How to change / remove the window darken effect

General Help
1

Hello all, is it possible to remove the darken window effect when i click out of a window, this effect is a disaster for a compositor, i cannot get accurate colors or shades from an image picker for me to use in order for me to match with reference or source.

How can this be fixed? in kde its under the effects section i cannot see such an option.

i dont need the windows to change color or brightness at all when i switch app. its counter productive to me to have it enabled.
That said so far aside from a few things im loving this os. makes everything enjoyable. was definitely a bit tired of kde.

Cheers in advanced. Also have a great christmas!

Zorin Pro 18

2

In gnome when you turn on "high contrast" at settings > accessibility the windows are not darkened.
I have not found another easy way to change that. You probably would need to edit css files.

1 Like
3

ahh where would the .css files be for this, im not very familiar with gnome? im not afraid of code, but id like to see if it possible to fix.

also thanks for the tip, The high contrast definitely works but changes the style completely. not too bad but it is definitely strange haha. XD

4

Yes, unfortunately it doesn't look as appealing anymore, but it's the easiest way to fix the problem. You could just turn it on when you need it for the image picker.

I have tried to edit css files but was not successful and I'm not familar with css. They are in the Zorin themes or the custom theme if you use another one. But many things are regulated from libadwaita and I'm not sure if the darkening can be removed. I'm sorry, but I can't help you with that.

1 Like
5

though i can confirm that the issue isnt just with zorin themes it is in other themes as well but not all of them, when i install a custom theme only half of theme exhibit the issue, but sadly none of them are as "complete" or view as well as zorins themes.

i think it could be fixed i just have to now find the right files to try.

6

You have that in zorin Appearance; there is an ''Effects'' Tab. Unfortunately there isn't directly an Option this this specific Thing. But You could try it with disabling the Animations.

1 Like
7

If going the .css route, the class in question is the :backdrop class.
So, you might see:

.background { color: #bde6fb; background-color: #222b30; }

.background:backdrop { color: #71848d; background-color: #1e2428; text-shadow: none; -gtk-icon-shadow: none; }

The backdrop window is the one in which focus was moved from, to a different window.

This is a useful feature, since it allows quick differentiation between windows with active focus and inactive focus, and I include it in all of my themes in one form or another.
You do make a point about a specific use case: if trying to use a color picker on an inactive window, it can give the reading for that color, instead of the active color.
Rather than changing your .css files, you can just view the .css files to see what color is in use, though.
If you really want the effect gone, the most effective way would be to create an override in your Home user directory.
~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css
~/.config/gtk-4.0/gtk.css
Start with

*:backdrop {
    opacity: 1;
    filter: none;
}

window:backdrop,
.background:backdrop {
    background-color: @theme_bg_color;
}

headerbar:backdrop {
    background-color: @theme_bg_color;
    color: @theme_fg_color;
}

Reboot and test...
If you find other elements that still brighten or dim, they may need to be added to the .css files above.

3 Likes
8

sweet thank you thats definite a good starting point, ill take a closer look into this, and see what i come up with, so far just that alone, causes my wall paper to turn grey and i cant see it until i click the desktop, but it does stop a lot of the dimming, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel, ill need to read through the entire orginal scripts, and play with the this, 1 step closer haha.

i did how ever create 2 hotkeys in the meantime that i can use to switch between 2 themes as an in between solution while i work that way i can tackle this problem over time and i can still meet my deadlines lol here is my temp solution:

hotkey 1: gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme 'HighContrast' 
hotkey 2: gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme 'ZorinBlue-Dark'

that enables me to quickly switch between 2 themes the high contrast so it doesnt fade, and then back to zorins theme,

though it does beg the question why that kind of effect is not an option but rather an forced feature of the theme.

1 Like
9

My offering was too broad.
Try just:

window:backdrop {
    background-color: @theme_bg_color;
}

headerbar:backdrop {
    background-color: @theme_bg_color;
    color: @theme_fg_color;
}

Save the file, then use alt+F2 and enter in r to refresh the desktop.

10

My wallpaper is grey when I create these new files. Only when I click on the desktop it shows the wallpaper, not when other windows are active.

11

yeah does the same for me even with the section adjusted with the last suggested change. its an interesting problem actually

12

Are you both using Wayland?

Increasing specificity:

window.csd headerbar:backdrop {
    background-color: @theme_bg_color;
    color: @theme_fg_color;
}

If it comes down to it, we can solve the issue by copying the zorin theme .css, then modifying all elements in it that deal with backdrop

13

i am using x11. which was the default i havent bothered to switch yet as everything i use just worked with no visible performance issues.

❯ echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE
x11

Ill give that one a try now

Update:

Its definite this one that is causing the desktop background to disappear until clicked:

window:backdrop,
.background:backdrop {
    background-color: @theme_bg_color;
}

update 2:

window.csd headerbar:backdrop {
    background-color: @theme_bg_color;
    color: @theme_fg_color;
}

this one has not fixed the issue either. ive also tried that in combination on its own and with the previous suggestions.

14

If you have Nvidia graphics, then best stay with X11.
FYI. Often we ask users if they are on Wayland, and if true, we suggest switching to X11.

1 Like
15

i use wayland when im on tuxedo and its pretty good except for some things i often have to make workarounds for, but x11 on that os is not reliable and im often having to restart because x11 has stopped working, how ever seems to work well on zorin. implemented well.