Is there any way to change some icons while keeping the whole theme?

ldd · 2016-10-20 03:40:14

I'm currently using elementary-xfce-darker but there's some icons that I would like to replace by custom ones. It seems that there's 4 folders for the elementary theme (xfce, xfce-dark, xfce-darker and xfce-darkest), but there's some icons that are only in the "default" folder. I'm pretty new to this, so if I want to change an icon(i.e. lockscreen button), do I have to change every single one of them in the 4 sub-themes, and for every size subfolder too?

ToZ · 2016-10-20 11:01:08

Hello and welcome to the forums.

If you look at the index.theme files in each icon's main folder, you'll see how the theme is defined and how they inherit from each other. For example, elementary-xfce-darker inherits from elementary-xfce-dark meaning that if the icon doesn't exist in the elementary-xfce-darker theme, it will look for one in elementary-xfce-dark. And elementary-xfce-dark inherits from elementary-xfce. So basically like this:
- elementary-xfce
- elementary-xfce-dark
- elementary-xfce-darker
Look for the file in the lowest branch and work your way up until you find it.

And yes, you'll need to change it for every subfolder for the theme that you find it in because they are selected based on the size being requested. You don't need to change it in any of the inherited themes higher up in the chain as they won't be used (unless the icon of the right size and name isn't found lower in the chain).

More information can be found at the freedesktop icon theme specification.

ldd · 2016-10-21 01:05:25

Do you know where the default icons are stored? It seems that some of the icons are missing. The Default folder only contains a theme file.

ToZ · 2016-10-21 02:30:25

I believe default is hicolor. From the specification above:

The lookup is done first in the current theme, and then recursively in each of the current theme's parents, and finally in the default theme called "hicolor" (implementations may add more default themes before "hicolor", but "hicolor" must be last).

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#1 2016-10-20 03:40:14

Is there any way to change some icons while keeping the whole theme?

#2 2016-10-20 11:01:08

Re: Is there any way to change some icons while keeping the whole theme?

#3 2016-10-21 01:05:25

Re: Is there any way to change some icons while keeping the whole theme?

#4 2016-10-21 02:30:25

Re: Is there any way to change some icons while keeping the whole theme?

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