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Theming in Qtractor

/ Edited: 17/01/2024 /
Topic for everything related to Qtractor theming.
Themes availables: https://sourceforge.net/projects/visualthemes-qtractor/
(Attach two starting approaches for two visual themes and a proposal for functionalities.)

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Image icon master_theme.png252.26 KB
Image icon punk_theme_2.png237 KB
Image icon conf.png44.92 KB
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so good! Thank you.

This worked out perfectly and found another opportunity to use it in the Menu Bar where, for example, View / Drum Mode benefits.

menu1

qtractorPluginListView QMenu::icon:checked {
  background: palette(highlight);
  margin-left: 7px;
}
#menuBar QMenu::icon:checked {
  background: palette(highlight);
}

File attachments: 

Glad to hear it :)

rncbc's picture

hi fellows :)

what about you starting a brand new topic having your fine and hopefully final results and iterations on the subject?

as is now, for its long extent already, it's becoming somewhat unmanageable for most of us, let alone increasingly unbearable for new users ;)

hint: what about having two brand new topics for each: one named after G3N-es's "Technico" and the other for windowrefund's "Gray-"something ... (sorry for that, I fail to recall the correct name--being that a symptom close to this call anyway :))

cheers

I thought that having a single topic for "Theming" on the official Qtractor forum would help create a community around Qtractor.
This is what happened in the case of KOSAI (just one case, but very enriching).

Maybe it was a mistake, and more than helping to create a community it was an invasion (that was not my intention).

I have created a tickets tab in VTQs. In the "summary tab" I have linked to the Qtractor forum, in case someone clueless is unaware of the official forum.

Thank you

rncbc's picture

forget what I've said, prolly it's me who is mistaken :)

keep up the good vibes :)

cheers

No you don't understand. This was actually never about themes (just a decoy) as much as it's been a drupal stress test :D

Seriously though, I actually spun up a new thread specific to my theme for the exact same reason.

rncbc's picture

or do I?

right, you have this Graysacle one, that's ok and to the word of what it's been said. no questions.

my pledge is, was about making it a good (re)start, nothing less.

what you/I did not understand?

Just close the thread

Using qss, is it possible to override the background color of the Midi Editor? I tried setting the background property of qtractorMidiEditorForm QMainWindow but got nowhere. I do understand it uses the base palette by default but I'd prefer to not change that as that action would open a whole mess of problems. While I'm here, maybe I'll ask if there's also a way to change the background color of the Event Viewer (Events) which is accessible on the right side of the Midi Editor. I found and make use of qtractorMidiEventList but I believe that just reflects the area to the left of the Piano keys.

qtractorMidiEditView {} // editor notes
qtractorMidiEditEvent {} // editor events

Event Viewer (Events) ?¿?¿?
I can't locate it.
I don't know what file is in charge of it.

rncbc's picture

qtractorMidiEventList

Windowsrefund, this allows you to access:

qtractorMidiEventList > QAbstractItemView {
alternate-background-color: green;
background: red;
}

Interesting. Just to be clear, I am looking to change the background color of the actual Midi Editor window itself. Having this ability to override independently would allow for the measure bars to stand out more.

G3N-es, Please disregard my last message. It's all perfect now. Thanks again for the help.

Skeuomorphism is felt more than ever before. It feels like you can hear the buttons springing as they jump.
Of course there is no sound, but your brain will try to recreate it.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/visualthemes-qtractor

rncbc's picture

hi to all VTQ'ers! :)

there's a new experimental branch in town, this time called xicontheme...

its name says it all: introducing the long awaited feature of Icons theme(ing) without the need to rebuild or compile the whole thing from scratch; rejoice! :)

now in (main menu) View > Options... > Display > Custom > Icons theme, you may then select an existing directory (or folder) where the new custom icons are placed and these will override the built-in ones on the next run, iif matching the very same file-name; note that the file-type suffix (or extension) maybe either .png or .svg but only the file-name is meaningful for the matching.

would you please test && tell what you think? if all goes well this might be a nice present for the holidays! ;)

enjoy!

What a great idea! I'll spend some time with this tomorrow as I have my icons broken out to support this testing.

This worked perfectly on my end with a fresh compile and pointing the new option at my images directory. Quite nice!

rncbc's picture

great!

now waiting for a word from the VTQ master (aka @G3N-es :)) whether this will make into to the major league...

guess that all coming VTQs readme's will need an update--there will be no need to override the upstream src/images/ folder anymore and then rebuild qtractor.

thanks && cheers.

Right. I'll certainly update my docs when this is folded in.

Same here

First of all, I want to tell you that I am very grateful (even a little excited) for this great gift you have given us.

I have tested it and it works perfectly.

In case of:
- Not finding the icons folder
- Icons with incompatible formats

Qtractor wisely replaces them with the compiled default icons.

This is a great advantage.
Now we can make monochrome icon themes with dark and light versions, as well as color versions (which work for dark and light themes).

If I can, throughout 2025 I will resume this thing of creating visual themes, because with this feature the possibilities are greatly expanded.
I had pending to create one focused on high readability.
Designing icon packs requires a lot of effort, but it also offers a lot of learning and fun.
There is no hurry :).

rncbc's picture

wholly thanks to you both!

the xicontheme branch will shortly merge into develop soon, even today :)

stay tuned!

UPDATE: done in qtractor >= 1.4.0.15git.fd69c3.
UPDATE2: and... xicontheme branch is not anymore.
cheers

bluebell's picture

Because I use a light theme I had to copy the ancient Qtractor icon set before I build Qtractor. Now I can select that directory as "Icons Theme". Works as expected. Great!

Instructions for grayscale-theme have been updated.

rncbc's picture

Those I consider to be redundant and/or overkill have basically just be provided as transparent images.

why's that?

just not providing those (fully-transparent, blank) files might be a better idea...

byee

Wouldn't the default icons be rendered?

rncbc's picture

nope. they are overridden by dumb transparent/blank images!

byee

@windowsrefund I understand why the theme is designed with transparent icons.
In fact you know that I love the sober and elegant feeling that "grayscale" transmits.

However, it seems excessive to me to remove the icons from the toolbars:
- File
- Edit
- Track
- View

The reason is simple. If someone doesn't want to see those bars, they can simply hide them.

But if someone comes new and starts trying out themes, they will think 2 things, either the theme is broken, or Qtractor is.

In fact, in my distribution of your theme I will include a folder called "NoDistraction" inside the images folder that contains the transparent icons.
And in the README.md I will include the explanation of why my distribution differs from the original, and how to activate this "NoDistraction" option (copy to "images" those that find it annoying).

I think it would also be best for the official "grayscale" version... but in that case it's up to you to decide which creative freedom you want to be, which I respect.

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