Disable window dimming when focus is lost

Aravisian · 2 September 2021 04:10

Yes, that also would work.

The gtk.css file placed in ~/.config/gtk-3.0 gets First Priority.
Then, the gtk.css file placed in either ~/.themes or ~/.local/share/themes gets next priority.

That is partly why I prefer edits to be made to ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css while the other reason is because edits are more easily altered or undone in ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css than they are in the Main Theme. What if you do not remember the Original parameters of the Original Theme, but it is already changed and saved?

Kedric · 2 September 2021 04:11

Sometimes the accents still dim tho. I need to dig deeper in the css file. I will see what makes the shadows disappear.

Kedric · 2 September 2021 04:14

U could make a backup, copy the file and rename it then save it in home folder.

Aravisian · 2 September 2021 04:17

Absolutely.

ctrl+F, then search for everything that has the property :backdrop
Compare the backdrop items to the non-backdrop and you can recolor all :backdrop'ed properties to match the class that is not backdropped.
(Be wary that not all items that have a backdrop property should be changed. Read what you are changing. Use the back-up copy to restore mistakes).

mmarjano · 2 September 2021 08:27

Nothing I tried seems to change anything.

Current system state:

redacted@redacted-lap:~$ uname -a
Linux redacted-lap 5.11.0-27-generic #29~20.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Aug 11 15:58:17 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
redacted@redacted-lap:~$ cat /etc/issue.net 
Zorin OS 16
redacted@redacted-lap:~$ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme
'ZorinBlue-Dark'
redacted@redacted-lap:~$ cat /home/redacted/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css 
.background:backdrop { color: #bde6fb; background-color: #1e2529; }
redacted@redacted-lap:~$ cat /usr/share/themes/ZorinBlue-Dark/gtk-3.0/gtk.css | grep .background:backdrop 
.background:backdrop { color: #6f828a; background-color: #1a2022; text-shadow: none; -gtk-icon-shadow: none; }
/* I manually inserted the following .background:backdrop  */
.background:backdrop { color: #bde6fb; background-color: #1e2529; }
popover.background:backdrop { background-color: #14191a; box-shadow: 0 1px 2px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); border-color: rgba(40, 48, 51, 0.75); }
redacted@redacted-lap:~$

The system was freshly installed about a week ago, and wasn't customised at all (except for the changed theme to dark in Zorin Appearance app). Is there any other information I can provide?

Thank you all!

Aravisian · 2 September 2021 15:19

Can you post screenshots showing the dimming effect?

mmarjano · 2 September 2021 18:34

Sure, here they are.

Right nano is in focus:

Left files is in focus:

Aravisian · 2 September 2021 18:40

That is the same as I see on mine due to the backdrop property in the theme. I do not see anything there to suggest an outside Dimming Effect...
I am honestly at a loss.
The suggestions above should work and have worked on each instance I tested.

Ok... can you try a third party theme (It doesn't matter if you like it or hate it... just something that can give us a frame of reference to compare against) and see if you observe the same dimming effect?
You can snag one from Pling.com

The next test will be to use the ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css to make some obvious change that is easy to observe, like

button*
{background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, pink, orange);
}

To see if that causes a direct and easy to see change. If so, then we know that the file is being seen and used by the engine.

mmarjano · 2 September 2021 23:07

I've tried several themes, and while most of them do some sort of the dim effect, I've found several that don't. One example is Qogir-win-dark. I honestly don't care much about the theme as long as it stays out of the way... I'm ok with staying with this one.

I've tried gradient from the post above, and i don't see any change. Weird...

Aravisian · 2 September 2021 23:13

Very weird.
The most I can offer is the suggestion made above in this post...
Copy the Zorin Theme you prefer to ~/.themes
Then modify the theme gtk.css file.

mmarjano · 2 September 2021 23:27

Correction, the button css did apply, but only to some buttons (not all programs), so I didn't spot it right away.

Some windows where it did apply:

Aravisian · 2 September 2021 23:38

And now you know how to prank another Linux user.

Well, have established that your gtk.css is being read.
What it may be is you and I are looking at different changes (different things have our attention.) We may not have enough classes listed in your gtk.css

We could try isolating each class; or take a riskier move using the * option
For example

window.background:backdrop* { color: #bde6fb; background-color: #1e2529; }

mmarjano · 3 September 2021 00:14

Ok found it, for terminal it should be overriden like this:

terminal-window .terminal-screen:backdrop { color: #bde6fb; background-color: #1e2529;}

Honestly it's just too much work for nothing. I think I'll just stick to one of other themes that don't have this behavior. I installed Zorin because I got tired of customizing and tweaking everything (I usually use Debian for everything), I wanted it to simply work, but so far it's not happening. I'm not finding any major problems, but some stuff just isn't polished and still requires manual tweaking and tinkering...

Aravisian · 3 September 2021 01:07

I have never tried any distro that I am not tweaking or changing around. It's pretty much impossible that some developer out there will have all the same tastes and configurations as me.
I don't really think that disliking a Theme Feature counts as lack of polish, however.

I make my own themes, so I do not use Zorin OS's default ones unless testing a user issue. It is interesting how much I do not know about the differences in Zorin Themes.

Kedric · 3 September 2021 01:10

Doesn't Debian have the same issue, if you use Gnome on Debian you will get the same thing. I installed Debian and it's the same, if you use Zorin OS theme it will have this. You can change the .css file by urself you know.

Aravisian · 3 September 2021 01:13

I do not use Gnome and only log into it if testing a user issue. But this also means that there is a lot about Gnome I do not know.
If there is a particular thing about Gnome that Dims the Window... That would explain why my experience on XFCE was different as it follows strictly the gtk.css and nothing else.
That said, though - the O.P. did mention having success trying out different classes; just felt (understandably) that it was too tedious to suss them all out and annotate each one in ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css...

Kedric · 3 September 2021 01:15

Ur gonna have the same issue on Debian, if ur gonna use Gnome it's inevitable, you can always look at the theme's .css file and configure it. Linux is all about configuring the files and using the terminal to make it suite ur needs.

mmarjano · 3 September 2021 01:28

Sure it doesn't, this one is a matter of preference. And while it is a matter of preference, I would expect that default theme that comes with OS doesn't prioritize nice looks over usefulness, but it's just my opinion I suppose. I've found another theme and I'm satisfied with that solution. When I said lack of polish, I was referring to other strange things I stumbled upon in these few days:

I have 2 screens - laptop screen and external screen. I've rearanged them through settings app so that laptop screen (screen 1) is on the right side from the external screen (screen 2). Also, I've made screen 2 default. And all works well. But if you reboot, screen positions on the login screen will be different. When you log in, then everything is normal.
Auto detected printer driver for my SX435W didn't work properly, it was printing colors separate of each other, offset by 2-3cm on the X axis.
If computer is rebooted and firefox was active at the time of reboot, when I start firefox after reboot, somethimes it glitches after it reload tabs and needs to be killed because It's impossible to use it, it sort of jumps on the screen
etc...

But we're getting off topic... With your help I've found a solution for the problem in this thread, and I'd like thank you all for your help.

Kedric · 3 September 2021 01:38

The problems you pointed aren't the problem's of Zorin Os. You can try solving them by asking the forums.

Aravisian · 3 September 2021 01:44

mmarjano:

When I said lack of polish, I was referring to other strange things I stumbled upon in these few days:

I have 2 screens - laptop screen and external screen. I've rearanged them through settings app so that laptop screen (screen 1) is on the right side from the external screen (screen 2). Also, I've made screen 2 default. And all works well. But if you reboot, screen positions on the login screen will be different. When you log in, then everything is normal.

Auto detected printer driver for my SX435W didn't work properly, it was printing colors separate of each other, offset by 2-3cm on the X axis.

If computer is rebooted and firefox was active at the time of reboot, when I start firefox after reboot, somethimes it glitches after it reload tabs and needs to be killed because It's impossible to use it, it sort of jumps on the screen

etc...

Have you resolved all of these?
The feedback forum can be used to note such things for the ZorinGroup to look over.
Otherwise, if unsolved issues remain, please feel free to start a thread on them to see if we can help.