Darkbar

Darkbar 1.0.1 Released

Darkbar 1.0.1 improves Flatpak support and is available to download on elementary AppCenter and Flathub.

Sean Davis

• 2 min read

Darkbar is a tool for pixel perfectionists and dark mode users. It allows you to control whether an application uses dark or light styles for the window controls. It supports X11 and XWayland windows using traditional titlebars (e.g. no client side decorations) like you might find with The GIMP or Electron-based applications.

Light and Dark examples for GNOME and elementary.

What's New?

Darkbar 1.0.0 and 1.0.1 improve support for Flatpak installations and extend support to GNOME and other desktop environments supporting the FreeDesktop.org dark style preference. And for the first time, Darkbar is available on Flathub!

New Features

  • Support for the FreeDesktop.org dark style preference
  • Support for user-defined window controls (minimize, maximize, close) layout (#6)
  • Support for running under Wayland (only for Xwayland windows) (#12)
  • Added default style preference for new identified windows (#3)

Bug Fixes

  • Ignore windows that cannot be identified or lack and XID
  • Reload the window list if invalid windows are encountered

Ignored Applications

Windows that cannot be controlled by Darkbar.

  • Chrome/Edge PWA and web app windows (always drawn by the app)
  • elementary OS apps (always uses CSD)
  • Zoom join windows (join?, always unique)

Flatpak Support

  • Improved app identification and icon support (#8)
  • Switch to using sandboxed xprop, no more spawning apps outside of the sandbox
  • X11 is now enforced, guaranteeing Xwayland windows can be correctly detected
  • Reduced requested permissions

Updated Translations

Chinese, Chinese (China), Dutch, French, Italian, Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Malay, Malay (Arabic), Polish, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish

Desktop Environment Support

To be able to use Darkbar, your desktop environment’s window manager needs to support dark style variants. Darkbar has been tested and proven to work with Gala (as found in the Pantheon desktop environment on elementary OS) and Mutter (GNOME’s window manager). It does not work with Xfwm, the Xfce window manager, at this time.

How to Get Darkbar

Darkbar is packaged as a Flatpak on the elementary OS AppCenter and on Flathub. If you are averse to Flatpaks (I’m sure you have your reasons), you can also find the building and installation instructions on GitHub.

Get it on AppCenter Download on Flathub

I hope you enjoy using Darkbar and that it helps make your desktop experience more consistent. If you do, consider sending me a tip on AppCenter or on GitHub Sponsors!