Overview

Customization in Soplos focuses on delivering a cohesive look while keeping performance options available. Plasma (Tyson) provides deep visual features; XFCE (Tyron) focuses on lightweight flexibility; GNOME (Boro) offers a polished, modern workflow. This page documents common customization tasks and best practices shared across all variants.

Global Themes

Global themes change colors, window decorations, plasmoids/panel styles and sometimes icons. Use these tools:

  • Tyson (Plasma): System Settings → Global Theme / Appearance.
  • Tyron (XFCE): Settings Manager → Appearance and Window Manager.
  • Boro (GNOME): Settings → Appearance (or GNOME Tweaks for advanced themes).

Recommendations:

  • Use a single global theme for consistent colors across apps.
  • Prefer dark mode for low-light use; check contrast for dialog inputs.
  • Test performance after enabling heavy effects and disable if necessary.

Icons & Cursors

Icons affect system menus, file managers and application toolbars. Soplos ships with a consistent icon set, but you can switch or install new icon themes:

  • Install new icons: Place icon folders in /usr/share/icons (system) or ~/.icons (user).
  • Change icons: Tyson: System Settings → Icons. Tyron: Appearance → Icons. Boro: GNOME Tweaks → Appearance.
  • Cursors: Change cursor themes in the same dialogs; logout/login to fully apply in some environments.

Fonts & DPI

Fonts and scaling are important for readability, especially on HiDPI displays.

  • Adjust font size: Tyson: System Settings → Fonts. Tyron: Appearance → Fonts. Boro: GNOME Tweaks → Fonts.
  • Scaling / HiDPI: In Plasma use Display Configuration → Scale; in XFCE adjust DPI or use fractional scaling if supported.
  • Hinting & Anti-aliasing: Enable subpixel hinting and configure hinting levels for best sharpness.

Wallpapers & Lock Screen

Wallpapers can be set per-activity (Plasma) or per-desktop; lock screen settings are separate in both environments.

  • Tyson (Plasma): Wallpaper and Lock Screen configurable from System Settings; supports slideshow and per-activity wallpapers.
  • Tyron (XFCE): Desktop → Background for wallpapers; use Light Locker or xfce4-screensaver for lock screen settings.
  • Boro (GNOME): Settings → Appearance (Background). Lock screen uses the same background by default (blurred).
  • Best practice: Keep wallpapers in ~/Pictures/Wallpapers or /usr/share/backgrounds and reference them from the settings dialog to avoid broken links.

Panels, Docklike & Widgets

Soplos provides Docklike for XFCE; Plasma uses native widgets (plasmoids). Tips to configure panels and widgets:

  • Soplos Docklike (Tyron): Use Soplos Docklike to emulate a dock; configure via the app or XFCE Panel plugin.
  • Plasma panels (Tyson): Right-click the panel → Edit Panel to add widgets, system tray items and adjust alignment.
  • Boro (GNOME): Use Dash to Panel settings (right-click panel) to configure the taskbar. Use ArcMenu settings (right-click menu icon) to customize the app launcher.
  • Widgets/Plasmoids: Add date, system monitor or application launchers; keep only what you use to avoid clutter.
  • Save your layout: Plasma supports Activities; in XFCE export panel config or create a backup of ~/.config/xfce4.

Shortcuts & Workspaces

Keyboard shortcuts and virtual desktops boost productivity.

  • Configure shortcuts: Tyson: System Settings → Shortcuts. Tyron: Settings → Keyboard → Application Shortcuts. Boro: Settings → Keyboard → View and Customize Shortcuts.
  • Workspaces: Configure number of workspaces and switcher shortcuts; use activities (Plasma) or workspace switcher (XFCE).

Soplos Theme Manager

Note: Soplos Theme Manager is XFCE-only and intended for Tyron (XFCE). It does not apply full global themes for Plasma; on Tyson (Plasma) use System Settings → Global Theme or the native Plasma tools.

If you have Soplos Theme Manager installed on Tyron, key points:

  • Open Soplos Theme Manager from Soplos Welcome or the applications menu (Tyron).
  • Apply complete theme sets (wallpaper, icons, GTK theme) in a single action for XFCE.
  • If something does not apply correctly, revert the theme or log out/in to force components to reload.

Troubleshooting

Common issues and fixes:

  • If icons or cursors don't update, clear icon cache: sudo gtk-update-icon-cache /usr/share/icons/YOUR_THEME and relogin.
  • If fonts look blurry, adjust DPI or disable fractional scaling; restart session after changes.
  • Restore XFCE panel: backup config from ~/.config/xfce4/panel or reset if broken.
  • For Plasma visual glitches, try plasmashell --replace & and check compositor settings.
  • For GNOME (Boro) extensions issues, restart the shell (Alt+F2, type 'r', Enter) or disable extensions from the Extensions app.
Tip: Test theme changes on a local user first before applying system-wide, so you can easily revert without affecting other users.
Next: After customizing, visit Tyron guide, Tyson guide or Boro guide for desktop-specific tips and screenshots.