Version: unspecified (using Devel) OS: Linux the panel icons which include some of the system tray icons, the "i" notifications, the "USB" device notifier, and possibly other panel widgets dont look well for some setups i'd like to see option to configure it, so that the following things can be changed : - color (4.0 - 4.4) vs grayscale (4.5) icons - the grayscale variant as is (4.5) vs tinted with different colors, bordered and borderless, distorted etc (dont exist currently) to match different plasma themes - the normal (4.0 - 4.4) vs simplified shape (4.5) icons by including a few sets of icons, like the icons from 4.0 - 4.4, the ions from 4.5 as is, and few variants of the icons from 4.5 with effects and tints etc. for each set, a plasma theme variant (e.g. oxygen color icons, oxygen flat icons, silicon color icons, silicon flat icons . . .) and a system icon set (oxygen color, oxygen, oxygen blue . . .) do exist even better, dont show all the variants of the plasma themes in the list but let the plasma icon style be chosen in a separate list near the plasma themes list. after this being applied, i can change all the icons i see in the desktop as follows : - icons for the "i" and "USB", the arrow that expands the system tray etc. are included both in the plasmoids and plasma themes. if i choose a theme the icons that come with the theme take place. if i chose a theme that does not include the needed icons plasma will fall back to the icons that come with the plasmoids - icons for the applications in the system tray (kmix-mute, kmix-low, kmix-high etc) are included in the system icon themes.there is the current 'oxygen' icon theme and few 'oxygen-color' 'oxygen-flat-blue' etc. themes. the additional themes include altered icons for the tray and unchanged icons for everything else so they all look the same except the tray Reproducible: Always
i now researched somewhat more into this the application icons in the tray are not from the applications. they are placed there by plasma too and are part of the desktop theme as well this removes the need in additional system icon sets so nevermind the part about system icons above
Well yes, so what we need is an easy way for the user to change those tray icons' style. This shall not give a discussion about the decision of the devs to use special looking icons for the system services (I guess to better differentiate them from the pure application icons in tray). It shall just propose an easy way for the user to use other icons. With KDE SC 4.5 plasma themes are not only allowed to overwrite the choice of the icon theme for the systemtray icons (even when they are not used in systemtray but as widgets in the panel: e.g. battery & devicemanager), those icons also are a fixed element of the default plasma theme so that all plasma themes without special tray icons automatically display the default theme's icons. By now the user only has three alternatives if s/he does not want to use those icons (no matter why not): a) become root and delete the unwanted icons from the default theme and do this again after an update - this makes the plasma theme use the "fallback" icons from the user's choice of icon theme (except the battery state) b) become root and replace the unwanted icons with self-designed icons and do this again after an update c) wait for a plasma theme you like which contains system icons you like d) create an own theme (if you like the default copy it) and there replace the system icons with own ones Not really userfriendly. By now I use a combination of a) and b). So there is missing an easy way to replace the tray icons. This should be done in three parallel ways: 1. Give the user (and the icon theme creators...) the choice to use the system icons of the icon theme in use: Place a neat little option's field into systemsettings: Use icon theme's tray icons instead of plasma theme's This way everyone has an easy option to adjust the tray icons to match the look of the overall desktop design. 2. Make the default plasma theme aware of the user's home directory! The first thing I tried to overwrite the default icons was to create a folder ~/.kde/share/apps/desktoptheme/default/icons and put my replacement svg icons into it. Alas this does not work, they are ignored. What does work for the icon themes should also work for the plasma themes: Things in the user's home directory should always be preferred and overite the systemwide design. 3. In systemsettings we have the choice to fine-tweak the used plasma theme by replacing parts like the colors, the menu etc. What's missing is a choice to use the tray icons of another theme. Please add it. Point 2 and 3 also are a matter of consistent behaviour in comparison to other parts of the gui.
Or do you think what I propose is worth another wishlist entry?
"Place a neat little option's field into systemsettings: Use icon theme's tray icons instead of plasma theme's" this translates to: "put an option that can only be described properly with jargon that is completely irrelevant to the vast majority of users so that we can make a small group of people happy at the expense of the usability of the UI for everyone else." this is why we don't do that. "Make the default plasma theme aware of the user's home directory!" It is, exclamation point. "What's missing is a choice to use the tray icons of another theme. Please add it." this is a valid point.
>> Make the default plasma theme aware of the user's home directory! > It is, exclamation point. Hmm, then why the icons I put in ~/.kde/share/apps/desktoptheme/default/icons are not displayed and instead the icons from the default theme in the systemwide directory are used? Granted that that works and is just not yet implemented in the version I use (4.5.1 with 4.5.2 kdelibs, Debian Sid) we can strip this wish down to add the option to use the tray icons of another theme, right?
*** This bug has been confirmed by popular vote. ***
"this translates to: "put an option that can only be described properly with jargon that is completely irrelevant to the vast majority of users so that we can make a small group of people happy at the expense of the usability of the UI for everyone else." this is why we don't do that." Many options seem that way at first glance, but I'm sure it can be written concisely and plainly. For example, "Use system icon theme for plasma systray widgets". Done. I don't see how this would be at the expense of the usability of the UI, it uses simple language found throughout systemsettings. There is plenty of space for such an option either in the icon theme settings or the desktop theme settings config dialogs. You're also being very dismissive of the people who bring themes to KDE. KDE is (and has been for some time) lagging behind other DEs in terms of the customizability and availability of themes (don't get me started on attempts at theming kwin). Please consider us to be an asset trying to improve KDE rather than a pest asking for special privileges. We aren't asking you to sacrifice usability or aesthetics, only the availability of an option, as hidden as you'd like, to use the theming standard used by every other DE (and KDE up until 4.x).
Sorry for the double post, but it could be even simpler: "Enable Monochrome Systray Icons". And becaues I can't help myself: the vast majority of users are never going to be looking through the desktop theme settings of systemsettings if desktop theming is irrelevant to them. In fact, if this kind of tweaking is irrelevant to the vast majority of users, then so must be panel theming.
From my point of view this is solved in KDE SC 4.7 as it now is possible to choose tray icons from another plasma theme via systemsettings. Thanks!
Which option, please? I cannot find it. Thanks!
Hello! This feature request was filed for KDE Plasma 4, which reached end-of-support status in August 2015. KDE Plasma 5's desktop shell has been almost completely rewritten for better performance and usability, so it is likely that this feature request is already implemented in Plasma 5, or is no longer applicable. Accordingly, we hope you understand why we must close this feature request. If the requested feature is still desired but not implemented in KDE Plasma 5.12 or later, please feel free to open a new ticket in the "plasmashell" product after reading https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved/Bug_Reporting If you would like to get involved in KDE's bug triaging effort so that future mass bug closes like this are less likely, please read https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved#Bug_Triaging Thanks for your understanding! Nate Graham