Theming for Devuan excalibur

greenjeans · 2025-08-16 01:30:27

Quick one here: Default theme I have seen in Mate, sets the interior color of the file manager windows to pure white (#ffffff), but the issue is that the icon sets mostly set the default icon for text files and many others as being a rectangle that is also pure white. So when viewed in the file manager you can't even see the icon itself, just the filename below what looks like an empty space. Looks bad.

Need to set the interior color for such things to an off-white like #C9C9C9 to give some difference and allow you to see the icon.

golinux · 2025-08-16 02:27:06

Hey greenjeans . . . I have an idea that you may or may not like. I created a desktop background graphic for excalibur. It is an anti-war statement named "deathmetal". It combines the dark metal of a sword (I looked at a LOT of them) with a tinge of "gangrene" which is a possible result to the victim. Feel free to use it if you like. If it doesn't suit you, that's fine too.

https://git.devuan.org/devuan/documenta … rge-M2.svg

I tried to get someone to further develp that theme but no takers.

zapper · 2025-08-16 02:39:12

@Golinux not bad, nice color. It looks kind of gray which I like.

golinux · 2025-08-16 02:54:05

@zapper . . . Thanks. The colors are subtle and really pop out when it is full screen

greenjeans · 2025-08-16 16:44:23

Yeah i've got a copy of that, it would be a cool base for a theme.

Mainly i'm just throwing out an observation. Caja has a built-in way to change the background color in it's windows, so it's easy enough. I don't know if xfce has this same issue. But it's possible to write some css into the theme that changes the default white background too.

prospero · 2025-08-18 15:07:35

https://git.devuan.org/devuan/documenta … rge-M2.svg

Cozy. I would call it warm green, really warms one's feelings. Given its history, brings to mind the image of a luxurious forest growing and thriving over forsaken wasteland.

golinux · 2025-08-18 15:30:08

@prospero . . . Thanks for your insight. Made my day!

@ greenjeans . . . There are detailed instructions for theming Xfce HERE. Maybe that will give you some hints of what might need to be done on Mate if you want to play with it. Don't panic! Most of it it for theming ALL parts of a new release, not just the default desktop . . . unless you want to be a hero . . .

greenjeans · 2025-08-18 16:19:23

I think i'm being misunderstood here, I was simply reporting a small bug. I have no issues re-theming for myself, I was speaking about the default look in Devuan, specifically for the Mate DE as installed using the standard installer iso and choosing the Mate DE. Perhaps it's not an issue in XFCE.

If as said the themes are for all possible iterations of a release, Mate is offered as one of those, and it seems that it wouldn't take much to fix this.

greenjeans · 2025-08-18 16:44:04

Really the problem mostly is in the default theme that gets applied on a standard install of Mate, which is Menta, most of the other themes shipped with it already change the colors of the interior panes of caja. Menta and it's icons are the main culprit, maybe just need to change what the default theme is, the Phenix clearlooks stuff looks okay, as does Blue Submarine.
Here's a screenshot of what i'm speaking of:

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#1 2025-08-16 01:30:27

Theming for Devuan excalibur

#2 2025-08-16 02:27:06

Re: Theming for Devuan excalibur

#3 2025-08-16 02:39:12

Re: Theming for Devuan excalibur

#4 2025-08-16 02:54:05

Re: Theming for Devuan excalibur

#5 2025-08-16 16:44:23

Re: Theming for Devuan excalibur

#6 2025-08-18 15:07:35

Re: Theming for Devuan excalibur

#7 2025-08-18 15:30:08

Re: Theming for Devuan excalibur

#8 2025-08-18 16:19:23

Re: Theming for Devuan excalibur

#9 2025-08-18 16:44:04

Re: Theming for Devuan excalibur

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