Add shadows to the desktop icon labels for better readability #296
Replies: 6 comments 5 replies
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I like this. Is there a way to add shadows to the file name in Nemo? |
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I started to play with the gtk.css file that you created. I was able to make the shadows globally.
Have fun and tweak it as needed |
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Hi @moloch1994, I believe the repo https://github.com/linuxmint/mint-themes would be the right place for someone to create a pull request suggesting this change. EditI've already created a pull request at the repository for this linuxmint/mint-themes#466 |
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Yes, it's a theme thing. |
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@moloch1994 - I've been adding this exact same gtk.css code to every install of Linux Mint for years. I've also made this exact same feature request before. Sadly, there wasn't even a single comment made on the thread. It baffles me why this wouldn't just be something they'd do by default, since the usual hard-line, one-pixel shadow looks so incredibly unreadable on lighter backgrounds. I also use a bold font for icon labels. That makes them look much more readable, in addition to better shadows. Since no one seems to want this but you and me, apparently, I just use a separate /home partition, so I can just keep little niceties like this across upgrades and reinstalls and never have to worry about some of the more rough parts of Linux Mint (I've also tweaked their Mint-X theme to be a bit nicer looking -- with slightly darker and inset scroll bars, rounded menu corners, etc.). @Secret-chest @anaximeno - It's not a theme thing. Personally, I wouldn't want a theme change to mess with desktop icon label shadows at all. It's the one appearance thing that makes absolutely no sense to have theme-changable. Maybe add it as a desktop configuration option instead, if you want it to be changable. Putting it in individual themes sounds like a horrible way to do things, since I would want this to be in place, no matter what theme I might want to install. |
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Hi.
If you look at Windows or many other desktop environments like KDE or Xfce, they tend to have shadows behind the desktop icon labels (the text under the icons). Cinnamon lacks such feature. While it looks okay with dark wallpapers, as soon as you use a bright wallpaper, it becomes unreadable. For demonstration I attach screenshots without and with shadows:
The first screenshot is from ZorinOS, but nevermind that (I just already have shadows enabled on my system, so I don't have any Mint screenshots without them), the text labels look the same on Mint anyway. I think either way you can see how much shadows improve readability, which is why they've been standard on Windows since early 2000s (and before that they used colored backgrounds for labels, again for readability).
I don't see any downside to implementing shadows. People who don't need them because they use dark backgrounds wouldn't even notice them. I also don't see why this couldn't be implemented immediately. After all, the solution already exists, and it's dead simple.
Create a file called gtk.css in /home/user/.config/gtk-3.0 with the following contents:
.nemo-desktop.nemo-canvas-item { color: #fff; text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px #000, 1px 1px #000, 1px 1px #000, 1px 1px #000, 2px 2px 3px #000; } .nemo-desktop.nemo-canvas-item:hover { background-color: alpha(@theme_selected_bg_color, 0.33); background-image: none; } .nemo-desktop.nemo-canvas-item:selected { background-color: u/theme_selected_bg_color; background-image: none; color: u/theme_selected_fg_color; text-shadow: none; }
The numerical values can be tweaked to increase or decrease the effect. Also, the same effect can be achieved on Mate, if you substitute every mention of nemo in the code for caja.
Every time I install Linux Mint, I end up just copy-pasting this file manually. I don't see why it couldn't just be shipped with the distro. I don't see how it's anything but an improvement. And the change would literally take a minute to implement.
I hope Mint developers will see this message. If you disagree with me, please explain why.
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