use dconf watch / to monitor changes if you need to study how to apply them via gsettings.

3. Current Behavior

Behavior for both Trisquel install on hard disk, and live mode:

Greybird

image

Greybird-dark

image

Trisquel

image

Trisquel Dark

image

4. Expected Behavior (optional)

See screenshots under "Suggestions, Investigation and Possible Causes" below.

5. Workaround (optional)

Greybird

Modify the make-greybird-gtk-theme package helper, because /usr/share/themes/Greybird/gtk-3.0/ from Ubuntu MATE 22.04 has different content than /usr/share/themes/Greybird/gtk-3.0/ in Trisquel:

.background { color: #3c3c3c; background-color: #cecece; }

When copied from Ubuntu MATE 22.04 to Trisquel:

image

Graybird-dark

Modify the make-greybird-gtk-theme package helper, because /usr/share/themes/Greybird/gtk-3.0/ from Ubuntu MATE 22.04 has different content than /usr/share/themes/Greybird/gtk-3.0/ in Trisquel:

.background { color: #eeeeec; background-color: #3b3e3f; }

When copied from Ubuntu MATE 22.04 to Trisquel:

image

Trisquel

Workaround method 1

After spending about 8 hours evaluating this issue, I strongly recommend that this theme adopt a gray panel background color, as seen in the original Greybird theme. This change would better support Trisquel’s commitment to accessibility. If you agree with this direction, here’s how to proceed:

/usr/share/themes/Greybird/gtk-3.0/ from Ubuntu MATE 22.04 has different content than /usr/share/themes/Trisquel/gtk-3.0/ in Trisquel:

.background { color: #3c3c3c; background-color: #cecece; }

When copied from Ubuntu MATE 22.04 to Trisquel:

image

Workaround method 2

/usr/share/themes/Trisquel/gtk-3.0/gtk.css

#PanelPlug, .mate-panel-menu-bar, PanelToplevel.background { background-color: #c71313; background-image: none; color: #3c3c3c; text-shadow: none; }
  • Change "transparent" to "#3b3b3b" -- it matches .background { color: #eeeeec; background-color: #3b3b3b; } from /usr/share/themes/Trisquel-dark/gtk-3.0/gtk.css

Result:

image

Trisquel Dark

  • The "Greybird" theme (/usr/share/themes/Greybird/) from the greybird-gtk-theme from Ubuntu MATE 22.04 does not have a black MATE Panel background. However, the "Trisquel" has the same colors for the panel as "Trisquel Dark" theme. So apply the "Trisquel" theme solution for both themes.
  • /usr/share/themes/Greybird-dark/gtk-3.0/ copied from Ubuntu MATE 22.04 (source files) to Trisquel:

image

6. Suggestions, Investigation and Possible Causes (optional)

7. Other Tests (optional)

If the Workaround above is fixed, you may also want to fix this for trisquel-gtk-theme: MATE Panel's Show Desktop icon has gradient background color - https://github.com/shimmerproject/Greybird/issues/358

References

  1. This information is not required to solve the issue and may cause confusion or unnecessary questions; in most cases, reviewing it is unnecessary): In my experience, when running Trisquel in virt-manager, the transparency effect in the Trisquel and Greybird themes did not appear; instead, the panel background remained black (you can test this by running "Reset All Panel" or pkill mate-panel), most likely because black is used by this theme in other elements and not because the "color='#000000'" value that was removed from /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/x_trisquel.gschema.override

Also, in live mode, the panel transparency is set to 50%, but this setting isn’t applied during installation. However, in both live mode and after installation, the panel background color does not display correctly.

This may be due to a graphics driver limitation in virt-manager. However, if you encounter this problem, testing on a physical hard drive installation is recommended.

Edited by David Hedlund
To upload designs, you'll need to enable LFS and have an admin enable hashed storage. More information