Zorin GTK theme for Flatpak applications

Hello Zorin OS team and users!

First of all, I apologize if this post is in the wrong category. This is my first time posting here!

I’m a huge fan of all the work that has gone into the Zorin Desktop Theme. I haven’t seen anything like it! I would like to suggest uploading your themes to Flathub, so more applications on the Zorin OS desktop will appear consistent.

Unfortunately, due to the sandbox nature of flatpaks, some applications use the Adwaita theme, which looks… to put blunt, hideous mixed in with the slick, stylish native applications that use the Zorin GTK theme. The only way for flatpaks to support themes properly is to package them in a flatpak repository. I believe that Flathub would be the most ideal place, since others that use the Zorin theme on their distros can still enjoy a consistent desktop, and not have to mess with multiple repos.

Other distributions, such as Elementary OS, Ubuntu, and Solus, have their default themes available in the Flathub repository. It would make sense for Zorin OS to follow along.

Is it possible that we could expect this in the future?

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I second this.
I think it's of critical importance to make flatpaks behave like native apps otherwise people will be lost.
Let's take the example of the photo software : Shotwell. The native version looks consistent but the flatpak version has its own theming.
Is it something that can be done easily ?

If you open terminal and run

flatpak list

It should show that Zorin OS comes with Flatpak themes already installed.
If it does not, you can flatpak install ... them.

Wow thanks.
It means that some flatpak software just don't want to use the theme...

This actually seems odd to me... I would think that they would use the provided Flatpak theme.
Have you tried teasing it by using Gnome-Tweak Tool to change the theme out and see if it "jiggles the handle" and makes the theme work?

I'm using Zorin OS 16 Lite, maybe that could be the reason ?
The same happens with Quodlibet, when used as a flatpak it doesn't pick the theme, while the version from the Zorin Repository displays with the correct theme.

Edit : I found a solution :
sudo flatpak override --filesystem=$HOME/.themes
sudo flatpak override --env=GTK_THEME=ZorinBlue-Light

Would be nice if that was done automatically ! I was told that Flatseal could be used to do the same thing.

sudo is not required for these commands, but yes this does indeed work :slight_smile: I tried it with Bazaar and flatseal and was quite happy with it! you can indeed use this in flatseal by giving the flatpak acess to your .themes folder

by going to "all applications" at the top scrolling down on the right hand side till you see "other files" then clicking on the new folder icon and inputting /.themes (if you have created a themes folder)

you can then in the enviroment section of flatseal input in my example here "GTK_THEME=ZorinBlue-Dark" and this will theme all of your apps to match Zorin without using a terminal :slight_smile: (i can and probably should make a tutorial)

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Here is a good guide:

But a special guide for Zorin themes would be nice, @DotWayton.

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