Colorizer GNOME Extension

This GNOME Shell extension makes sure the system accent color is automatically applied to the adw-gtk theme and thus also to “older” GTK apps. By “old” I don’t mean abandoned or obsolete programs, just apps that are built on the GNOME libraries GTK3 or GTK4 but whose developers haven’t adopted Libadwaita yet. That affects quite a few programs, because a full switch to Libadwaita takes time – and developer resources. The Colorizer extension steps in here and provides visual coherence, even if the app’s technical foundation isn’t up to date yet.

The prerequisite is that the Adwaita GTK3 theme, or adw-gtk3 for short, is installed on your system. Only then can the extension do its job and apply the design changes correctly. The following command takes care of that on Arch Linux and derivatives like Manjaro, where it’s already in the “official” repositories. Installation on other distributions like Fedora or Debian is described on the project’s GitHub page (for Debian you’d have to add an external repository). The documentation helps here and makes the setup manageable even for less experienced Linux users.

$ <strong>sudo pacman -S adw-gtk-theme</strong>

Installing the extension

The easiest way to install the extension is through the GNOME Extensions website: adw-gtk3 Colorizer on GNOME Extensions. You can enable the extension there with a single click, provided the GNOME integration for your browser is set up. The extension is still quite young and gets updated fairly often. New features and bug fixes land on GitHub at short intervals. If you don’t want to wait until the latest release trickles through the publishing process on the GNOME Extensions website, you can also install the extension by hand.

For that, you need to clone the repository and run the install script. The last step can also be done through GNOME’s extension manager. In general, keep in mind that you may have to log out of GNOME and back in after running the script. Alternatively, restarting the GNOME Shell is enough in some cases, for example with Alt + F2 » R » Enter (X11 only, not on Wayland). That loads the new extension and makes its effect visible.

$ <strong>git clone https://github.com/NiffirgkcaJ/adw-gtk3-colorizer.git</strong>
$ <strong>cd adw-gtk3-colorizer</strong>
$ <strong>./install.sh</strong>
$ <strong>gnome-extensions enable adw-gtk3-colorizer@NiffirgkcaJ.github.com</strong>

Using the extension

Once the extension is installed and enabled, it automatically picks up the accent color set in the GNOME settings and applies it to the adw-gtk3 theme. This happens in the background, without you having to do anything. Changes to the accent color should take effect immediately, although in some cases you may need to restart the affected GTK3 apps. That mainly applies to programs that don’t reload their UI dynamically. Once they’re adjusted, though, the apps keep the new look for good.

Uninstalling the extension

You can uninstall the extension either through the GNOME Extensions app or from the command line. The latter is especially handy if you like working with scripts or manage several systems quickly. Either way gets you there reliably:

$ <strong>gnome-extensions disable adw-gtk3-colorizer@NiffirgkcaJ.github.com</strong>
$ <strong>gnome-extensions uninstall adw-gtk3-colorizer@NiffirgkcaJ.github.com</strong>

If you chose the manual installation, you can remove the extension by deleting its folder. This is a good idea especially if the extension doesn’t show up in the graphical tools or you prefer a clean removal:

$ <strong>rm -rf ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/adw-gtk3-colorizer@NiffirgkcaJ.github.com</strong>

Flatpak compatibility

GTK3 apps installed as Flatpaks don’t have access to the configuration directory ~/.config/gtk-3.0/ by default, so you have to grant that access for the extension to work with these apps too. Without it, the Flatpaks simply can’t read the theme adjustments. This works with the following command, which applies globally to all Flatpak programs:

$ <strong>sudo flatpak override --filesystem=xdg-config/gtk-3.0</strong>

This makes sure all Flatpak apps can access the directory where the extension edits the CSS file. The Colorizer then works there as well – no matter whether you use Firefox, GIMP or other GTK apps via Flatpak. You can also limit the change to individual apps by giving the name of the program instead of using a global override.

So the adw-gtk3 Colorizer GNOME Extension is a practical fix for a problem many GNOME users like to complain about online: the lack of visual consistency between GTK4 and GTK3 apps. It was no different back in the GTK2 days. Installation is quick, and the extension makes GTK3 apps look better for as long as they aren’t ported to the current version of the GTK toolkit, which will probably take forever. So if you want a homogeneous, modern desktop experience on GNOME, you’ll hardly get around this small but effective extension.

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Eloquent is a standalone GNOME app that makes LanguageTool’s spell and grammar checking available locally. Unlike many LanguageTool integrations, it’s not a plugin but a separate program. You open Eloquent, paste in your text, for example from a Markdown editor like Apostrophe or a CMS like WordPress, and get feedback on spelling, grammar, and style. That makes the app a particularly good fit for users who like plain-text-based workflows.

Privacy Through Offline Use

A key point is that everything is processed completely offline. Eloquent doesn’t talk to any external servers, neither LanguageTool’s nor anyone else’s. The check runs locally on your machine, which better protects sensitive content and makes the program suitable for professional use as well. Anyone who wanted to use LanguageTool without an online connection used to have to run their own server. I described that approach in an earlier post (in German). With Eloquent, that extra effort is gone.

Installing Eloquent from Flathub

Eloquent is available as a Flatpak on Flathub, which makes installation much easier on all common distributions. If Flatpak and Flathub are already set up, this command is all you need. Or, if your browser is configured for it, just click the install button on the Flathub page.

$ <strong>flatpak install flathub re.sonny.Eloquent</strong>

After that, you can start the app from the application menu or from the terminal:

$ <strong>flatpak run re.sonny.Eloquent</strong>

If Flatpak isn’t set up yet, Flathub has a guide for pretty much all common distributions. One small note: since Eloquent ships its own dictionaries, the app takes up just under 750 MB of drive space together with all the data it needs.

How to Work with Eloquent

Using it is straightforward: paste in your text and check the suggestions. You can copy any paragraphs, articles, or complete texts into the input field. Eloquent marks potential mistakes and stylistic issues, much like the web version of LanguageTool. I did notice one small problem: with longer texts, the correction hints sometimes disappear. The bug is known and documented, so a fix should follow in future versions.

Integration with Firefox or LibreOffice

The LanguageTool server started by Eloquent can also be used in other programs. If you use the LanguageTool browser add-on, for example in Firefox or Chrome, you can enable the Local server (localhost) mode [CHECK: exact English label] in its settings. Spell checking on web pages then also runs locally, without a connection to the internet. You can configure LanguageTool in LibreOffice in a similar way.

By default, Eloquent starts the LanguageTool server automatically when you log in. That gives you quick access, but it comes with some memory use. The system monitor shows that the Java backend takes up around 250 MB of RAM. CPU load is usually unremarkable. If you only want to use LanguageTool when you need it, you can of course remove Eloquent from autostart, for example with GNOME Tweaks or a comparable tool for your desktop environment.

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For example, I mount several Nextcloud instances into my system via WebDAV, which is actually wonderfully easy with GVfs and GNOME’s Online Accounts. Working with files on servers via SSH is just as convenient this way. But as soon as an app like Firefox doesn’t use the GNOME file picker, I lose my bookmarks and direct access to remote locations.

Fortunately, a small tweak in Firefox fixes this. To make Firefox use GNOME’s native file dialog, you only need two simple steps, which are easy to undo if necessary. The configuration works across distributions on all common Linux distros.

Enabling the GNOME file picker in Firefox

First, make sure the xdg-desktop-portal-gnome package is installed on your system. On Debian- or Ubuntu-based distributions, or on Arch Linux, which I prefer, you can do that with:

### Ubuntu, Debian und Co.
$ <strong>sudo apt install xdg-desktop-portal-gnome</strong>

### Arch Linux, Manjaro und Co.
$ <strong>sudo pacman -S xdg-desktop-portal-gnome</strong>

For Fedora, openSUSE and other distributions, the package is also available in the respective repositories. As a rule, though, it should already be part of the default installation if you installed GNOME right when setting up the system or if you use one of the usual meta packages like gnome-desktop.

Then start Firefox from your desktop environment’s app menu and enter about:config in the browser’s address bar to open the advanced configuration. There, search for the following key:

widget.use-xdg-desktop-portal.file-picker

By default, the value is set to 2, which means Firefox uses its own file dialog, and that one is simply not on par with the GNOME file picker. Change it to 1 to enable the GNOME file picker via the XDG desktop portal.

Firefox now integrates WebDAV and more.

After a restart of Firefox at the latest, the familiar GNOME file dialog opens, complete with the bookmarks you created in the Nautilus file manager and full GVfs integration. That lets you access your Nextcloud drives directly, without taking awkward detours. This small change makes Firefox integrate much better into the GNOME desktop environment, and it makes working with remote locations a lot more comfortable.

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Now the new utility app Add Water makes installing and automatically updating the GNOME theme for Firefox much easier. If you want, you can even switch the theme off again with a single click. If you want Firefox to fit visually into the GNOME design ecosystem, this is a practical solution. The theme doesn’t just give Firefox a modern look, it also brings a few useful options to improve your browsing experience:

• Compatibility with the Flatpak, Snap, Librewolf, and Floorp variants of Firefox (Flatpak still seems to be a bit buggy at the moment, though)
• Support for light and dark mode
• Automatically hiding the tab bar when only one tab is open
• OLED-friendly deep black instead of gray
• Adjusting the position of the tab bar as well as the window controls and their alignment
• Hiding unnecessary indicators for microphone, webcam, and screen sharing

What I find especially handy about Add Water is that the options you’d otherwise have to configure by hand can simply be changed with a mouse click. The changes only take effect after you restart Firefox, but at least you no longer have to wrestle with editing configuration files.

☕ Support Linux und Ich
Thanks for reading Linux und Ich. If you enjoy the blog and would like to support my work, you will find more information on the donation page.