GdmThemeing

Differences between revisions 17 and 18
Revision 17 as of 2006-08-20 07:37:24
Size: 5697
Editor: 213-250
Comment:
Revision 18 as of 2006-08-20 07:43:59
Size: 5888
Editor: 213-250
Comment:
Deletions are marked like this. Additions are marked like this.
Line 58: Line 58:
These are all of the elements that will be used for the tutorial theme. More information on each element is available in the tutorial and in the reference tables at the end of this page.
Line 62: Line 63:
=== <stock/> ===
Line 67: Line 66:

=== <stock/> ===

Work In Progress!

  • 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.If you look in the /usr/share/gdm/themes/ directory, you can see the GDM themes that are already installed.

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

[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

These are all of the elements that will be used for the tutorial theme. More information on each element is available in the tutorial and in the reference tables at the end of this page.

<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.

<pos/>

<normal/>

<stock/>

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

Preview Image Size

  • "Officially" the preview image should be 200x150 pixels. If you use a larger inage, it will be scaled to 200x150 pixels when it is shown in the Login Manager preferences window. So while\there is no disasterous disadvantage to using a large preview image, it will increase the disk space that the theme occupies.

Other Resources

  • There are few tutorials (that I have found) for GDM themes on the web. Along with a basic understanding of XML, I found this site to be extreemly useful when I started writing 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.

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

Sample. Here is a WikiLinkToWhateverYouLike/Where. Here is an . Use footnotes and like features where appropriate. FootNote(Footnote sample)


Sub-pages : Navigation(children,1)


CategoryArtwork

Artwork/Incoming/Attic/GdmThemeing (last edited 2008-08-06 17:00:08 by localhost)