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Kontact/Kaddressbook functionality reduced by faulty theme (?)

Hi,

I cannot set a preferred phone number for contacts in kaddressbook. I reported the issue in detail here and they told me, it was probably a theme issue. The theme probably doesn't conform to some freedesktop standard.

I use xfce with the adwaita theme.

Code: [Select]
$ pacman -Q kontact kaddressbook 
kontact 22.04.2-1
kaddressbook 22.04.2-1

Does anyone else here have this problem?
Who's fault is this? Where does this need to be reported? At the Adwaita theme creators?

Re: Kontact/Kaddressbook functionality reduced by faulty theme (?)

Reply #1
xfce = gtk
kontact/kadressbook = qt

Adjusting the theme for xfce has no effect or likely not the proper effect for qt based apps that rely on qt themeing tools.
Cat Herders of Linux

Re: Kontact/Kaddressbook functionality reduced by faulty theme (?)

Reply #2
If it is a theme issue there's some info on the Arch wiki
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Uniform_look_for_Qt_and_GTK_applications

I suggest reading it all but I think the relevant section for you is
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Uniform_look_for_Qt_and_GTK_applications#Adwaita

I imagine it's the adwaita-qt5 packages you need and don't miss the bit where you have to either define the environment variable or install and use qt5ct. I haven't used a non QT desktop for years so don't know how well it works these days?

Things often don't need to be fixed or reported. Research before creating bug reports.
Any issues check the Arch wiki and the Artix wiki. A vast number of Arch wiki pages are still 100% relevant for Artix. It's true though that some are not. Where the solution involves systemd and / or systemd only commands. Can still point you in the right direction sometimes though.

Re: Kontact/Kaddressbook functionality reduced by faulty theme (?)

Reply #3
I solved it by installing breeze and qt5ct. So it seems to me, that it's a theme issue. But I don't know, what exactly the theme is doing wrong (if at all, because it's a gtk theme), so I cannot report that. On the other hand: Which (icon-)theme did kaddressbook use, when I did not explicitly install a qt theme before? That theme might be the issue. I don't  know how I can figure that out, though, so I'm resting this case.

The bigger issue here is, that a program should notice, if a theme has an issue a cannot represent everything it wants to, and alert the user. I reported that here. Let's see, if that gets something fixed.

Re: Kontact/Kaddressbook functionality reduced by faulty theme (?)

Reply #4
I solved it by installing breeze and qt5ct. So it seems to me, that it's a theme issue. But I don't know, what exactly the theme is doing wrong (if at all, because it's a gtk theme), so I cannot report that. On the other hand: Which (icon-)theme did kaddressbook use, when I did not explicitly install a qt theme before? That theme might be the issue. I don't  know how I can figure that out, though, so I'm resting this case.

The bigger issue here is, that a program should notice, if a theme has an issue a cannot represent everything it wants to, and alert the user. I reported that here. Let's see, if that gets something fixed.
it's simply the nature of themeing a qt program with a gtk theme.  themes are not universal outside of their wheelhouse.  gtk themes wotk with gtk, qt themes work with qt.  if you read the link gripped sent you that explains it pretty well.  I stick with gtk programs mostly except i like qbittorrent quite a lot.  i think it's the best program for what it does.  When i use it i accept the limitations that it might not show my theme correctly.  I've never had it just not work though because of a theme issue.  QT is really nice but gparted is the best disk tool for my uses.  I'll never give it up until it stops being developed and is no longer available.  It uses gtk.  If i ran lxqt i would have to use several different tools to adjust the theme correctly for gtk and qt.

Please read the attached pdfs that the kind folks who develop lxqt provide by default for new users of their artix desktop spin that i attached below


now if you wanted to ditch qt you could use maybe thunderbird or the spin off from it that's better whose name seems to escape me right this moment.  @gripped likely knows what i'm thinking of...  Betterbird?  I think that's it.  here's a list of 36 alternative choices

https://alternativeto.net/software/mozilla-thunderbird/?platform=linux&p=2

alterantives to kontact
https://alternativeto.net/software/kontact/

take note of which ones ate qt and which are gtk.

Cat Herders of Linux

Re: Kontact/Kaddressbook functionality reduced by faulty theme (?)

Reply #5
Glad you found a solution.

I looked at your second issue created. I sort of agree with you both! Some devs will care more, or less, than others whether their programs look nice, or even work, on other tool-kits with the default desktop settings.

I pretty much know that as a user steps have to be taken to make GTK programs look less disgusting on QT and vice versa.
Used to be harder than it is now from what I remember.
I've never actually noticed a loss of functionality, but accept your experiance. I also only use GTK aps where there is no QT alternative, or the alternative simply isn't good enough.