Description: MetaTheme is a project dedicated to unification of appearance between different graphics toolkits (currently GTK2, QT and Java).
The program is designed as a thin layer between toolkits and theme engines, creating unified API by which each theme engine can draw. The result is that every application uses the same code for drawing, making the appearance same across different applications. MetaTheme also adjusts behaviour a bit, so the overall effect of unification is impressive.
Please see the new homepage at http://www.metatheme.org/ for more details about this project.Last changelog:
Version 0.0.6 (2005/10/01)
- Styled menubar item, toolbar handle and dropdown item in MSSTYLE - Fixed drawing of menus and progressbar in MSSTYLE - Fixed MSSTYLE on 64-bit systems - Added warning notice to metatheme-install script
Version 0.0.5 (2005/09/01)
- Added Highcolor/B3 theme and MSSTYLE themes loader - Fixed checking a disabled state of buttons in Gecko-based applications - Added ability to force MetaTheme in Java applications - Added support for multiple toolkits in one process - Improved look of Redmond and Plastik themes - Styled JSplitPane - Added basic support for Cairo - Added support for retrieving information about widget hierarchy - Added alpha channel to MT_IMAGE
Version 0.0.4 (2004/12/31)
- Initial support for Java/SWING toolkit - Added three new themes: Plastik XP, Industrial and Flat - Removed dependency on KDE - Added ability to revert the order of dialog buttons to normal in GTK2 - Fixed invisible check and radio buttons in Konqueror - Added basic support for customizing the appearance of texts - Cleaned C++ binding and QT compatibility layer
Version 0.0.3 (2004/08/23)
- Added configuration tool with ability for on-the-fly switching of themes - Made MetaTheme reentrant - Styled toggle button in QT toolbar - Fixed radio buttons, scrollbars and tooltips in Gecko based applications - Improved appearance of GNOME toolbars - Removed drawing of pointless border in Nautilus desktop window - Other bugfixes and improvements
Version 0.0.2 (2004/07/01)
- New build system - Fixed bad appearance in GTK 2.4 (some things not done yet) - Fixed GtkRuler and GtkCurve widgets - Fixed bugs in Plastik - Styled check and radio icons in listviews - Styled QFrame and GtkTearoffMenuItem - Changed configuration file - Other bugfixes and improvements
Hi,
is there further development planned or is this project dead? I like it very much and would like it to keep it going on ;) ... especially the msstyle loader is awesome!
I agree. The msstyles importing alone makes it better than anything else on kde-look.org, IMHO. There are a lot of good .msstyles themes that may never make it into qt/gtk. In fact, I'm really dissapointed at the lack of qt/gtk themes. If I had the programming skill I would jump into this project imidiately. But, alas, I have little. In particular, there are dozens of OS X look alike msstyles that knock the socks off baghira. Plus, the luna theme in kde is just hilarious.
P.S. I was not able to get it to compile. Something about:
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/3.4.5/../../../../x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld: /home/antineo/themes/styles/metatheme-0.0.6/metatheme/libmetatheme.a(metatheme.o): relocation R_X86_64_32 against `a local symbol' can not be used when making a shared object; recompile with -fPIC
/home/antineo/themes/styles/metatheme-0.0.6/metatheme/libmetatheme.a: could not read symbols: Bad value
I am using openSUSE 11.0 on x64_64 and was able to compile this piece of software by using the following configure command:
"CPPFLAGS=-fPIC ./configure --prefix=`kde-config --prefix` --with-qt-dir=/usr/lib/qt3/lib64 --with-qt-includes=/usr/lib/qt3/include --with-qt-libraries=/usr/lib/qt3/lib64"
The important thing is, that you export the -fPIC compiler-switch which I've done in this command by typing "CPPFLAGS=-fPIC" in front of the configure command.
Why this error occours and how to work arround it has been explained in great detail here: http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/amd64/howtos/index.xml?part=1&chap=3
Hope this works for you,
Takuto
Thank you so much. That worked like a charm! It's kind of a shame that there hasn't been a new release since I posted that, because it works surprisingly well. The msstyle support is pretty slow and CPU intensive though.
That's true... and its not just that - it is also highly unstable. Many of my applications chashed frequently when using MSSTYLES-Themes. Too bad that there is no more progress in developing this.. I think, that this project could be very promissing =)
Hi,
your program is awesome - but since I installed it, the Acrobat Reader (7) won´t start. It prints the line "segmentation fault" and that's all.
The second problem is that the KControl Center is very slow by displaying informations. It takes 4 or 5 seconds until the informations are displayed completely. When I deactivate the program, everything is normal (Acrobat Reader starts without any error).
You do a greate work!
Hi there,
I'm using Debian etch, compiled and installed metatheme successfully, but when I try to switch over to it, Control Center simply closes before even giving a preview, right after selecting "MetaTheme" from the dropdown box.
Pentium 4 1.6GHz, Asus P4S333, 768 MB Ram, 2x 80GB Samsung HDD, nVidia TNT2 Riva 16 MB Ram.
Thank you for your work and atention
elena@Elena-KUBUNTU:~$ sudo dpkg -i /home/elena/metatheme-0.0.6/metatheme_0.0.6-1_i386.deb
dpkg: al riguardo di .../metatheme_0.0.6-1_i386.deb, contenente metatheme:
libgtk2.0-0 è in conflitto con metatheme (
hi.
I had metatheme installed and quite working on hoary, but now that i have upgraded to breezy it does not show up in KcontrolCenter. and the style affects only the GTK apps.
I reinstalled it, with the prefix "/usr", as before, but it still doesn't work!
how can I do? i loved it ;_;
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/3.4.4/../../../../x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld: /root/metatheme-0.0.6/metatheme/libmetatheme.a(metatheme.o): relocation R_X86_64_32 against `a local symbol' can not be used when making a shared object; recompile with -fPIC
/root/metatheme-0.0.6/metatheme/libmetatheme.a: could not read symbols: Bad value
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[3]: *** [libmt_gtk2.la] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory `/root/metatheme-0.0.6/toolkits/gtk2'
make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/metatheme-0.0.6/toolkits'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/metatheme-0.0.6'
make: *** [all] Error 2
ouchie!
Hi I get some errors while compiling:
metatheme/MetaThemeScrollBarUI.java:95: cannot resolve symbol
symbol : method isThumbRollover ()
location: class metatheme.MetaThemeScrollBarUI
if (isThumbRollover()) state |= MT_HOVER;
^
metatheme/MetaThemeScrollBarUI.java:140: createScrollListener() in metatheme.MetaThemeScrollBarUI cannot override createScrollListener() in javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicScrollBarUI; attempting to use incompatible return type
found : metatheme.MetaThemeScrollBarUI.ScrollListener
required: javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicScrollBarUI.ScrollListener
protected ScrollListener createScrollListener() {
^
metatheme/MetaThemeScrollBarUI.java:144: createTrackListener() in metatheme.MetaThemeScrollBarUI cannot override createTrackListener() in javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicScrollBarUI; attempting to use incompatible return type
found : metatheme.MetaThemeScrollBarUI.TrackListener
required: javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicScrollBarUI.TrackListener
protected TrackListener createTrackListener() {
^
metatheme/MetaThemeTabbedPaneUI.java:197: cannot resolve symbol
symbol : method createScrollButton (int)
location: class javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalTabbedPaneUI
return super.createScrollButton(direction);
^
4 errors
I think is java related, but I don't know how to fix it.
I think you should add some information about uninstalling the theme, I had to find the README file to uninstall it. How about metatheme-install --help? I also think that the biggest problem at the moment is the speed, or actually the lack of it. At least on my computer it takes _seconds_ to draw the most complex windows.
Yes, I will try to make it more user friendly in the next release.
About speed, you've probably hit the worst case (big tiled background and QT's tab pane widget), I'll look into speeding this up.
Just copy *.msstyles files from theme package(s) to directory ~/.metatheme/msstyles/ (create it if it doesn't exist). Then run mt-config, choose MSSTYLE Loader and click on the Configure button.
Ratings & Comments
60 Comments
I have ported this style to TDE: https://www.pling.com/p/2116844/
This is one of my favorite utilities for KDE. But it's been so long since it was last updated it doesn't support Qt4 :-(
[[ the programs works fine on GTK2 based applications, but it doesn't skin my KDE programms. KDE 3.5.1 ]] I can say the same.
Hi, is there further development planned or is this project dead? I like it very much and would like it to keep it going on ;) ... especially the msstyle loader is awesome!
I agree. The msstyles importing alone makes it better than anything else on kde-look.org, IMHO. There are a lot of good .msstyles themes that may never make it into qt/gtk. In fact, I'm really dissapointed at the lack of qt/gtk themes. If I had the programming skill I would jump into this project imidiately. But, alas, I have little. In particular, there are dozens of OS X look alike msstyles that knock the socks off baghira. Plus, the luna theme in kde is just hilarious. P.S. I was not able to get it to compile. Something about: /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/3.4.5/../../../../x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld: /home/antineo/themes/styles/metatheme-0.0.6/metatheme/libmetatheme.a(metatheme.o): relocation R_X86_64_32 against `a local symbol' can not be used when making a shared object; recompile with -fPIC /home/antineo/themes/styles/metatheme-0.0.6/metatheme/libmetatheme.a: could not read symbols: Bad value
I am using openSUSE 11.0 on x64_64 and was able to compile this piece of software by using the following configure command: "CPPFLAGS=-fPIC ./configure --prefix=`kde-config --prefix` --with-qt-dir=/usr/lib/qt3/lib64 --with-qt-includes=/usr/lib/qt3/include --with-qt-libraries=/usr/lib/qt3/lib64" The important thing is, that you export the -fPIC compiler-switch which I've done in this command by typing "CPPFLAGS=-fPIC" in front of the configure command. Why this error occours and how to work arround it has been explained in great detail here: http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/amd64/howtos/index.xml?part=1&chap=3 Hope this works for you, Takuto
Thank you so much. That worked like a charm! It's kind of a shame that there hasn't been a new release since I posted that, because it works surprisingly well. The msstyle support is pretty slow and CPU intensive though.
That's true... and its not just that - it is also highly unstable. Many of my applications chashed frequently when using MSSTYLES-Themes. Too bad that there is no more progress in developing this.. I think, that this project could be very promissing =)
ha ha! this is funny how you have that one on there! been looking for windows themes to fool my freinds!
Will this program make QT apps look like Gtk2 ones? I see clearlooks at the screenshot so i think yes. But how tu use this program in Gnome?
the programs works fine on GTK2 based applications, but it doesn't skin my KDE programms. KDE 3.5.1
Hi, your program is awesome - but since I installed it, the Acrobat Reader (7) won´t start. It prints the line "segmentation fault" and that's all.
The second problem is that the KControl Center is very slow by displaying informations. It takes 4 or 5 seconds until the informations are displayed completely. When I deactivate the program, everything is normal (Acrobat Reader starts without any error). You do a greate work!
I found out that MSSTYLE Loader is the reason for displaying informations in the KCC so slowly. But the Acrobat Reader won't start anyway.
Simple and great solution: Ditch Acrobat reader. It stinks. Use KPDF instead. :-)
Hi there, I'm using Debian etch, compiled and installed metatheme successfully, but when I try to switch over to it, Control Center simply closes before even giving a preview, right after selecting "MetaTheme" from the dropdown box. Pentium 4 1.6GHz, Asus P4S333, 768 MB Ram, 2x 80GB Samsung HDD, nVidia TNT2 Riva 16 MB Ram. Thank you for your work and atention
elena@Elena-KUBUNTU:~$ sudo dpkg -i /home/elena/metatheme-0.0.6/metatheme_0.0.6-1_i386.deb dpkg: al riguardo di .../metatheme_0.0.6-1_i386.deb, contenente metatheme: libgtk2.0-0 è in conflitto con metatheme (
hi. I had metatheme installed and quite working on hoary, but now that i have upgraded to breezy it does not show up in KcontrolCenter. and the style affects only the GTK apps. I reinstalled it, with the prefix "/usr", as before, but it still doesn't work! how can I do? i loved it ;_;
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/3.4.4/../../../../x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld: /root/metatheme-0.0.6/metatheme/libmetatheme.a(metatheme.o): relocation R_X86_64_32 against `a local symbol' can not be used when making a shared object; recompile with -fPIC /root/metatheme-0.0.6/metatheme/libmetatheme.a: could not read symbols: Bad value collect2: ld returned 1 exit status make[3]: *** [libmt_gtk2.la] Error 1 make[3]: Leaving directory `/root/metatheme-0.0.6/toolkits/gtk2' make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1 make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/metatheme-0.0.6/toolkits' make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1 make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/metatheme-0.0.6' make: *** [all] Error 2 ouchie!
See the Bugzilla entry for this bug (and workaround at the end of page): http://bugzilla.advel.cz/show_bug.cgi?id=28
Hi I get some errors while compiling: metatheme/MetaThemeScrollBarUI.java:95: cannot resolve symbol symbol : method isThumbRollover () location: class metatheme.MetaThemeScrollBarUI if (isThumbRollover()) state |= MT_HOVER; ^ metatheme/MetaThemeScrollBarUI.java:140: createScrollListener() in metatheme.MetaThemeScrollBarUI cannot override createScrollListener() in javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicScrollBarUI; attempting to use incompatible return type found : metatheme.MetaThemeScrollBarUI.ScrollListener required: javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicScrollBarUI.ScrollListener protected ScrollListener createScrollListener() { ^ metatheme/MetaThemeScrollBarUI.java:144: createTrackListener() in metatheme.MetaThemeScrollBarUI cannot override createTrackListener() in javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicScrollBarUI; attempting to use incompatible return type found : metatheme.MetaThemeScrollBarUI.TrackListener required: javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicScrollBarUI.TrackListener protected TrackListener createTrackListener() { ^ metatheme/MetaThemeTabbedPaneUI.java:197: cannot resolve symbol symbol : method createScrollButton (int) location: class javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalTabbedPaneUI return super.createScrollButton(direction); ^ 4 errors I think is java related, but I don't know how to fix it.
MetaTheme currently needs JDK 1.5, if you don't want (can't) upgrade, you can try the patch at http://www.metatheme.org/tmp/metatheme-jdk14.diff
I think you should add some information about uninstalling the theme, I had to find the README file to uninstall it. How about metatheme-install --help? I also think that the biggest problem at the moment is the speed, or actually the lack of it. At least on my computer it takes _seconds_ to draw the most complex windows.
Yes, I will try to make it more user friendly in the next release. About speed, you've probably hit the worst case (big tiled background and QT's tab pane widget), I'll look into speeding this up.
how to install/load a msstyle, please?
Just copy *.msstyles files from theme package(s) to directory ~/.metatheme/msstyles/ (create it if it doesn't exist). Then run mt-config, choose MSSTYLE Loader and click on the Configure button.