Sigil on Manjaro linux, gnome, wayland always dark mode?

mikegb · 03-08-2025, 04:15 PM

Have I done something wrong? Installed Sigil 2.4.2 in new computer and it seems to be in dark mode always. "About" gives Qt as 6.8.2, if that makes a difference.

I was able to get a readable preview by setting preview_dark_in_dm=0 in pageedit's .ini

Any ideas?

Thanks
mike

KevinH · 03-08-2025, 04:43 PM

Something is broken or different with your system. Under both Manjaro KDE plasma 6 and Arch Linux Cinnamon, Sigil will happily switch from light to dark and dark to light with the Linux system settings.

Have you tried different Desktop themes?

Have you tried with X11 and not wayland? Wayland still has many issues with nvidia graphics cards.

mikegb · 03-08-2025, 05:02 PM

I have tried changing to X11 and still no joy. My new mini PC computer (Beelink SER9) has onboard Radeon RX Vega 8 graphics, which seems to have it's own problems with graphics under linux.

I'm old and pretty set in my ways, so I've almost always gone with plain gnome as installed.

KevinH · 03-08-2025, 05:08 PM

Try changing Linux desktop *themes* with Sigil open. You should see Sigil react. On Manjaro KDE plasma 6 under System Settings moving from Breeze light to Breeze Dark does the trick. Gnome must have something similar.

KevinH · 03-08-2025, 05:45 PM

And Sigil's Preview and PageEdit both have user settings to control whether they shift to dark view or not. Make sure you have enabled that in PageEdit Preferences and Sigil Preferences if you want that behaviour.

DiapDealer · 03-08-2025, 05:51 PM

Sigil on Gnome on my Arch Linux system changes with the system theme. I'm also using Sigil 2.4.2 with Qt6.8.2. That said, I'm pretty sure that Gnome has a prefer dark or prefer light setting (somewhere) that defaults to prefer dark. Sigil should honor that setting.

There's no need to go manually diddle the preview_dark_in_dm value in either PageEdit or Sigil's INI file. They both have a GUI preference setting to change that. Kevin covered that.

DiapDealer · 03-08-2025, 06:06 PM

Is your gnome desktop (and other apps) not using a dark theme as well? There is currently no mechanism in Sigil to defy the system light/dark theme

mikegb · 03-08-2025, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinH

And Sigil's Preview and PageEdit both have user settings to control whether they shift to dark view or not. Make sure you have enabled that in PageEdit Preferences and Sigil Preferences if you want that behaviour.

I have changed the Qt 6 style settings in the configuration tool from kvatum to breeze, and Sigil is now in a light mode and readable. Only the system title bar changes to dark when I select "dark style" in system settings. I'll leave it as is for now, since it seems to be working.

For reference (and later experiment), what settings control the shifting in PageEdit and Sigil?

Thank you very much for your replies!
mike

DiapDealer · 03-08-2025, 06:23 PM

I use the the GUI gnome-tweaks to make sure that under Styles (in the Appearance section), the Legacy App style is set to Gnome's Adawaita (default). If it's set to something else, Sigil doesn't always honor Gnome's light/dark switching. But that's mostly because I have multiple DEs installed on my Arch System. So when I switch to Gnome from something else, that Legacy App setting is often set to something different.

Hope something there helps.

mikegb · 03-08-2025, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Is your gnome desktop (and other apps) not using a dark theme as well? There is currently no mechanism in Sigil to defy the system light/dark theme

I changed the style to breeze (from kvatum) in the Qt6 config tool and now Sigil seems to be all light style.

Some apps (thunderbird and obsidian) do seem to switch completely. On Sigil and Chrome, only the system title bar when changing to dark style. I can work with that. I'll leave it as is.

I'd like to thank everyone for the quick replies!
mike

DiapDealer · 03-08-2025, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikegb

For reference (and later experiment), what settings control the shifting in PageEdit and Sigil?

It's not a complete dark theme switch, the setting in Sigil only affects Preview. It defaults to not trying to match the rest of Sigil's dark GUI settings. It's basically a browser so it defaults to using just the ebook's css. If you check the "Make Preview simulate a dark appearance in dark mode" checkbox (Preferences, Appearance, Preview tab), then it injects the dark background css.

PageEdit's setting is in a similar location in Preferences, just different wording.

I forgot about Kvantum. I used to use it to style Qt apps (along with qt(5|6)ct), but mostly with Qt5. I found that it was actually getting in the way of newer versions of Qt6's ability to match system styles on it's own. So I got rid of it (and it's environment variables). My Qt apps look better than they did with it. *shrug*

03-08-2025, 04:15 PM	#1
mikegb Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2025 Device: Kindle (various), Kobo, various software readers	Sigil on Manjaro linux, gnome, wayland always dark mode? Have I done something wrong? Installed Sigil 2.4.2 in new computer and it seems to be in dark mode always. "About" gives Qt as 6.8.2, if that makes a difference. I was able to get a readable preview by setting preview_dark_in_dm=0 in pageedit's .ini Any ideas? Thanks mike

03-08-2025, 04:43 PM	#2
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 8,747 Karma: 5706256 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	Something is broken or different with your system. Under both Manjaro KDE plasma 6 and Arch Linux Cinnamon, Sigil will happily switch from light to dark and dark to light with the Linux system settings. Have you tried different Desktop themes? Have you tried with X11 and not wayland? Wayland still has many issues with nvidia graphics cards. Last edited by KevinH; 03-08-2025 at 04:47 PM.

03-08-2025, 05:08 PM	#4
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 8,747 Karma: 5706256 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	Try changing Linux desktop themes with Sigil open. You should see Sigil react. On Manjaro KDE plasma 6 under System Settings moving from Breeze light to Breeze Dark does the trick. Gnome must have something similar. Last edited by KevinH; 03-08-2025 at 05:11 PM.

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03-08-2025, 05:02 PM	#3
mikegb Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2025 Device: Kindle (various), Kobo, various software readers	I have tried changing to X11 and still no joy. My new mini PC computer (Beelink SER9) has onboard Radeon RX Vega 8 graphics, which seems to have it's own problems with graphics under linux. I'm old and pretty set in my ways, so I've almost always gone with plain gnome as installed.

03-08-2025, 05:45 PM	#5
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 8,747 Karma: 5706256 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	And Sigil's Preview and PageEdit both have user settings to control whether they shift to dark view or not. Make sure you have enabled that in PageEdit Preferences and Sigil Preferences if you want that behaviour.

03-08-2025, 05:51 PM	#6
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,552 Karma: 204127028 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	Sigil on Gnome on my Arch Linux system changes with the system theme. I'm also using Sigil 2.4.2 with Qt6.8.2. That said, I'm pretty sure that Gnome has a prefer dark or prefer light setting (somewhere) that defaults to prefer dark. Sigil should honor that setting. There's no need to go manually diddle the preview_dark_in_dm value in either PageEdit or Sigil's INI file. They both have a GUI preference setting to change that. Kevin covered that.

03-08-2025, 06:06 PM	#7
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,552 Karma: 204127028 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	Is your gnome desktop (and other apps) not using a dark theme as well? There is currently no mechanism in Sigil to defy the system light/dark theme

03-08-2025, 06:23 PM	#9
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,552 Karma: 204127028 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	I use the the GUI gnome-tweaks to make sure that under Styles (in the Appearance section), the Legacy App style is set to Gnome's Adawaita (default). If it's set to something else, Sigil doesn't always honor Gnome's light/dark switching. But that's mostly because I have multiple DEs installed on my Arch System. So when I switch to Gnome from something else, that Legacy App setting is often set to something different. Hope something there helps.

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