guidedtour/back.html

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  15 <center>Backgrounds and Themes</center>
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  21 <ul>
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  23   <li><a href="back.html#backg" name="backg">Backgrounds</a></li>
  24   <li><a href="back.html#style" name="style"></a><a href="#style">Styles</a></li>
  25   <li><a href="back.html#them" name="them">Themes</a></li>
  26 </ul>
  27
  28 For the purposes of this guided tour, only those appearance options that
  29 are built-in to Window Maker will be considered. Crafting custom styles
  30 and themes is not terribly difficult, nor do you need any special
  31 knowledge of programming languages or other specialized skills, but
  32 this is outside the intended scope of the guided tour.<br>
  33
  34 <br>
  35
  36 The appearance of the Window Maker GUI can easily be customized from
  37 the applications menu item "Appearance."<br>
  38
  39 Themes, styles, icon sets, and backgrounds can be selected as soon as
  40 they are installed in the right directory.
  41 <br>
  42
  43 Themes should be installed in the directory
  44 ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Themes/<br>
  45
  46 Styles should be installed in the directory
  47 ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Styles/<br>
  48
  49 Backgrounds should be installed in the directory
  50 ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Backgrounds/<br>
  51
  52 <br>
  53
  54 If you are working within a freshly-installed instance of Window Maker,
  55 your Linux distribution probably provided some default themes, styles
  56 and backgrounds. Rarely, a distribution
  57 provides no additional themes, styles or backgrounds - expecting users
  58 to provide these on their own.<br>
  59
  60 <br>
  61
  62 Here is the "Appearance" menu and some of its associated sub-menus,
  63 including themes, styles and backgrounds:<br>
  64
  65 <br>
  66
  67 <div style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 714px; height: 636px;" alt="Appearance menu items" src="images/appearancemenu.png"><br>
  68 </div>
  69
  70 <br>
  71 In the screenshot above, most of the styles are default to the Debian
  72 GNU/Linux distribution, while most of the themes were user-installed.
  73 Many themes are available for download on the internet.&nbsp; <br>
  74
  75 <h2><a name="backg">Backgrounds</a></h2>
  76
  77
  78 <p>Backgrounds may be system-generated solid or gradient colors, or
  79 they may be images from user or distibution-supplied image files. The
  80 easiest way to change a system-generated background color or color
  81 gradient is to select one from the "Appearance -&gt; Background -&gt; <span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">&lt; Solid <span style="color: white;">or</span> Gradient &gt;</span>" menu. In most default configurations there will be six to eight selections in each category.</p>
  82 <p>Likewise, the easiest way to change to a background image is to
  83 select one from the "Appearance -&gt; Background -&gt; Images" menu. If
  84 you wish to install your own images for use as backgrounds, place the
  85 image file in your ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Backgrounds/ directory
  86 and they will be available from the menu immediately.</p>
  87
  88 <p> </p>
  89
  90 <h2><a name="Styles"></a>Styles</h2>
  91
  92 A style defines the look of the key components of the Window Maker
  93 desktop. These components include the window titlebar and resizebar, the menu title and text field, and the icon background.<br>
  94
  95 <br>
  96
  97 The characteristics defined in a style (or theme) are&nbsp; the color
  98 and
  99 "texture" of key GUI elements. Texture in this context means using
 100 multiple colors in
 101 various color gradients - you are not limited to solid colors
 102 only.&nbsp; <br>
 103
 104 <br>
 105
 106 The easiest method for changing the style is to select a style from the
 107 "Appearance -&gt; Style" menu.<br>
 108
 109 <br>
 110
 111 A style may also be created using the <span style="font-style: italic;">Appearance
 112 Preferences</span> tool in <span style="font-style: italic;">WPrefs.app</span>.
 113 From this tool, you may configure the color and texture of window
 114 elements (titlebars, resizebars), menu elements (menu titlebar, menu
 115 item text colors, menu "style") and the color and texture of icon
 116 backgrounds. The location of titlebar text and the font and text color
 117 for window and menu text may also be configured here.<br>
 118
 119 <br>
 120
 121 <center><img style="width: 520px; height: 412px;" alt="Appearance preferences tool" src="images/prefs12.png"></center>
 122 <br>
 123
 124 <br>
 125
 126 More information on creating a style "from scratch" may be found <a href="http://windowmaker.org/chap4.php" target="_blank">in the Window Maker User's Guide.</a> (Scroll down to the section on "Appearance Options.") <br>
 127 <br>
 128 A step-by-step guide to crafting a custom style is available <a href="http://windowmakerandi.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00:00:00-06:00&amp;updated-max=2012-01-01T00:00:00-06:00&amp;max-results=4" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br>
 129
 130 <h2><a name="them">Themes</a></h2>
 131
 132 <p>In its most basic form, a theme is simply a style that also
 133 includes a background. Some Linux distributions provide one or more
 134 default themes for use&nbsp; system-wide. You may
 135 install your own themes in the ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Themes/
 136 directory. Themes installed in the correct directory will be
 137 available for selection in the "Appearance -&gt; Themes" menu.
 138 Selecting Themes from the Appearance menu runs the <span style="font-style: italic;">setstyle</span> program to install the
 139 theme and record it in the <span style="font-style: italic;">~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker</span>
 140 file.</p>
 141 Two sites
 142 providing preconfigured themes are <a href="http://lonelymachines.org/windowmaker-themes/" target="_blank">HERE</a>
 143 and <a href="http://www.jessanderson.org/wmthemes/" target="_blank">HERE</a>.
 144 An internet search for "Window Maker themes" will generate additional
 145 results, and you should also check your Linux distribution's
 146 repositories - some provide themes for installation using your
 147 distribution's package management system.
 148 <p>Themes may include images in png, jpg, xpm, and other supported image file
 149 formats for key elements of the GUI such as titlebars, icon
 150 backgrounds, and the workspace background. Themes that include images
 151 cannot be stored as a single text file, and therefore must be stored in a
 152 directory. A theme directory must contain all of the image files needed
 153 for the theme along with a file named "style." The style file in a
 154 theme directory will specify all of the GUI elements including any
 155 image files used for those elements in lieu of rgb color
 156 specifications. A theme directory must use the suffix ".themed" after
 157 the theme name. <br>
 158 </p>
 159
 160 <p> </p>
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