Themes for Individual Applications

A few of the Trinity applications have their own customizable theming support.

TDM/KSplash

You probably think of this application as "the screen you see after typing in your username + pass, while waiting for the desktop to load".

Getting TDM/KSplash themes

Your best bet for finding new themes for TDM is to look at the KDM -> KDM3 section of kde-look.org. They have more than 400 themes, and there's a good chance that they will work in TDM without significant changes.

You can add new TDM themes to Trinity by using the Appearance & Themes -> Splash Screen section of the Control Center.

Making TDM/KSplash Themes

A TDM theme consists of a simple text settings file called Theme.rc and several .png files with specific names. These are placed together in a directory, and the directory is then squished into a .tar.gz or .tar.bz2 file.

Here is a simple sample Theme.rc:

[KSplash Theme: Example]
Name = Example
Description = Example of a TDM/KSplash Theme.rc file.  This description, along with most of the other fields here, will be displayed in the Control Center when this theme is selected.
Version = 1.0
Author = me <me@nowhere.invalid>
Homepage = http://nowhere.invalid

# Theme behavior settings.
Engine = Default

# Should icons blink ala KDE, or not?
Icons Flashing = true

There are four required .png files. Two-- splash_top.png and splash_bottom.png --form the splash screen background. The other two-- splash_active_bar.png and splash_inactive_bar.png --contain the icons that "light up" by increments to indicate how far TDE has gotten in its loading sequence.

Most themes will also include a Preview.png to provide a visual preview of the theme in the Control Center.

K3B

Trinity's CD and DVD burning application is also themable.

Getting K3B Themes

Again, kde-look.org still has some, although they're not as well-segregated as the TDM themes. Look for themes that came out prior to Jan. 2008 (the initial release date for KDE4). You can install them using the Themes item under Settings -> Configure K3B.

Making K3B Themes

A K3B theme consists of a text settings file called k3b.theme (mostly metadata and colour information), plus some number of .png files for splash screens, backgrounds, icons, etc. These are stuffed into a directory which is then packaged as a .tar.gz

Here's a sample k3b.theme from ...being..., a theme conveniently placed under the GPL by its creator:

Author=dil23
Backgroundcolor=173,173,173
Foregroundcolor=255,255,153
BackgroundMode=Scaled
Comment="...being...." Short Film Promo Theme!
Version=0.1

amaroK

Trinity's beloved music player is themable too.

Getting amaroK themes

Again, kde-look.org still has some, although they're not as well-segregated as the TDM themes. Look for themes that came out prior to Jan. 2008 (the initial release date for KDE4). Themes for amaroK 2.0+ will not work with the Trinity version of the program.

Making amaroK themes

Rather than having a simple text configuration file with a few line items in it, amaroK uses a .css file in its themes, allowing the themer much greater control over the program's appearance at the cost of having to type a lot more. This may be packaged with some number of .png files for backgrounds and buttons in the standard directory-inside-a-.tar.gz form.

Rather than trying to reproduce a sample .css file here (as they can be quite long), I would suggest that the would-be amaroK theme creator download The Blank Layout with system colours & fonts theme from kde-look.org, since its .css is nicely laid out for readability. Note that CSS 3 attributes are not likely to work.

Yakuake

Trinity's version of yakuake is skinnable. A few applicable skins can be found in the "Other KDE Stuff" section of kde-look.org (skins in the "Yakuake Skins" section are for the KDE4 version). Please refer to the skins/README file in your Yakuake installation for information on how to create a skin.