Ten independent developers of GNOME graphics applications have published , which urged distributions to stop the practice of forcibly replacing GTK skins in third-party graphics applications. Currently, most distributions use their own icon sets and GTK theme modifications to create brand awareness, other than GNOME's default themes.
The statement states that this practice often leads to a violation of the normal display of third-party programs and to a change in their perception among users. For example, changing the GTK stylesheets can break the correct display of the interface and even make it impossible to work with it (for example, due to text being displayed in a color close to the background). In addition, changing themes causes the appearance of the application shown in the screenshots in the Application Install Center, as well as the images of interface elements in the documentation, to no longer correspond to the actual appearance of the application after it is installed.
In turn, the replacement of pictograms can distort the meaning of the signs originally laid down by the author, and lead to the fact that the actions associated with pictograms will be perceived by the user in a distorted light. The authors of the letter also pointed out the inadmissibility of replacing icons for launching applications, since such icons identify the application, and the replacement reduces recognition and does not allow the developer to control his brand.
Separately, it is clarified that the authors of the initiative do not oppose the ability of users to change the design to their liking, but do not agree with the practice of replacing themes in distributions, which leads to a violation of the normal display of programs that look correct when using the regular GTK and GNOME themes. The developers who signed the open letter insist that applications should look the way they were conceived, designed and tested by the authors, and not as they were distorted by the creators of distributions. Representatives of the GNOME Foundation pointed out in a comment that this is not the official position of GNOME, but the personal opinion of individual application developers.
Source: opennet.ru