unity-design team mailing list archive

[Matt Richardson <m.richardson.1990@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

OK so I have created a proof of concept using ImageMagick to get the 
average colour and bash and sed to then replace the specific values in 
the gtk.css, gtk-widgets.css, gtkrc and metacity-theme-1.xml files.

You can download it <http://ubuntuone.com/0CXq4H6R10xHgMaDFMejbP>here 
<http://ubuntuone.com/6oslxzNUw5GOGCq4Wzqhup>

1) Extract the files to ~/.themes
2) Copy the "Chameleon Script.sh" file to somewhere more easy to access
3) You will need to use MyUnity (or similar) to change the theme to 
'Chameleon', since the 'Appearances' settings panel doesn't display it.
4) Run "Chameleon Script.sh"
5) Most applications will simply need closing and reopening to update.
6) I'm not entirely sure why but programs with workaround css files 
(including nautilus and unity) won't update until you log out and back 
in. Until you do this Nautilus and the top panel (as well as menus 
thereof) will not change.

ImageMagick came installed by default I think (I don't recall installing 
it), but if it's not a default tool then you can install it from the 
software center. In the long run, this script would hopefully be 
incorporated into Unity

Known issues:
1) Does not update automatically when the wallpaper is changed. You have 
to run the script each time you change wallpaper.
2) Nautilus, Unity and potentially some others do not update until log 
out/in
3) Colour matching is not quite the same as Unity. Most of the time the 
theme produces a closer match to the wallpaper than Unity (IMO) but it 
can be affected by a small presence of a very bright colour. It would 
also be better if it could match Unity perfectly to provide seamless 
aesthetics.
4) Cannot handle xml files, as used by wallpapers that change during the 
day.
5) The currently highlighted button (not in toolbars) displays dark text 
on a dark background (with some wallpapers). I can't find the value 
which changes that at the moment.

Hopefully, were this integrated into the same code that updates Unity's 
chameleonic elements, issues 1 to 4 would all be solved. Issue 5 is just 
a matter of time, but I decided to see what people think before continuing.

Feedback would be appreciated
Matt


On 22/05/12 12:09, Matt Richardson wrote:
> I would really like to see a chameleonic theme land in 12.10.
> Not a transparent theme. Instead simply the ambiance theme (light to 
> dark vertical gradient) but where the base colour is taken as the 
> average colour of the wallpaper.
> I also think this would help the top-left corner issue, as the 
> launcher, panel and window would blend a lot better.
> Also, this wouldn't prevent the user from selecting non-chameleonic 
> themes, as some people would prefer the contrast.
>
> Thoughts?
> Matt