Merging two Icon Themes together

Customization
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#1

Respected Linux Enthusiasts,
I just love the beauty and polish of ZorinOS and I know, it looks amazing out of the box. But also Tela-Circle-Icon theme is one of my Favourites. Does anyone know any way by which I can use the folder icons from ZorinOS icon theme and rest of system and app icons from Tela-Circle-Icon Theme. Or a way in which File Manager (Thunar) follows ZorinOS icon theme and rest of system follows Tela-Circle-Icon Theme...

Has anyone done something like this beforehand or does anyone know any way through which this can be achieved...
Thanks in advance :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:
Looking for a positive response...

#2

Yes, though it would take some work.

You can do so by creating your own merged icon theme.
Copy your Tele-circle-icon theme in your ~/.icons directory and rename it something like Tele-Zoricon or whatever tickles you. This is so you can easily differentiate your Frankenstein theme from the existing ones.
Elevate to root, copy the Zorin Icon theme to your ~/.icons directory. Now change all its permissions to your user.

Once done, you can begin transferring files. The Places directories are the ones you want to replace. remove the Places directories from Tele-Zoricon and transfer the Places directories from the Zorin Icon theme into Tele-Zoricon to replace them.
Once done, set your icon theme to Tele-Zoricon and test for mistakes or missing files... Use your existing Tele-circle and zorin-icon themes as resources to find what you need.
Could be a fun project.

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#3

That is a nice suggestions Sir, but really this is the first time, Sir, I have heard of the Frankenstein theme. If I make it all dark Sir would that be the Dracula theme Sir. Thank you Sir for your reply Sir.

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#4

boy, I outta smack you upside the head.

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#5

itsalive
itsalive1244×799 224 KB

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#6

Thanks a lot. I'll try that whenever I get the time and will update soon.

I had one more query. Out of curiosity I just changed ZorinOS Theme to Layan. It changed app titlebar buttons[Maximizing, Minimising, and Close] for some applications. As far as I know the app Titlebar buttons can be customised from Window Manager settings. I want app windows to use ZorinOS Buttons in Titlebar but some are using ZorinOS buttons[like Thunar] and some are using Layan Buttons[like Settings]. You can refer to the ScreenShot below:

IMG_20211211_223955
IMG_20211211_2239551165×681 425 KB

Is there anything I can do to make apps follow Layan theme but it's titlebar should ZorinOS buttons?

Thanks again :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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#7

This inconsisitency is due to XFCE 4.16 switching to CSD (Client Side Decorations).
CSD essentially drops window management onto other things ( and other developers)
It is also causing what you see there...

One way to deal with this is to install gtk3-nocsd package. It forces the csd applications to use the Window Manager properly:

sudo apt install gtk3-nocsd

Then reboot.

#8

Thanks. I'll try that too and update soon :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

3 Likes
#9

I tried what you said regarding changing the places directory. It worked but the icons were blur, I dont know why. I tried 2-3 times but wasn't able to get it right.

Leave merging the icon themes. Is there a way through which The File Manager[Thunar] follows ZorinOS icon theme and rest of the system follow Tela Circle icon theme?

1 Like
#10

If you look, you will note that there are directories for Different Size Icons. You probably transferred the Small Icons - which caused them to look blurry when they were enlarged to fit the icon size in the file manager.
Try the moving the Contents Of the 48x48@2x places directory into the 128px sized folder of the Icon theme you are creating.
Trust me, it'll work. I make Icon sets.

To the rest of your question; the above method really is the way to go. If you cannot get it to work, link the icon set you wish to alter and I can create a package for you that you can download and install.

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#11

See here I have layed out the directories of both the themes. And you may refer to this image for knowing the icons which I want to change. I want all the icons marked to be taken from ZorinOS theme while all rest from Tela-Circle Theme:

IMG_20211214_222006
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Or I just prepared a Screen Recording. Although I can't upload it here. You may refer to this Link where I explained what all I want and why I was confused.

Kindly just help me out so that I could succeed. We could first try for a few days coz if you would make custom themes for me everytime then I won't be able to learn. Even I want to learn so that it would be easy for me to make custom themes. Otherwise you would be fed up making custom themes for me :sweat_smile:

Let's just try for a few days. If I succeed then it's okay, otherwise Linux Enthusiasm like you are always there to Help me...
Thanks again for such quick reply :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

#12

Oh, I see... You marked The Symbolic Icons.
The marked (In red borders on the right) are Action Icons and Places icons.
The Disk icon would be found in Devices.

#13

I'll just Try again and will update you by Tomorrow...Till then Thanks for helping me and a silly question, Do you really sleep? Man it's 12 midnight and you are still there helping me. Hats off to such dedication of yours...

#14

My programmers saw fit to neglect that function...

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#15

Well I think merging them is not possible by me. I tried, have even made it, but now, I don't know why The Xfce Appearance settings is not detecting that folder...
I put it in /home/.icons,/home/.local/share/icons, and even did sudo thunar to put it in /usr/share/icons. But to no avail....

You know what, I typed all this and now I remembered, did I change the name in index.theme...:sweat_smile:. Sorry for my silliness... But now after doing this, I can say:

Finally we have succeeded a bit but still not fully, You can refer to the ScreenShots below. Such as most of the side pane icons are now replaced:

IMG_20211215_214328
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And as for the smaller and smallest icons for the folders are now replaced:
IMG_20211215_214632
IMG_20211215_214632912×724 58.7 KB

IMG_20211215_214726
IMG_20211215_214726900×702 55.7 KB

But still not all icons are replaced... as you can see in the side pane Screenshot, the larger icons...And I think that's because, the ZorinOS icon theme doesn't have Places Folder for some sizes. I have explained all of that in the Video which you can watch Here.

Do tell me if what I think as the reason is right...And Thanks again for helping me :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

2 Likes
#16

You are doing great.
I am fully hurried at the moment... So I am going off of memory. I may get some of these wrong, but that's ok - you can explore which will help you learn better.

Sidepane:
File system, Computer, - Look in Scalable - Devices
Home (user-home.svg), desktop - Look in Scalable- Places
Trash - Look in Scalable - Status

Yes, you are right that a different sizing convention is being used. It's not too big a deal, as the system will scale the icons as needed in many cases.
So, for the 128px directory, replace those files from the ones in Zorin from the 48(2x) (these are actually size 96px... Close enough, for now.)

2 Likes
#17

Finally I succeed for completely replacing the side pane icons in my custom theme. But still, the ZorinOS folders are blur...But I think, leave that, cause now I think that I like this theme with Folders from Tela-Circle theme and side pane icons from ZorinOS theme :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:
Thanks again to whole Linux community and especially you Aravisian for helping me out...

1 Like
#18

This is due to them being scaled to a larger size from a smaller sized source.
Replacing the folders with a larger size source will fix that.
Perhaps you can resize from the 512 folder to size 256 - then replace the folder icons with your newly resized 256px ones.

When I make a new icon set... I often start with my base icon images being sized 1200px or 512px. This is so that I can check and cover details and color gradients smoothly.
These then are resized to 256px prior to insertion into the new icon theme and then resized further as needed.
With icons- Start Big.

I hope this exploration helps inspire you a bit...

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#19

Well it indeed did. I think I got a project for my summer Holidays...
Thanks to you @Aravisian :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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