Pidgen is suddenly hideously ugly

rpgdemon · 03-08-2011, 03:31 PM

So, I was playing around with some open source stuff that used the gtk framework, and suddenly, BAM. Pidgen becomes hideously ugly. I assume it's because one of the other stuff I was using changed the defaults of the gtk framework, or the settings that pidgen might have changed?

Does anyone know the defaults/how to fix it?

rpgdemon · 03-09-2011, 02:55 PM

Pidgin, rather. I spell gud.

synkr0nized · 03-09-2011, 06:22 PM

What platform are you on?

Can you change Pidgin's theme or anything?

rpgdemon · 03-10-2011, 07:26 PM

I'm on Windows 7, and there's no theme or anything to change to/from. I installed some other stuff that used gtk, and then it decided to become ugly. I tried reinstalling the gtk environment stuff, to no avail.

Everything looks like red hat linux, for lack of a better descriptor, the dropdown menus/buttons, et cetera.

synkr0nized · 03-10-2011, 08:28 PM

Ohh, that's right -- even in Windows they rely on using the gtk theme to "skin" the program. Hmm.

Looking over Pidgin's pages, have you given this GTK theme thing a shot***?
I don't have Pidgin installed outside of Linux environments (where it just adopts whatever theme I select for my desktop shell) and have not mucked about with it in Windows. I honestly don't like it outside of Linux -- it's a nice program, but it's also blocky and kind of bland. I prefer Trillian in Windows (and at times screwing with Miranda for a few weeks and then going back) and AdiumX in OS X. Anyone else who has used it in Windows may have much better advice or thoughts on the matter as a result.

So before this happened, I'm guessing it looked similar to Windows itself? I assume they drop a Windows-like GTK skin/theme in with it on the Windows install, and the selection of theme has been changed by something else you installed to a more basic one (or that whatever you installed had a gtk install, like Pidgin does, that overwrote the theme data).

*** Here may be better instructions; it's from 2008 but uses the mentioned GTK theme tool and points out that you'll have to re-read the config to apply changes.

Likely you could head into wherever GTK+ is on your system and manage your theme configuration, but without looking it up I cannot offer any help or ideas where to go.

rpgdemon · 03-10-2011, 09:28 PM

Yeah, my main problem is that I don't know what the theme that it -was- using, so I can't change it back.

synkr0nized · 03-10-2011, 10:03 PM

So change around to other ones and try'em out?

Perhaps uninstalling all gtk stuff [unless you need it] and Pidgin and re-installing will work out, as well.

03-08-2011, 03:31 PM	#1
rpgdemon Not a Taco Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 3,313	Pidgen is suddenly hideously ugly So, I was playing around with some open source stuff that used the gtk framework, and suddenly, BAM. Pidgen becomes hideously ugly. I assume it's because one of the other stuff I was using changed the defaults of the gtk framework, or the settings that pidgen might have changed? Does anyone know the defaults/how to fix it? __________________ I did a lot of posting on here as a teenager, and I was pretty awful. Even after I learned, grew up, and came to be on the right side of a lot of important issues, I was still angry, abrasive, and generally increased the amount of hate in the world, in pretty unacceptable ways. On the off chance that someone is taking a trip down memory lane looking through those old threads, I wanted to devote my signature to say directly to you, I'm sorry. Thank you for letting me be better, NPF.

03-09-2011, 02:55 PM	#2
rpgdemon Not a Taco Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 3,313	Pidgin, rather. I spell gud. __________________ I did a lot of posting on here as a teenager, and I was pretty awful. Even after I learned, grew up, and came to be on the right side of a lot of important issues, I was still angry, abrasive, and generally increased the amount of hate in the world, in pretty unacceptable ways. On the off chance that someone is taking a trip down memory lane looking through those old threads, I wanted to devote my signature to say directly to you, I'm sorry. Thank you for letting me be better, NPF.

03-09-2011, 06:22 PM	#3
synkr0nized synk-ism Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: throughout the Wired Posts: 6,857	like, is it stuck on a visual style? What platform are you on? Can you change Pidgin's theme or anything? __________________ Find love.

03-10-2011, 07:26 PM	#4
rpgdemon Not a Taco Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 3,313	I'm on Windows 7, and there's no theme or anything to change to/from. I installed some other stuff that used gtk, and then it decided to become ugly. I tried reinstalling the gtk environment stuff, to no avail. Everything looks like red hat linux, for lack of a better descriptor, the dropdown menus/buttons, et cetera. __________________ I did a lot of posting on here as a teenager, and I was pretty awful. Even after I learned, grew up, and came to be on the right side of a lot of important issues, I was still angry, abrasive, and generally increased the amount of hate in the world, in pretty unacceptable ways. On the off chance that someone is taking a trip down memory lane looking through those old threads, I wanted to devote my signature to say directly to you, I'm sorry. Thank you for letting me be better, NPF.

03-10-2011, 08:28 PM	#5
synkr0nized synk-ism Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: throughout the Wired Posts: 6,857	They are apparently against skinning support native in the program itself. Ohh, that's right -- even in Windows they rely on using the gtk theme to "skin" the program. Hmm. Looking over Pidgin's pages, have you given this GTK theme thing a shot*? I don't have Pidgin installed outside of Linux environments (where it just adopts whatever theme I select for my desktop shell) and have not mucked about with it in Windows. I honestly don't like it outside of Linux -- it's a nice program, but it's also blocky and kind of bland. I prefer Trillian in Windows (and at times screwing with Miranda for a few weeks and then going back) and AdiumX in OS X. Anyone else who has used it in Windows may have much better advice or thoughts on the matter as a result. So before this happened, I'm guessing it looked similar to Windows itself? I assume they drop a Windows-like GTK skin/theme in with it on the Windows install, and the selection of theme has been changed by something else you installed to a more basic one (or that whatever you installed had a gtk install, like Pidgin does, that overwrote the theme data). * Here may be better instructions; it's from 2008 but uses the mentioned GTK theme tool and points out that you'll have to re-read the config to apply changes. Likely you could head into wherever GTK+ is on your system and manage your theme configuration, but without looking it up I cannot offer any help or ideas where to go. __________________ Find love.

03-10-2011, 09:28 PM	#6
rpgdemon Not a Taco Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 3,313	Yeah, my main problem is that I don't know what the theme that it -was- using, so I can't change it back. __________________ I did a lot of posting on here as a teenager, and I was pretty awful. Even after I learned, grew up, and came to be on the right side of a lot of important issues, I was still angry, abrasive, and generally increased the amount of hate in the world, in pretty unacceptable ways. On the off chance that someone is taking a trip down memory lane looking through those old threads, I wanted to devote my signature to say directly to you, I'm sorry. Thank you for letting me be better, NPF.

03-10-2011, 10:03 PM	#7
synkr0nized synk-ism Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: throughout the Wired Posts: 6,857	Sometimes trial and error works out. So change around to other ones and try'em out? Perhaps uninstalling all gtk stuff [unless you need it] and Pidgin and re-installing will work out, as well. __________________ Find love.