Feature Request: Arc-Lighter

[mcnesium]

First of all thank you very much for your work on this theme. A colleague of mine after he asked me what OS I run (Manjaro) stated: "it is open-source but it does not look like it is open source". I am sure he meant that this is a very well-looking theme, which I agree with.

Nonetheless, I do have a suggestion to make. There are three variants of the theme now.

There is a dark one:

and a darker one:

Personally I would switch the name of these two, but that is not my intent here. There is also a light one:

But what is missing, is an even lighter one, a one that is totally light everywhere, like this:

Don't take me at my word here on the colors, I just messed a bit with the sliders in Gimp. But it's clear to make the point, that I would even like the header bar and everything be all light.

With having that, it would be easy to mimic something like the macOS dark mode toggle functionality in all its beauty. What about it? Is it very much work to implement yet another variant?

[fossfreedom]

In terms of "is it much work" - there would be a bit of Makefile work to be changed as well as fiddling with the files in this area https://github.com/NicoHood/arc-theme/tree/master/common/gtk-3.0/3.20/sass

So probably inventing a "gtk-lighter.scss" and a "lighter" category.

Then using that info in the colors.scss to ensure any remaining dark elements are turned light.

The gtk2 area will need to be tweaked as well https://github.com/NicoHood/arc-theme/tree/master/common/gtk-2.0

Its an interesting idea - not something that I have the time to investigate fully or implement. But if you or anyone else is then please have a go (as long as @NicoHood you are also content with this approach?)

[NicoHood]

Puh, I never used the light theme. I am wondering why it contains dark elements, maybe it is a bug? I have no problem with adding another variant, as long as it is not much of an extra work. Maybe more feedback from the other users would be helpful. Otherwise I suggest making the current light theme more 'lighter' on elements that you find too dark.

We also wanted to change the names of dark and darker. But nobody ever wanted to do the change. But from the name it would make more sense.

[natanfelles]

My user feedback:

For me, "Arc Light" does not exists. It is just Arc, Arc Dark and Arc Darker.

Thanks for maintain this awesome theme!

---

Considering Arc as "Arc Light":

I never used the Light variant. I prefer the Dark.

I like the current Light theme and think that the creation of a Lighter variant could makes sense since the Darker exists.

But, about the names: Currently, the Darker is predominant Light with Dark details. The Light have dark details on just the file managers sidebar, I think. So, I think that a Light version could be totally light, as Dark is totally dark. And the current Light to be renamed to Lighter.

I think I'll never use a "Lighter" or "Light" version for much time.

[NicoHood]

Oh, I remember now. The idea was:

Arc-Darker -> Arc (rename)
Arc-Dark -> Arc-Dark
Arc-Light -> Arc-Light

I also dont think much people use the light version. As I said, we could 'fix' any element that is currently too dark.

[mcnesium]

👋 light theme user here. As a former OSX user I have been using heavily the Invert colors feature at night or in dark environments. On my Gnome desktop I use xrandr-invert-colors for that. A light top bar in the light theme would be awesome, because in inverted mode it now turns white, which is kind of distracting.

Recently Apple came up with Dark Mode which is funny because switching between different UI themes is a feature on any Linux desktop and even Windows forever, but Apple gave it a name and a use case (again).

A decent advantage of having a dark and a light theme over just inverting the colors is that icons and images keep looking as intended. So with a true dark and a true light theme we could bring the Dark Mode feature to the Linux desktop.

[NicoHood]

I suggest we simply fix the missing parts. Could you please make a list of the elements that are currently not light and maybe open a PR with a proper fix?

[andersjohansson]

I also use the light theme (but actually sometimes switch to the dark for "night mode"). I think I would appreciate the even lighter theme (good suggestions already, @mcnesium!), but I am not sure that everyone would want to abandon the current light theme. If we are to have the choice between three variants, a totally light, a totally dark, and a "mixed" theme, I personally would prefer the current light ("Arc") before the current Arc-darker as the "mixed" theme, as I think the contrast between header bar and document area is too big in Arc-darker, and that the contrast with the dark of only the sidebar provides a quite pleasurable dynamic to the theme. But of course I guess this is very much up to personal preference... Would there be some way to collect more input from users? Some survey? Too much work I guess.

Anyway, I think it is a good idea to focus on just three variants, and keeping the naming in a logical order like: Arc-dark, Arc, Arc-light. Or maybe even: Arc-dark, Arc-mixed, Arc-light. But perhaps at least one of them should be named Arc? I wonder though whether the current Arc-darker is used by so many people (again, maybe only reflecting my dislike for it), and whether that should then be the "default" future "Arc" (no suffix) theme... In that case maybe having a suffix (-mixed, or something similar) for all of them would avoid prioritizing any of them.

Just some thoughts for the discussion, and anyway, Arc has made my linux desktop much more beautiful for several years already!

[mcnesium]

Could you please make a list of the elements that are currently not light

For now I can only find the three items that are also shown in the screenshots:

• Top Bar
• Sidebar in Files
• Dash/Dock

There are also some apps like eog, Totem, Boxes, that won't turn light, but that's another story

[mcnesium]

I found another item to be "enlightened":

Maybe those notifications should rather be colored in the blue activity color. What about that?

[mcnesium]

looks like any tooltip is affected. Seen in Files and in Firefox, here on todays XKCD:

[skyblue002]

I'd like to second @mcnesium 's request. I'd love a lighter theme. I only ever use the light theme. I actually wondered why there wasn't already a lighter version as shown in @mcnesium 's picture. The dark accenting in the current light theme is a bit too dark for my taste (the contrast between light and dark elements is a bit intense). I think the lighter version pictured would be excellent as a day theme, while the dark themes are great for at night (or if you're programming).

I wonder how someone would find out how many people use each theme? On my system, they all came bundled together, yet I only use the light one. No one would know that from seeing the fact that I downloaded them all at once. It could be that the light theme is actually quite popular. -- Speaking personally, it's my favorite.

I'd also like to say that I agree with @andersjohansson about not abandoning the current light theme. I think it would be nice to see an addition, not a replacement.

Thank you for creating them! They're really enjoyable to use. :)

[jnsh]

I have added Arc-Lighter variant to the fork I'm maintaining here: https://github.com/jnsh/arc-theme

The variant is still somewhat work in progress, so there could still be spots that need some tweaking, and I might still adjust the overall style slightly. It should be fine for daily use nevertheless.

I do appreciate all feedback and bug reports if anyone gives it a try.