Re: Newbie questions on themes and engines

["Eckhoff, Michael A" <EckhoffM NAVO NAVY MIL>]

In Vol 12, Issue 12 Iago Rubio wrote

> On Wed, 2005-04-06 at 09:42 -0500, Eckhoff, Michael A wrote:
>> 1. Is there a discussion some where on themes and engines? 
>> Do these terms refer to the same thing?

> No, read this http://www.gtk.org/~otaylor/gtk/2.0/theme-engines.html
> The first and second paragraphs should be enough. 

Thanks for this link. I don't believe this is reachable via
http://www.gtk.org/

>> 2. Who sets the default theme for gtk+ applications? Does this default 
>> come with the package or does my Linux vendor (Suse in my case) have 
>> anything to do with it?

> Check the .gtkrc file in your home directory. 

Funny. I don't have .gtkrc in my home directory. 
I've been using suse's KDE, not that I dislike GNOME. 
Perhaps that's a problem. 

I noticed on gtk-list Digest, Vol 12, Issue 9 
Re: 'File Choose Dialog' can't work in KDE? (John Cupitt)
that 
> some KDEs (eg. suse) install themes (eg. geramik) to make gtk apps
> look more KDE-like, these themes can cause problems

and, come to think of it, I believe I observed the same thing.
None of my widgets look like those in the books or the tutorial,
especially the GtkFileSelection browser in Warkus' book.
So I think Suse is messing with GTK+.


>> 3. What other themes are available,
> http://art.gnome.org/themes/gtk2/

>> and how do you invoke them? e.g., as a command-line 
>> option like ./helloworld --alternate_theme

> Try gnome-theme-manager, on the "Preferences" menu the "Theme" entry. 

Guess its time to change my desktop from KDE to GNOME.
In "C++ GUI Programming with Qt3", they show how to select
different themes, examples being
./age -style=Platinum
./age -style=Motif
./age -style=Windows

etc., so I was hoping this feature was available in GTK/GNOME.
Is it possible to effect this usage?

Thanks for your help.

Mike