[Settings] How to make window titlebars transparent?

[Campeador Cid]

Hello, this is my first post here.

I am a Windows 10 refugee. I'm tired of Microsoft's increasing efforts to monitor everything I do on my computer: even local searches on MY machine are apparently now being routed via MS servers. I'm tired of constantly having to dig into the OS to fend off their nosy, busybody efforts.

Plus, I miss the gorgeous esthetics of Aero Glass in Windows Vista and Windows 7, and that is the specific reason I'm posting here now. When I was looking for a Linux distribution to switch to, I chose Kubuntu (18.04 LTS) because its desktop had the sharpest, cleanest look. But I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to recreate that Aero Glass transparency (or maybe better, translucence) on the titlebar and borders of a window.

Currently on KDE Plasma version 5.12.9; KDE Frameworks version 5.44.0; Qt version 5.9.5; Kernel version 4.15.0-76-generic. I've been poking around the Settings and found some references to changing the opacity, but nothing yet that seems to control the opacity of window titlebars only.

I've experimented with a number of prepackaged desktop themes, for example Svista and Seven Black. But I haven't found a way to change the opacity of just the titlebar, what I've tried seems to make the whole window transparent (there was some setting to change the opacity with the mouse wheel) but that's not what I'm looking to do.

Any tips pointing me in the right direction will be appreciated.

[claydoh]

You need a transparent window decoration, or a addon theme engine such as Kvantum, and a transparent theme for that and/or some settings tweaks.

[Campeador Cid]

Thank you, I will read up on Kvantum. I'm still trying to understand the difference (in System Settings) between "look and feel" and "desktop theme", and now you introduced me to a "theme engine". Obviously I have a lot to learn!

In the meantime, how would I look for a transparent window decoration -- are they marked as such in the KDE Store?

FWIW, my current "look and feel" is Vista-blue, and the desktop theme is Svista. They seem to work together well enough, except for that titlebar transparency.

[claydoh]

In system settings, go to the Window Decoration section, and clock 'get new window decorations', same as how you get new themes, etc.
Search for "transparent". There are a number of different ones, and don't require extras like Kvantum. I am sure there are Win7 or Win 10 type of windecos.


It is slightly confusing, but for themeing there are different components

Window decorations - title bars, and window borders
Color schemes - application colors
Plasma Themes - panel and widget appearance
Icon Themes

Then there are the somewhat new Global Themes. These take a number of the above (or all of them) , and sometimes extra like SDDM login manager themes, to make a single overall package deal.

[Campeador Cid]

Thanks! I looked under "Get New Decorations" under "Window Decorations", and it turns out that I already have one of the choices installed, Seven Black (https://store.kde.org/p/1002615). There is also a Seven Blue.

The description says "Opaque decorations included" but the images are shown with transparent titlebars. So now the question is, how to get those transparent titlebars without making the rest of the window transparent.

I guess that one difficulty I'm running into is that I don't have a handle on the relationship between "look and feel" on the one hand, and "desktop theme" on the other. So if I have the Vista-blue "look and feel" installed along with the "Seven Black" desktop theme, do they stop each other from working correctly?

But then, it looks like I must have a "look and feel" selected, and Seven Black is not one of the choices. Oh wait, Seven Black is not even a "desktop theme," it's listed under Application Style --> Window Decorations. (In addition to Vista-blue, my "look and feel" choices are Breeze, Breeze Dark, and Kubuntu.) So now I have three balls to juggle: Look and Feel, Desktop Theme, and Window Decorations. How do I pick a "look and feel" (or whatever) that will allow me to adjust the opacity of the titlebars only?

OK, I have thrown up a lot of stuff up there. If we need to focus on a specific question, it would be how to get Seven Black to show more transparent titlebars without making the rest of the window more transparent too.

[oshunluvr]

Anyone know how to add a space between decorations? Used to be easy in KDE4

[chimak111]

Anyone know how to add a space between decorations? Used to be easy in KDE4

/home/dkb/.local/share/aurorae/themes/Sweet-Dark/Sweet-Darkrc has:

[Layout]
BorderBottom=1
BorderLeft=1
BorderRight=1
ButtonHeight=13
ButtonMarginTop=2
#ButtonSpacing=8
ButtonSpacing=28
ButtonWidth=13

Changing ButtonSpacing from 8 to 28 spaces out the min/max/close buttons.

I don't know where the default Breeze files are and whether they're amenable to such changes.

[Campeador Cid]

What values could one set in the configuration file for, say, Seven Black to adjust the opacity/transparency of the window titlebar (only)?

[chimak111]

What values could one set in the configuration file for, say, Seven Black to adjust the opacity/transparency of the window titlebar (only)?

The changelog dates back four years. It maybe better to find (very) recent themes matching your Plasma version.

[Campeador Cid]

Sadly, I haven't found any more recent themes that seek to replicate the look of Vista/Win7 windows. Windows 10-based themes are uninteresting because they're too different from that (with opaque white titlebars, squared-off corners, flat window control buttons).

[oshunluvr]

/home/dkb/.local/share/aurorae/themes/Sweet-Dark/Sweet-Darkrc has:

[Layout]
BorderBottom=1
BorderLeft=1
BorderRight=1
ButtonHeight=13
ButtonMarginTop=2
#ButtonSpacing=8
ButtonSpacing=28
ButtonWidth=13

Changing ButtonSpacing from 8 to 28 spaces out the min/max/close buttons.

I don't know where the default Breeze files are and whether they're amenable to such changes.

Appreciate that. What I want is this:


instead of this:

[chimak111]

locate decoration | grep svg comes up empty (for Breeze) on Kubuntu 18.04. I haven't checked 20.04. If there is such a file, it maybe possible to edit it to increase inter-button space selectively.

[Beerislife]

Breeze GTK is located under /usr/share/themes/
Default Plasma themes under /usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/

I'm using the latest KDE Neon. Your mileage may vary...

[Campeador Cid]

I get the feeling that customizing the appearance of windows is something of a dark art. Does anyone know of a detailed, A-to-Z guide for KDE/Plasma customization?

[chimak111]

I get the feeling that customizing the appearance of windows is something of a dark art. Does anyone know of a detailed, A-to-Z guide for KDE/Plasma customization?

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...kx6ytKN2CkVDjZ is a somewhat old, but largely valid, series of videos on customizing KDE Plasma. But I don't think it goes into details of what you want.