Monochrome KDE

ℹ️ About

A dark theme for the KDE Plasma desktop environment inspired by black and white photography.

💾 Install Instructions

At the time of writing there are no Linux distribution packages available. Install the complete theme manually using git clone or the provided install script. See instructions below. This method works on all Linux distributions.

Individual theme components can also be downloaded from KDE Store/OpenDesktop.org or using Plasma System Settings.

Name	Preview	KDE Store (tar.gz)
Global Theme (Plasma 6)	🖼️	💾
Global Theme (Plasma 5)	🖼️	💾
Plasma Theme	🖼️	💾
Plasma 6 Window Decorations	🖼️	💾
Plasma Window Decorations	🖼️	💾
Plasma Color Scheme	🖼️	💾
Kvantum Theme	🖼️	💾
Konsole Color Scheme	🖼️	💾
Yakuake Skin	🖼️	💾
SDDM Login Theme	🖼️	💾

Install Script

The installation script will automatically download the latest version from the repository and copy the required files to the default location $HOME.

Note 1: Script requires the wget command. Install it using system's package manager if not present.

Note 2: SDDM themes must be installed in the /usr/share/sddm/themes/ directory. Hence it must be manually installed using sudo command. Install script will not do this!

Install

$ bash install.sh --install

Uninstall

$ bash install.sh --uninstall

Options

Option	Description
-i,--install	Install theme in default location ($HOME).
-u,--uninstall	Uninstall theme.
-h,--help	Display help message including available options.

💡 Recommendations

For a better visual experience apply the following modifications and settings.

Application Style

Download and install the Kvantum theme engine.

Note: Until v1.1.0 is released, use the latest Git version of Kvantum theme engine for Plasma 6 compatibility.

Start Kvantum Manager > Change/Delete Theme > select theme Monochrome > Use this theme.

Window Decorations

Change the default window border size in System Settings > Colors & Themes > Window Decorations > select Tiny Window Borders from the drop-down list > Apply.

Icons

Download and install the Papirus icon theme.

Folder Icon Colour (optional)

The folder colour can be changed using papirus-folders.

$ papirus-folders -C grey

Desktop Effects

Enable Blur in System Settings > Window Management > Desktop Effetcs.

Login Screen (SDDM) - Only compatible with Plasma/Qt 5

Change the login screen theme in System Settings > Colors & Themes > Login Screen (SDDM) > select theme Monochrome > Apply.

Background

Chooce either a background image or the pre-defined solid colour; #1e1e20

Fonts (optional)

Change default font for SDDM in the /usr/share/sddm/themes/monochrome/theme.conf configuration file.

GTK2/3/4 Theme (optional)

Manually copy the included GTK2/3/4 theme from ./gtk directory to the user theme directory.

$ cp -r gtk/Monochrome/ ~/.local/share/themes/

Note

The GTK2/3/4 theme is pre-build of the official breeze-gtk theme with the Monochrome KDE colour scheme.

To manually build and install the theme make sure all build dependencies are met and perform the build process.

$ git clone https://github.com/KDE/breeze-gtk.git
$ cd breeze-gtk/src/
$ cmake ./
$ sh build_theme.sh -c Monochrome -t ~/.local/share/themes/Monochrome

Enable the new GTK theme in System Settings > Colors & Themes > Application Style > More Actions > Configure GNOME/GTK Application Style... > select Monochrome from the drop-down list > Apply.

Plymouth Boot Splash Screen (optional)

Download and install the Monochrome Plymouth theme.

❤️ Credits

Some graphical elements and artwork in this project is based on other popular themes for the KDE Plasma desktop.

• Breeze Plasma theme by KDE Visual Design Group
• Materia KDE Plasma theme by Papirus Development Team
• Arc KDE Plasma theme by Papirus Development Team
• Papirus icon theme by Papirus Development Team
• Darkine KDE SDDM theme by Rokin

Honorary Mention

Special credits go to Alexey Varfolomeev for his work on Materia KDE which this theme is based on.

📃 Licenses

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See the LICENSE file for more information. Graphical elements and artwork based on other projects are licensed under the following:

• Materia KDE: GPLv3
  • Aurorae Theme: GPLv3
  • Kvantum Theme: GPLv3
  • Plasma Desktop Theme: GPLv3
• Arc KDE: GPLv3
  • Kvantum Theme: GPLv3
  • Plasma Desktop Theme: CCPL:by-sa
  • Plasma Splash Screen: GPLv3
• Papirus Icon Theme: GPLv3
• Breeze: LGPL
• Darkine: GPLv3
  • SDDM Theme: CC-BY-SA

☑️ Todo

A list of features and/or components that will be added in the future.

• Global Theme (Plasma 6)
• Global Theme (Plasma 5)
• Plasma Theme
  • Create a solid theme version.
  • Add visual feedback in task manager for minimized applications.
• Plasma Splash Screen
  • Re-design due to issue with progress bar.
  • Replace busy widget spinner with a working progress bar.
• Plasma 6 Window Decorations
• Plasma Window Decorations
• Plasma Color Scheme
• Kvantum Theme
  • Create alternative theme with more transparency and blur.
• Konsole Color Scheme
  • Change colors to match theme better.
• Yakuake Skin
  • Add button for new tab.
• SDDM Login Theme
  • Change colours to match theme better.
  • Add custom font support.
  • Change font colour in all elements if possible.
  • Re-design for Plasma/Qt 6.
• Add GTK2/3 theme based on breeze-gtk.
• Plymouth Theme