The intent of this page is to offer an explination of the various components in a GDM theme, as well as a basic tutorial of creating themes for the Gnome Display Manager, along with tips for getting the most out of GDM features.

What is a GDM Theme?

A GDM theme Is a collection of files that control the appearance of the or Gnome Display Manager, refered to in short as the GDM.

GDM Theme Components

A GDM theme consists of around five components:

The .desktop file

Apparently, this is not a "true" .desktop file. I can neither confirm nor deny that fact. I can tell you that the GdmGreeterTheme.desktop file allows you to specify a name, creator, copyright information, a brief description, and the name of the preview image. This information is used by the GDM settings panel when listing your theme.

The Theme's XML file

This is the file that tells the GDM what to display, how it should look, and where it will go. This is where we will be doing most of our work.

The Background Image

This is fairly self explanitory. The background image is just like a wallpaper. Changing the background image is probably the most common change made to existing GDM themes. I know that's how I got started.

The Preview Image

This, too, is fairly self-explanatory. The preview image is a picture of the theme in use, and is displayed in the GDM preferences window.

Any Foreground Images (Not Required)

These are images that you use like icons in your theme. Common uses are for placing distro logos in the theme and to accompany or replace button label text.

The GdmGreeterTheme.desktop File

This is a skeleton for a GdmGreeterTheme.desktop file

[GdmGreeterTheme]
Greeter=
Name=
Description=
Author=
Screenshot=
Copyright=

The Theme's XML file

This is a skeleton for an XML theme file.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE greeter SYSTEM "greeter.dtd">
<greeter>
</greeter>

This portion of the XML file must remain unaltered. Everything that we can add or change will go in between the <greeter> and the </greeter> tags. If you want a quick explanation of the "rules" for XML, along with the basic vocabulary, I recommend reading [http://www.xml.com/pub/a/98/10/guide0.html?page=3 this] page on XML.com.

Available Theme Elements

<item></item>

Everything that we add to the skeleton XML file will appear, wither inside of, or in between <item> tags. To find out more about the different types of <item> tags, see the reference tables at the end of this page.

<stock/>

<pos/>

<normal/>

The Tutorial

For much of this tutorial you will be required to write in files and directories that are in the /usr directory, so, you must be running in "superuser" mode. To do this you will need the root password, also known as the administrator password. To make things easier here in the beginning, I have created a "skeleton" of a theme. No, it doesn't feature any bones, just all of the files necessary to act as a template for a GDM theme. You can download it GDMTheme.tar.gz here.

Tips

Box as a Size Value

Optimum Wallpaper Size

Other Resources

There are few tutorials (that I have found) for GDM themes on the web. Aside from a basic understanding of XML, I found this site to be useful when I started themeing: http://live.gnome.org/GnomeArt/Tutorials/GdmThemes - The home of the official Gnome Tutorial for GDM themes

But, by far, the best resource that I have found is actually looking at other peoples themes. Try and isolate a part of the theme that you like, extract it, and use it in your own theme. If it isn't quite what you want, modify it until it is. Just remember to test often. There is nothing worse than making extensive changes to your theme, only to realize that somewhere in there is a single line, or even a single character that causes a spectacular failure in display manager.

Other Links

Gnome Display Manager Reference Manual - [http://www.5z.com/jirka/gdm-documentation/x1454.html Graphical Greeter Themes]

Reference Tables

item types

• rect
  box
  label
  entry
  pixmap
  svg

item ids

• language_button
  session_button
  system_button
  disconnect_button
  clock
  caps-lock-warning
  timed-rect
  timed-label
  pam-prompt
  user-pw-entry
  pam-message
  pam-error

stock types

Sub Heading 2

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Sub-pages : Navigation(children,1)

CategoryArtwork