Apply GTK settings before the UI is visible

[bbb651]

Currently, there's a brief pause from when the UI is visible but frozen, to when the gtk settings loads and the application unfreezes. This is especially noticeable when using application_prefer_dark_theme (which IMO should default to true, it's not a good user experience to go from a dark console to a completely white screen, but I digress), because it flashes the screen with white then goes to dark, which is very jarring.

I'm not familiar with Relm4 but I can try to make a PR (although without #30 it sounds very painful).

[rharish101]

A PR would be much appreciated!

I don't know how to fix this for the multi-monitor case, because I've noticed that the GTK settings are "reset" when I select the monitor to be fullscreened on, and I have to re-apply them. It's possible that the pause that you're experiencing is due to this GTK behaviour.

[gvolpe]

Giving ReGreet a try, and experiencing the same issue, also using a dark theme.

What happens exactly in my case is that first there's a pause going from the console view to the ReGreet UI, but that's acceptable to me. The worst part is that ReGreet UI is displayed first in light mode (background image already visible at this stage) and then there's a flickering with a 500 ms pause or so and it switches to dark mode, as set by the theme.

Is this worth reporting as a separate issue? Not clear if it's the same one.

Here's my config

[background]
path = "/path/to/hyprland.png"

# How the background image covers the screen if the aspect ratio doesn't match
# Available values: "Fill", "Contain", "Cover", "ScaleDown"
fit = "Contain"

# The entries defined in this section will be passed to the session as environment variables when it is started
[env]
ENV_VARIABLE = "value"

[GTK]
# Whether to use the dark theme
application_prefer_dark_theme = true

# Cursor theme name
cursor_theme_name = "Juno-ocean"

# Font name and size
font_name = "JetBrainsMono 12"

# Icon theme name
icon_theme_name = "BeautyLine"

# GTK theme name
theme_name = "Juno-ocean"

[commands]
# The command used to reboot the system
reboot = [ "systemctl", "reboot" ]

# The command used to shut down the system
poweroff = [ "systemctl", "poweroff" ]

[max-ishere]

Applications can override system-wide settings by setting the property of the GtkSettings object with g_object_set(). This should be restricted to special cases though; GtkSettings are not meant as an application configuration facility.

I have a feeling that the current approach is flawed to begin with. I am currently doing some development and noticed that regreet uses my user's gtk settings with like 0 config. And no flicker and it works fine. So... Maybe like... replace the config setting with a manual on how to configure a theme? Same in #72, just maybe link a tutorial to how to make gtk themes and not hack together weird solutions when clearly a system-level application theme is the way to go?

[max-ishere]

GTK settings are "reset" when I select the monitor to be fullscreened on

Could potentially be solved by a system level config too.

[max-ishere]

Forgot to link the source: https://docs.gtk.org/gtk4/class.Settings.html

[max-ishere]

Welp. At least on NixOS I can't actually implement a system-wide dark theme preference... That is sad. If anyone can figure this one out, I'd appreciate it. And that tutorial should go into the readme then.

[max-ishere]

Not to say it is impossible, I just give up for now.

[max-ishere]

/tableflip I had to reboot...

What I am saying is that it is possible to use some kind of configuration facility that is system/user wide (I am not sure exactly what config optiions, I tried all the methods I found on the internet at once, will report back) but that system config doesnt have the flicker. And it just works.

[itshog]

Any updates on this? This is a fantastic project but seeing this white flash immediately after boot and before loading the appropriate theme is really jarring as of now

[rharish101]

Any updates on this? This is a fantastic project but seeing this white flash immediately after boot and before loading the appropriate theme is really jarring as of now

Can you try to set the theme in the GTK settings for the user that runs the greeter (greeter by default)?

[itshog]

Can you try to set the theme in the GTK settings for the user that runs the greeter (greeter by default)?

Thanks for the suggestion and the rapid response, but isn't the greeter user usually without a home and a password? How could I login and set the gtk theme in this case?

[rharish101]

Good question, I'm not sure (since I don't do it). I found this thread: https://forum.manjaro.org/t/setting-theme-for-gtk4-applications/165845. Perhaps you could create a home directory for this user and then create the GTK config files there?

[itshog]

Good question, I'm not sure (since I don't do it). I found this thread: https://forum.manjaro.org/t/setting-theme-for-gtk4-applications/165845. Perhaps you could create a home directory for this user and then create the GTK config files there?

Usually the "right" way to set the gtk theme is through gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme "theme-name". I'll try to hack something with environment variables like GTK_THEME for the greeter user, but anyway I don't believe creating a home and enabling login for this user is a reasonable course of action in the long run (as I understand, having a separate user for running the greeter is essentially a security feature, and enabling login and creating a home weakens this security model).