Changing GTK Styles and Fonts in KDE
 

I absolutely abhor the look of Gnome applications while I am running KDE. I've tried changing the GTK Styles and Fonts settings in the KDE control center but it doesn't do anything. How do I change it to one of the themes that come with Gnome?

Run the gnome-control-center from a terminal window and make your changes there.

You can try QtCurve, but that will be just one theme. gnome-control-center is the best way :)

You can have a look here: http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Same_lo...and_GTK_1_apps
The site is Gentoo centric the information is not.

I don't have Gnome installed so I can't use gnome-control-center. But anyways, I understand my problem. In the KDE GTK Styles and Fonts panel, I had two choices: QtCurve and Raleigh. Previously I had QtCurve on and I didn't like the look (it tries to emulate KDE's plastik but fails miserably). Then I tried to switch to Raleigh, but nothing happened. I now know why. The gtkrc file for Raleigh is a blank file with the comment It has no style commands in it whereas QtCurve does. That's why KDE couldn't change to the Raleigh look and feel.

I've tried to download some other styles from the gnome-look.org website. Some work partially, some don't work at all. All the themes seem to rely on Bluecurve, Clearlooks, or some other theme engine, and I guess those are incompatible with KDE. I guess I just have to stick with QtCurve for now, or install Gnome. If you have any suggestions for a good theme that's compatible with KDE, please let me know.

Did you try gtk-engine-qt? http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=9714

you can download any gtk theme and extract it to your ~/.themes folder. then you can change it pretty easily. there are two ways. First, theres gtk-chtheme, which is an app with no dependencies other than gtk. It can change your gtk theme to any theme in your ~/.themes folder. You can also edit fonts with that app too. Other wise you can directly edit your ~/.gtkrc-2.0 file. Adding line like
along with all the other stuff you'd need in that file. I reccomend gtk-chtheme.

This would be the the best solution in my personal opinion. It makes GNOME apps use your KDE themes. On Suse 10, the package is called gtk-qt-engine.

I've tried installing gtk-qt-engine on my openSUSE 10.2, but it conflicts with kcm_gtk (This I am guessing is the kde gtk styles and fonts module. Should I uninstall kcm_gtk?

. Yeah the kde GTK styles and fonts module does exactly that. Still some gtk themes that I have installed still don't work. Also most gtk themes use metacity, which don't have a gtkrc file.

Could you be lacking the engines? Gtk is not dependent on metacity. You can open a gtk app in Kwin.

Thats what I did on my Suse 10.2 installation. If you select gtk-qt-engine for installation in YAST, I think kcm_gtk will be automatically marked for deinstallation.

Well I have installed gtk-qt-engine and it works, although there are some flaws. How is it that when running Gnome all your KDE apps look normal, but GTK apps in KDE look like crap?

I think I am lacking the engines. I know GTK isn't dependent on metacity, but the themes are.

The gnome/gtk themes are not dependent on Metacity. If you need more gtk themes, install the gtk engines package.

Haha, sorry my mistake. I was downloading metacity themes, stupid me. I mistakenly thought that gtk themes needed metacity because I only saw a metacity folder inside the themes I downloaded. Anyways, I installed the gtk engine package and tried to load a gtk theme, but still no go.

I have been searching all over the internet to find a guide which explains how to configure apps which rely on GTK, like X-Chat. The default X-Chat theme is extremely ugly by default IMHO.

Okay, I've tried all the suggestions (even installed Gnome to try out gnome-control-center) but they don't work. It seems to me that the themes are only partially loaded. Some elements of a GTK app are changed like the progress bar and check boxes, but the rest is still the ugly default theme.

Also, whenever I load the Smart package manager, the gtk themes work correctly! It is the only GTK program that loads the entire theme.

Any ideas?