Xfce Forum

omgUFOs

Member

Registered: 2022-01-21

Posts: 2

Need help with Themes

Hi, I tried to figure this out my self through Google and Youtube Videos, but my themes aren't showing up in the Appearance styles box.. I am pretty new to Linux and this is getting frustrating. I've been trying to figure out where I'm going wrong for a week and a half, now I'm going to try and ask for help..

I was able to add my theme to /usr/share/themes/ Nothing showed up in the Appearance box.

I also tried to use the [+ Add] button to apply a theme through the Appearance box, but it doesn't show anything to add in my theme folder..

I tried many different "how to" tutorials for adding themes through the Terminal. Most of them are for different distributions of linux, I feel like maybe that could be tripping me up..

I'm using:
Debian 11 with XFCE

I really don't want to give up. I just need a little help, I feel like I could be missing something..

Thanks to anyone willing to help me out,
omgUFOs

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 10,998

Re: Need help with Themes

Hello and welcome.

The new theme's directory structure needs to match the standard. If you look at the directory structure for a working theme you'll see what I mean:

Theme directory
   - gtk-2.0
   - gtk-3.0
   - xfwm4
   - ...

If it doesn't match this pattern it won't be recognized.

Can you provide an example of a theme you are trying to install and we can further advise?

Also, you can create the hidden directory ".themes" in your home directory and put the themes in there. That way you don't need root access to copy files.

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KBar

Moderator

Registered: 2021-11-05

Posts: 689

Re: Need help with Themes

Hello and welcome to our wonderful forum!

I learnt a lot about theming for Xfwm4 thanks to this how-to.

As ToZ suggested, create the ~/.themes directory. I think you're also going to need an index.theme for your custom theme for it to be able to show up in Appearance. Just copy it from any other system themes and edit the Name and Comment fields.

As to Xfwm4 theming, it's a bit complicated but you can easily break it down into smaller pieces and learn them one by one. The how-to on Xfce's wiki will help you tremendously.

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omgUFOs

Member

Registered: 2022-01-21

Posts: 2

Re: Need help with Themes

Hey, thank you for the help, my computers Wi-Fi won’t connect to the internet right now so I’ll have to fix that then come back to this.

Didn’t want to leave the thread hanging with no update on if the theme’s are working or not.