QGtkStyle Offers Native Gtk Look For Qt Programs
sekra writes "A new project called QGtkStyle by Trolltech Labs gives Qt4 based applications the possibility to integrate natively into Gtk based desktops like Gnome or Xfce. Instead of simply imitating Gtk styles QGtkStyle uses the Gtk theme engine directly. The project is still considered experimental, but is another step into better integration between Qt and Gtk applications. A project at Google Code has been set up as well." Anything that makes the various excellent Free software desktops work better together deserves kudos.
I'm glad to see this, and I had forgotten about the old engine. One of the first things I do on a new desktop is try to synchronise the desktop look and feel for Qt and GTK applications.
I use Gnome but I still prefer Amarok and K3b (as you mentioned) to any Gnome offering so it has helped give me a coherent desktop with a much more unified feel. I think I'd like this better as it wouldn't lock me to finding widget themes that are only available for both DEs.
I never get used to these constant resurrections
I'd say it's because of interest. Maybe GTK users got used to having different widget sets with different programs (GTK1, GTK2), while Kde users were more interested in a consistent desktop.
Opera only uses QT for the window itself. The widgets and everything else inside is their own toolkit.
I can't remember if Opera said they were converting their toolkit completely to QT, but I don't think so.
I would love if somebody revived the excellent but long-abandoned Metatheme project (http://www.metatheme.org/). Back when I tried it, even unfinished, it provided truly unified look for GTK and Qt and had basics for Java theming. Maybe Canonical or Trolltech or somebody else could sponsor that work, possibly approaching its original author...
That's a matter of personal preference. QT is a strange beast to me. Take the look of any individual widget or icon and it doesn't look bad at all. Combine them all into a functioning app though and they just don't much together well to form an attractive overall interface. GTK seems simpler, more functional, and more elegant in my eyes.
Given that the two of us seem to have differing viewpoints here, I'd not consider it too out of line to assume that many others may also fall to one side or the other. Projects like this let them choose which they prefer. That can't be a bad thing.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Actually, it would be better of with say, 4 or 5 "big" ones. Having just two often leads to incompatibilities, since each on their own have enough users/programs/support to be able to go ahead and do their own thing. If there are 5 popular "desktop environments", one of them can't just go their own way, because that would alienate 80% of the users/programs. They would have to remain compatible at the important levels.
c++;
I just use a text console and bash for my servers, and just remote into them...
And how would you like it if someone took away that method and made you use a GUI in the name of consolidating options?
Free the Quark 3 from asymptotic confinement! Bring your charm! Don't get down! All colours and flavours welcome!
On what information did you base this desision? It's not like Mac OS or Windows provide one way. Last time I checked, the Windows platform offers you standard widgets (=notepad look), MFC, ComCtl, VLC (Borland), Windows Forms (.Net), WPF (.Net3) and each Microsoft app has it's own toolbars again.
MacOS gives you the choice between Cocoa and Carbon, and only gained a consistent look as of Mac OS 10.5.
I'd suggest keeping both Gtk and Qt because each option obviously attracts a different group of developers. With initiatives like this, Linux could offer something then far more consistent this.
The best way to accelerate a windows server is by 9.81 m/s2
The GTK hater in me says, why would anyone want to make Qt look more like GTK rather than the other way around?
*clicks link* My God, they actually have GIMP looking quite reasonable, if only it weren't for its multi-window interface.
Now, I wonder if you could get in some sort of infinite loop if you used both this and GTK-Qt at the same time.
Evidently, the key to understanding recursion is to begin by understanding recursion. The rest is easy.
Because it's a bad idea.
It's a good idea to make things look the same when they act the same, but it's even more important to make things look different when they act different. Qt and GTK+ act different in many subtle ways. To make one look like the other without actually acting like the other is a step backwards. It will look really cool and be much more frustrating to use; this is the kind of thing that is not a high priority for people who get paid to hack Linux.
Ask anybody who's using a beta of Firefox 3 on the Mac how many times they've tried to drag the window by a metal-looking area. The pain.
Now if Qt and GTK+ got together and came up with some kind of meta-behavioral-spec that declared exactly how each widget is to behave, then as a last step, sure, make them use the same themes. But we are definitely not at that point today, and based on what I've seen, I'd guess we're still at least 3-5 years from that.