How can I disable CSD (client side decorations)?

[Klaus Zeitler]

Hello,
seems that Xfce 4.12, that comes with openSUSE 42.1, has now enabled CSD.
Some applications, e.g. eog, evince, gedit etc. pop up without the
usual frames and header bar. I guess this is due to GTK 3 CSD.
I would have thought, that there should be a (fairly) simple way
to turn CSD off, but I couldn't find anything (neither in GTK docu nor
for Xfce). I hope I just missed it. The only thing I found (but haven't
tried yet) is gtk3-nocsd. This looks like quite desperate measures.
Is there a way to turn CSD feature off in Xfce or in GTK config?

Klaus

[Klaus Zeitler]

What a quick answer :-). Though, the way you describe it and considering
your warnings about side effects, I think it's better, if I leave it
alone.
Steve>
Steve> More seriously now. I think someone has a LD_PRELOAD
Steve> library lying somewhere on the Internet that forces GTK+3
Steve> to not draw a header bar and to use a normal decoration
Steve> instead. But I have no idea where it is and how stable it
Steve> is.

I think you talk about gtk3-nocsd: https://github.com/PCMan/gtk3-nocsd

I wonder, if the GTK developers plan on adding something, that will
allow the user to turn on/off CSD. If not, then maybe the simplest
solution is just to replace eog, evince etc. with similar applications.

Thanks

Klaus

[Liviu Andronic]

Post by Klaus Zeitler
I think you talk about gtk3-nocsd: https://github.com/PCMan/gtk3-nocsd

Indeed. Thanks for finding it for me.

Post by Klaus Zeitler
I wonder, if the GTK developers plan on adding something, that will
allow the user to turn on/off CSD.

I understand why they don't. They do rely a lot on the headerbars now, and
their apps do look slightly sub-optimal with a headerbar *and* an external
decoration. I have my personal reasons to prefer SSD too, but I understand
why they don't leave us the choice.

Post by Klaus Zeitler
If not, then maybe the simplest
solution is just to replace eog, evince etc. with similar applications.

http://segfault.linuxmint.com/2016/02/the-first-two-x-apps-are-ready/

Nice pointer, thanks. I'm wondering why not put more effort in
supporting Xfce apps, like Mousepad or Parole, since they're basically
following the same philosophy... Among other things, they're
essentially desktop- and distro-agnostic and follow much of the
traditional Gnome (pre-3.0) layout. This way it feels like effort
duplication. For PDF there is ePDFView, but that one needs a lot of
love. For images, there is Mirage and Ristretto, etc.

Liviu

Post by Klaus Zeitler
Thanks
Klaus
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[Olivier Fourdan]

Quite frankly, it's a case of don't do that.

CSD is not just about decorations, it's an entire UI design. If you
don't want apps using CSD, simply use other apps.

xfce 4.12 has all the required bits to properly support CSD in gtk+
and crippling the WM to avoid CSD is just plain wrong.

Cheers,
Olivier

Post by Liviu Andronic

Post by Klaus Zeitler
I think you talk about gtk3-nocsd: https://github.com/PCMan/gtk3-nocsd

Indeed. Thanks for finding it for me.

Post by Klaus Zeitler
I wonder, if the GTK developers plan on adding something, that will
allow the user to turn on/off CSD.

I understand why they don't. They do rely a lot on the headerbars now, and
their apps do look slightly sub-optimal with a headerbar *and* an external
decoration. I have my personal reasons to prefer SSD too, but I understand
why they don't leave us the choice.

Post by Klaus Zeitler
If not, then maybe the simplest
solution is just to replace eog, evince etc. with similar applications.

http://segfault.linuxmint.com/2016/02/the-first-two-x-apps-are-ready/

Nice pointer, thanks. I'm wondering why not put more effort in
supporting Xfce apps, like Mousepad or Parole, since they're basically
following the same philosophy... Among other things, they're
essentially desktop- and distro-agnostic and follow much of the
traditional Gnome (pre-3.0) layout. This way it feels like effort
duplication. For PDF there is ePDFView, but that one needs a lot of
love. For images, there is Mirage and Ristretto, etc.
Liviu

Post by Klaus Zeitler
Thanks
Klaus
--
-------------------------------
| Klaus Zeitler |
-------------------------------
---
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Steve Dodier-Lazaro
Xfce Design SIG / Security SIG
Free Software Developer
OpenPGP : 1B6B1670
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http://www.xfce.org

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[Klaus Zeitler]

Hello,
Olivier>
Olivier> Quite frankly, it's a case of don't do that.
Olivier> CSD is not just about decorations, it's an entire UI
Olivier> design. If you don't want apps using CSD, simply use other
Olivier> apps.
Olivier> xfce 4.12 has all the required bits to properly support CSD
Olivier> in gtk+ and crippling the WM to avoid CSD is just plain
Olivier> wrong.

I tried to see for a while, if I might get used to this new style, but
still can't see, what it's good for. I don't like neither the odd
transparent frame nor the overlay scrollbar. I have yet to see an
application where it makes sense (to me) to overwrite the window
decorations set via my WM. So finally I've decided to ditch CSD
style.
Getting rid of the overlay scrollbar was easy:
export GTK_OVERLAY_SCROLLING=0
And thanks to gtk3-nocsd I could also easily remove those odd
transparent frames. The only 2 applications that bothered me
currently were eog and evince. I've now defined these 2 aliases:
alias eog="gtk3-nocsd eog"
alias evince="gtk3-nocsd evince"
This way I don't cripple the WM :-), instead I have to deliberately
turn off CSD for each application where I dislike it (fortunately
I don't need many).

Maybe in the long run it's best to use other applications instead,
e.g. feh instead of eog and okular instead of evince.

Klaus