Xfce Forum

bgryderclock

Member

Registered: 2006-08-04

Posts: 3

Change colors - XFCE icon text and text background

I am trying out the XFCE desktop on Ubuntu (xubuntu).
I am very impressed with its speed!

How do you change the color of the text and text background for the desktop icons?

Right now I have black icon text, on a gray patch, on a black desktop.
It looks quite ghetto.(see pic)

I tried the desktop preferences menu. It controls the Icon images, icon size, text size, Desktop wallpaper, Desktop color, Brightness, Right Click Menu Options, and Menu editing ... But No Icon Text and Text Background Contol.

Are there any other menu or config files i can change?

mmassonnet

Member

From: the milky way galaxy

Registered: 2006-07-30

Posts: 99

Website

Re: Change colors - XFCE icon text and text background

RTFM!

/usr/share/doc/xfdesktop4/README

---

Mike

bgryderclock

Member

Registered: 2006-08-04

Posts: 3

Re: Change colors - XFCE icon text and text background

Hi, welcome to the xfce forums.

Try looking at this readme file. it may help you.
/usr/share/doc/xfdesktop4/README

/usr/share/doc/xfdesktop4/README says:

HIDDEN CUSTOMISATIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you're using the icon view, and would like to change how the text looks,
you have three things you can change: the opacity (transparency) of the
rounded text background, the color of the rounded text background, and the
color of the text itself.

You'd want to add something like this to your ~/.gtkrc-2.0 file:

style "xfdesktop-icon-view" {
    XfdesktopIconView::label-alpha = 75

    base[NORMAL] = "#00ff00"
    base[SELECTED] = "#5050ff"
    base[ACTIVE] = "#0000ff"

    fg[NORMAL] = "#ff0000"
    fg[SELECTED] = "#ff0000"
    fg[ACTIVE] = "#ff0000"
}
widget_class "*XfdesktopIconView*" style "xfdesktop-icon-view"

The first entry sets the opacity of the rounded text background.  The allowed
values are from 0 (totally transparent) to 255 (totally opaque).

The second three entries set the color of the rounded text background.
* NORMAL sets the color for the regular, unselected state.
* SELECTED sets the color for when the icon is selected, and the desktop has
  keyboard/mouse focus.
* ACTIVE sets the color for when the icon is selected, but the desktop does
  not have keyboard/mouse focus.

The final three entries set the color of the label text.  See above for the
differences between NORMAL, SELECTED, and ACTIVE.

What folder is the ~/.gtkrc-2.0 file in?

I am try to find the file i need to edit by searching the full filesystem for any text file containing "XfdesktopIconView:" and it is taking forever. :-(

bgryderclock

Member

Registered: 2006-08-04

Posts: 3

Re: Change colors - XFCE icon text and text background

Answer:

Edit the .gtkrc-2.0 file in my /home/user_name/ folder and added the bolded part at the end:

# This file was written by KDE
# You can edit it in the KDE control center, under "GTK Styles and Fonts"

include "/usr/share/themes/Clearlooks/gtk-2.0/gtkrc"

style "user-font"
{
    font_name="DejaVu Sans 9"
}
widget_class "*" style "user-font"

gtk-theme-name="Clearlooks"
gtk-font-name="DejaVu Sans 9"

[b]# this is the new part added by bgryderclock

style "xfdesktop-icon-view" {
    XfdesktopIconView::label-alpha = 75

    base[NORMAL] = "#000000"
    base[SELECTED] = "#000000"
    base[ACTIVE] = "#000000"

    fg[NORMAL] = "#ffffff"
    fg[SELECTED] = "#ffffff"
    fg[ACTIVE] = "#ffffff"
}
widget_class "*XfdesktopIconView*" style "xfdesktop-icon-view"[/b]

mmassonnet

Member

From: the milky way galaxy

Registered: 2006-07-30

Posts: 99

Website

Re: Change colors - XFCE icon text and text background

Answer:

Edit the .gtkrc-2.0 file in my /home/user_name/ folder

And if it doesn't exist create it ... and put the Gtk style in it!

---

Mike

guatebus

Member

Registered: 2009-03-11

Posts: 1

Re: Change colors - XFCE icon text and text background

Great thread, very helpful, thanks.  I reply to this thread so I can "bind" it to my profile.  I cant find a way to "subscribe" to it any other way.  Any help on this please?  :twisted: