For those who asked for pointers on arranging their GTK Desktop to Nordic colors, here are my recommendations. If you are unfamiliar with the Nordic Palette here is information on its specification.
Obviously, there are many, many options available to you. I will only discuss those I use. Be advised, I am running dual window managers from within a single user space. I am NOT running a complete desktop environment (DE) such as xfce, mate etc. One additional note, I do not really care whether or not QT apps respect my theming. That is a topic for another posting.
Here is the required scrot (proof of existence):
The GUI tool I use to make modifications on my wms (dwm & i3wm) is ‘lxappearance’. In order to use this to set root/sudo user application settings as well as normal user themes you should the following (from the command line). For a personal user space run:
$ lxappearance
For root/ user apps run:
$ sudo lxappearance
If you do not see your preferred theme options when running sudo that means you have not installed your themes “system-wide”.
Here are the themes I use:
- Theme icons- NORDZY Icon Theme.
- Mouse cursor- NORDZY Mouse Cursors.
- GTK Theme- NORDIC GTK.
Other tools that I use which offer plugin themes that adhere to the Nordic palette include:
- Geany
- Mousepad
- Firefox
- Thunderbird
In dwm & i3wm, I use the Nordic palette for st (terminal). The config.h settings/code for the Nordic color palette follows:
/* Terminal colors (16 first used in escape sequence) */
static const char *colorname[] = {
/* 8 normal colors */
"#3b4252", /* black */
"#bf616a", /* red */
"#a3be8c", /* green */
"#ebcb8b", /* yellow */
"#81a1c1", /* blue */
"#b48ead", /* magenta */
"#88c0d0", /* cyan */
"#e5e9f0", /* white */
/* 8 bright colors */
"#4c566a", /* black */
"#bf616a", /* red */
"#a3be8c", /* green */
"#ebcb8b", /* yellow */
"#81a1c1", /* blue */
"#b48ead", /* magenta */
"#8fbcbb", /* cyan */
"#eceff4", /* white */
[255] = 0,
/* more colors can be added after 255 to use with DefaultXX */
"#f0c674", /*256 cursor*/
"#555555", /*257 rev cursor*/
"#2e3440", /* background */
"#d8dee9", /* foreground */
};
Additionally, I modified a rofi template from Primetoxinz to adhere to the Nordic palette:
/**
* Author: Primetoxinz & ManyRoads
*/
* {
text-color: #E5E9F0;
background-color: #4C566A;
lightbg: #434C5E;
red: #BF616A;
purple: #B48EAD;
blue: #81A1C1;
foreground: #ECEFF4;
background: #434C5E;
width: 480;
lines: 15;
selected-normal-foreground: @foreground;
normal-foreground: @foreground;
alternate-normal-background: @background;
selected-urgent-foreground: @foreground;
urgent-foreground: @foreground;
alternate-urgent-background: @background;
active-foreground: @foreground;
selected-active-foreground: @foreground;
alternate-normal-foreground: @foreground;
alternate-active-background: @blue;
bordercolor: @foreground;
normal-background: @background;
selected-normal-background: @blue;
separatorcolor: @purple;
spacing: 5;
urgent-background: @red;
alternate-urgent-foreground: @foreground;
selected-urgent-background: @red;
alternate-active-foreground: @foreground;
selected-active-background: @blue;
active-background: @purple;
}
window {
border: 2;
text-color: @foreground;
background-color: rgba ( 0, 0, 0, 0 % );
padding: 15;
text-color: @bordercolor;
background-color: @background;
}
mainbox {
border: 2;
padding: 10;
}
message {
border: 1px dash 0px 0px ;
text-color: @separatorcolor;
padding: 2px 2px 2px ;
}
textbox {
text-color: @foreground;
}
listview {
fixed-height: 0;
border: 2px 0px 0px ;
padding: 2px 2px 2px ;
text-color: @separatorcolor;
}
element {
border: 0;
}
element-text {
background-color: inherit;
text-color: inherit;
}
element.normal.normal {
text-color: @normal-foreground;
background-color: @normal-background;
}
element.normal.urgent {
text-color: @urgent-foreground;
background-color: @urgent-background;
}
element.normal.active {
text-color: @active-foreground;
background-color: @active-background;
}
element.selected.normal {
text-color: @selected-normal-foreground;
background-color: @selected-normal-background;
}
element.selected.urgent {
text-color: @selected-urgent-foreground;
background-color: @selected-urgent-background;
}
element.selected.active {
text-color: @selected-active-foreground;
background-color: @selected-active-background;
}
element.alternate.normal {
text-color: @alternate-normal-foreground;
background-color: @alternate-normal-background;
}
element.alternate.urgent {
text-color: @alternate-urgent-foreground;
background-color: @alternate-urgent-background;
}
element.alternate.active {
text-color: @alternate-active-foreground;
background-color: @alternate-active-background;
}
mode-switcher {
border: 1px dash 0px 0px ;
}
button selected {
text-color: @selected-normal-foreground;
background-color: @selected-normal-background;
}
inputbar {
spacing: 0;
border: 0px ;
}
button normal {
text-color: @foreground;
}
inputbar {
children: [ prompt,textbox-prompt-colon,entry,case-indicator ];
}
textbox-prompt-colon {
expand: false;
str: ":";
margin: 0px 0.3em 0em 0em ;
text-color: @normal-foreground;
}
I, also, have set Nordic colors in .Xresources for use on xterm & urxvt:
! Nordic Color scheme #define nord0 #2E3440 #define nord1 #3B4252 #define nord2 #434C5E #define nord3 #4C566A #define nord4 #D8DEE9 #define nord5 #E5E9F0 #define nord6 #ECEFF4 #define nord7 #8FBCBB #define nord8 #88C0D0 #define nord9 #81A1C1 #define nord10 #5E81AC #define nord11 #BF616A #define nord12 #D08770 #define nord13 #EBCB8B #define nord14 #A3BE8C #define nord15 #B48EAD *.foreground: nord4 *.background: nord0 *.cursorColor: nord4 *fading: 35 *fadeColor: nord3 *.color0: nord1 *.color1: nord11 *.color2: nord14 *.color3: nord13 *.color4: nord9 *.color5: nord15 *.color6: nord8 *.color7: nord5 *.color8: nord3 *.color9: nord11 *.color10: nord14 *.color11: nord13 *.color12: nord9 *.color13: nord15 *.color14: nord7 *.color15: nord6 ! dmenu settings dmenu.selforeground: #ECEFF4 dmenu.background: #2E3440 dmenu.selbackground: #4C566A dmenu.foreground: #ECEFF4 dmenu.font: "DejaVu Sans Mono:size=11.5:antialias=true" ! URxvt Settings URxvt.font: xft:DejaVu Sans Mono:size=11.5:antialias=true URxvt.boldFont: xft:DejaVu Sans Mono:bold:size=11.5:antialias=true urxvt*scrollBar: false urxvt*mouseWheelScrollPage: true urxvt*cursorBlink: true urxvt*saveLines: 5000 urxvt*internalBorder: 15 urxvt*geometry: 90x32 ! Setting transparency and background URxvt*depth: 32 URxvt.background: [90]#3B4252 ! Normal copy-paste keybindings ( ctrl-shift c/v ) urxvt.iso14755: false urxvt.keysym.Shift-Control-V: eval:paste_clipboard urxvt.keysym.Shift-Control-C: eval:selection_to_clipboard !xterm escape codes, word by word movement urxvt.keysym.Control-Left: \033[1;5D urxvt.keysym.Shift-Control-Left: \033[1;6D urxvt.keysym.Control-Right: \033[1;5C urxvt.keysym.Shift-Control-Right: \033[1;6C urxvt.keysym.Control-Up: \033[1;5A urxvt.keysym.Shift-Control-Up: \033[1;6A urxvt.keysym.Control-Down: \033[1;5B urxvt.keysym.Shift-Control-Down: \033[1;6B ! Xterm Settings xterm*font: xft:DejaVu Sans Mono:size=11.5:antialias=true xterm*geometry: 90x32 xterm*mouseWheelScrollPage: true xterm*cursorBlink: true xterm*saveLines: 5000 xterm*internalBorder: 15
All in all, this provides are pretty consistent Nordic palette for my two favorite wms (dwm & i3wm: non-gaps). These identical settings work for me on both arch & Debian based distros.
This content is free to use, adapt, and share.
Knowledge and information should be open—please spread them far and wide.A few things to keep in mind:
- All of my work comes with absolutely no warranty, expressed or implied. However…
- It will almost certainly work until it breaks,
though I must admit it may never work or be useful—and that would be sad.- If/when it breaks, you can keep all the pieces.
- As for what you don’t like, it’s yours to do with as you will.
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Full disclosure:
I use various AI systems to assist in developing my content.
If you’re curious about how I use them, feel free to check out:
The Revolutionary Impact of AI on Genealogy and Historical Research.