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.

Comments

GTK-Qt

[cozziewozzie]

There is a similar thing, only other way around: GTK-Qt, in fact it's 5 years old.

It's good to have the option for letting Gtk users keep their look and feel with Qt options, but I wonder why it took this long?

Is it because there wasn't much interest in Qt-based apps until now? It would surprise me, given the popularity of Amarok, K3B and the like

Re:GTK-Qt

[bigtomrodney]

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.

Re:GTK-Qt

[wroshyyr]

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.

Re:GTK-Qt

[pizzach]

There is a similar thing, only other way around: GTK-Qt, in fact it's 5 years old.

It's good to have the option for letting Gtk users keep their look and feel with Qt options, but I wonder why it took this long?

Is it because there wasn't much interest in Qt-based apps until now? It would surprise me, given the popularity of Amarok, K3B and the like That answer is more simple than you think. Things like klearlooks caused good enough syndrome for a long period of time. It wouldn't surprise me if QGtkStyle leverages something new in Qt4 to make the emulation of gtk more easily possible. If you've seen the screenshots, QGtkStyle makes a good showcase of the flexibility of qt4.

Re:GTK-Qt

[immcintosh]

Probably hasn't happened because there are perfectly good options for a unified look already. For example, the most attractive widget theme I've found for ANY toolkit is available uniformly for them all:

QtCurve

Highly configurable and very attractive and professional looking. Install GTK1+2 and QT3+4 versions and everything looks the same regardless of what you're doing.

Re:GTK-Qt

[Joe Jay Bee]

The universe implodes.

Re:GTK-Qt

[Workaphobia]

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.

Re:GTK-Qt

[immcintosh]

You can always install a Tango theme in KDE if you don't like their awful default icons. It's what my default KDE setup does actually. I'll agree, the default KDE theming (at least in KDE3) is godawful, but once you customize it with actually attractive alternatives, I find it's actually much more attractive than GNOME (at least for me, I think it's a product of my liking the way QT lays stuff out moreso than GTK). As for the pedigree of these themes, I believe they're both independently derived from Bluecurve.

Great.

[morgan_greywolf]

Now if they could just improve the copy-and-paste and drag-n-drop integration issues (hint: There are Freedesktop.org standards for these, developers please, please, please make your apps support these), we'd be all set.

Native QT look for GTK programs?

[Hatta]

How about the other way around? QT is far more attractive than GTK. And QT's file dialog doesn't suck nearly as bad as the GTK file dialog. Replacing that abomination would be the best thing to ever happen to linux on the desktop.

Re:Native QT look for GTK programs?

[MBGMorden]

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.

Re:Native QT look for GTK programs?

[Anonymous Coward]

Reskinning GTK apps to look like QT apps has been around for about 5 years with the gtk-qt-engine.

Re:Native QT look for GTK programs?

[Dhraakellian]

What's wrong with Trolling? The Trolls are wonderful people, as demonstrated by this project!

How about another approach

[temcat]

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...

Re:Here we go again-2 options when only one is nee

[sayfawa]

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?

Re:Here we go again-2 options when only one is nee

[vdboor]

Sometimes I think Linux would be better off with one option instead of many.

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.