README

MetaTheme
=========

MetaTheme is a project dedicated to unification of appearance between
different graphics toolkits (currently GTK2, QT and Java).

The program is designed as a thin layer between toolkits and theme engines,
creating unified API by which each theme engine can draw. The result is that
every application uses the same code for drawing, making the appearance
same across different applications. MetaTheme also adjusts behaviour a bit,
so the overall effect of unification is impressive.

Some applications have their own toolkits which are used only by themselves.
Cardinal examples of such applications are Mozilla, Firefox and OpenOffice.
They provide support for pixmap themes, and popular themes exists for them.
Though as they are pixmap based, you can't easily change how they look.
Particularly, it's quite impossible to change color theme. Not everyone
likes the default. Also, the behaviour of these toolkits is unaffected, so
the application may behave differently than other applications.

There is planned support for Firefox (and maybe Mozilla too) in future. For
OpenOffice, you can at least try the KDE integration build of it.

Official site: http://www.metatheme.org/

Prerequisites
=============

General:
- GLib 2.0 or later

For building:
- CMake
- TDE CMake modules

For GTK2 support and configuration tools:
- GTK2 2.2 or later

For TQt/TDE support:
- TDE R14.1 or later

For Java/SWING support:
- JDK 1.5


Installation
============

- Unpack the archive somewhere in your home directory.
- Invoke CMake as following:
  $ cmake -B build -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/opt/trinity \
                   [your build flags]
    
  Define any build flags (see below) you want like this: -D[BUILD_FLAG]=[ON/OFF]
  e.g. -DWITH_ENGINE_REDMOND=ON -DWITH_COLORSCHEMES=ON

- Run 'make -C build'.
- Run 'make -C build install' as root.

- Run 'metatheme-install' in terminal as an ordinary user. This will
  activate MetaTheme in all supported toolkits (except Java, which is
  enabled at previous step).
- Make sure there is no other gtkrc file active. If yes, disable it or it
  will interfere with MetaTheme.
- Restart your session.

Configuration:
- Run 'mt-config' to start MetaTheme configuration tool. Please beware
  that the on-the-fly applying of changes is still experimental.

Optional:
- You can use the *.kcsrc files for color settings of some window
  decorations in TDE.

Build flags
===========

Options:
- WITH_ALL_OPTIONS:        Enable all available options and theme engines
                           (OFF by default)
- WITH_TOOLKIT_TQT:        Enable support for TQt toolkit
                           (ON by default)
- WITH_TOOLKIT_GTK2:       Enable support for Gtk+2 toolkit
                           (Required by the configuration tool and the
                            MSSTYLE theme engine)
- WITH_TOOLKIT_JAVA:       Enable support for JAVA/SWING toolkit
                           (Build not supported yet)
- WITH_CAIRO:              Enable support for Cairo
- WITH_COLORSCHEMES:       Enable installation of TDE colorschemes

Theme engines:
- WITH_ALL_ENGINES:        Enable all theme engines
- WITH_ENGINE_REDMOND:     Enable Redmond 2000 theme engine
- WITH_ENGINE_PLASTIK:     Enable Plastik theme engine
- WITH_ENGINE_HIGHCOLOR:   Enable Highcolor theme engine
- WITH_ENGINE_INDUSTRIAL:  Enable Industrial theme engine
- WITH_ENGINE_FLAT:        Enable Flat theme engine
- WITH_ENGINE_MSSTYLE:     Enable MSSTYLE theme engine
                           (requires Gtk+2 support)

Modules:
- BUILD_ALL:               Build all optional modules
                           (ON by default)
- BUILD_DOC:               Build documentation
- BUILD_TRANSLATIONS:      Build translations
- BUILD_CONFIG_TOOL:       Build configuration tool
                           (requires Gtk+2 support)

Deactivation
============

- Run 'metatheme-install -u' as an ordinary user. This should deactivate
  MetaTheme in all supported toolkits and set safe defaults.
- Restart your session.

Notes
=====

- MetaTheme might have significant impact on the stability of running programs.

- You may have problems with on-the-fly switching between MetaTheme and other
  themes. Although it may work for you, it is not recommended now.

- Font and color settings are obtained from the '~/.metatheme/config' file,
  overriding any default settings in particular toolkit.

- If you have invisible text in XChat's input box, you will need to disable
  the 'Use the Text box font and colors' option in Preferences -> Interface
  -> Input box. Probably you have to restart it after doing that.

- Currently, MetaTheme is aimed towards KDE, although it doesn't directly
  depend on it.

- If you have different font sizes in QT and GTK applications, check if you
  have the same DPI value for both axes. You can check it by running this
  command:
  
  $ xdpyinfo | grep resolution

- Antialiased fonts in Java can be enabled by passing parameter
  "-Dswing.aatext=true" when running Java application. Also, please note,
  that Java can use only TrueType fonts.