Sway dark mode 😎

content/posts/2024/sway-dark-mode/index.md

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+---
+author: Major Hayden
+date: '2024-01-09'
+summary: |
+  Dark mode lovers rejoice! It's possible to get (most) applications to show up
+  in dark mode in the Sway window manager. 😎
+tags: 
+  - gnome
+  - firefox
+  - kde
+  - linux
+  - sway
+title: Dark mode in Sway
+coverAlt: Industrial area at night
+coverCaption: |
+  [mos design](https://unsplash.com/photos/a-dark-street-with-a-large-industrial-building-in-the-background-ZrY7oJFUP3Y)
+  via Unsplash
+---
+
+Ah, dark mode!
+I savor my dark terminals, window decorations, and desktop wallpapers.
+It's so much easier on my eyes on those long work days. 😎
+
+However, I think the author [Mary Oliver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Oliver) said it best:
+
+> Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness.
+> It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.
+
+In most window managers, such as GNOME or KDE, switching to dark mode involves a simple trip to the settings panels and clicking different themes.
+Sway doesn't offer us those types of comforts, but we can get dark mode there, too!
+
+![sunglasses-wiggle.gif](sunglasses-wiggle.gif)
+
+# GTK applications
+
+If you happen to have GNOME on your system alongside sway, go into **Settings**, then **Appearance** and select _Dark_.
+You can also get dark mode by applying a setting in `~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini`:
+
+```ini
+[Settings]
+gtk-application-prefer-dark-theme=1
+```
+
+Restart whichever application you were using and it should pick up the new configuration.
+
+Firefox, for example, ships with an automatic appearance setting that follows the OS.
+That should be reflected immediately upon restart.
+If not, go into Firefox's settings, and look for dark mode under the **Language and Appearance** section of the general settings.
+
+# QT applications
+
+Most of my applications are GTK-based, but I have one or two which use QT.
+Again, just like the GTK example, if you have KDE installed along side Sway, you can configure dark mode there easily.
+Just open the system settings and look for _Breeze Dark_ in the **Plasma Style** section.
+
+You don't have KDE?
+Don't worry!
+There are a couple of commands which should work:
+
+```shell
+# This should work for all QT/KDE apps
+# if you have the Breeze Dark theme installed.
+lookandfeeltool -platform offscreen \
+    --apply "org.kde.breezedark.desktop"
+
+# You can set the theme for GTK apps here as well
+# if you run into problems.
+dbus-send --session --dest=org.kde.GtkConfig \
+    --type=method_call /GtkConfig org.kde.GtkConfig.setGtkTheme \
+    "string:Breeze-dark-gtk"
+```
+
+# Alternate dark mode based on time
+
+Many window managers offer a method for adjusting dark and light modes based on the time of day.
+For example, some people love brighter interfaces during the day and darker ones at night.
+There's a great tool called [darkman](https://gitlab.com/WhyNotHugo/darkman) that makes this easier. 🤓
+
+The darkman service runs in the background and runs various commands to change dark mode settings for all kinds of window managers.
+It also speaks to dbus directly to set the configurations if needed.
+
+It also has a [directory full of user contributed scripts](https://gitlab.com/WhyNotHugo/darkman/-/tree/main/examples/dark-mode.d?ref_type=heads) to change dark and light modes for various environments.
+You might be able to pull some commands from these files to test which configurations might work best on your system.
+