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Please do theme your distro
This article is mainly written as a complaint against a number of GNOME application developers, who had decided to complain against distro maintainers that install non-standard themes in their distributions. One such notable example is https://stopthemingmy.app/, but there exist more such movements out there. In short, these devs want distro maintainers to always ship the GNOME desktop in its default theme.
Now this might not sounds like a lot. Admittedly it's not. It's one of those things where I just think someone is straight up wrong, and trying to push their wrong deeper into the world.
The argument
GNOME devs are currently expressing a desire to remove theming support from the GNOME desktop, which arguably already is half-removed. As it currently stands, using themes (better known as GTK stylesheets) already requires installing some tools just to access the feature. But it's there, and can be used if desired. Some linux distributions, like Ubuntu, by default ship with a custom theme.
However, GNOME devs argue that custom themes break their applications. Well, some of them do anyway, largely depending on the theme even. Yet it's enough to set some over the edge and complain about it. Quoting from the before-mentioned webpage, "GTK Stylesheets can make applications look broken, and even unusable." They continue to argue even about icon themes as well, noting that "Icon Themes can change icon metaphors" and "Changing an app's icon denies the developer the possibility to control their brand."
In a way, what they argue for is complete control of the visual representation of their applications. Including icons and all.
What I think they got right
While there's a lot wrong with their arguments, let's first focus on what I do agree with; a dev needs a certain amount of guarantee that their app is going to at least look properly and functional in the system where it's distributed on. That means certain visual components should have a predictable look. Icons should be what you predict them to be.
There's also something to be said about their argument regarding programs like Blender, Atom and Telegram.
We are tired of having to do extra work for setups we never intended to support, just to have that used against us when people tell us the breakage from theming is “not that bad”. You are not doing this to Blender, Atom, Telegram, or other third party apps. Just because our apps use GTK that does not mean we’re ok with them being changed from under us.
It is indeed unjust if the platform tools you use leave you at a particular disadvantage, in contrast to those not even using platform-specific tools. However, wanting the design-freedom of an electron app is an entirely different topic.
Where they dropped the ball
What I do not agree with however, is their demand for total control. While the argument is aimed at distro maintainers, what I wonder is how much that even would do; in the end, users most often will do a little theming of their own if it suits them. And icon theme here, a little gtk stylesheet there, are not difficult to install. Which leads me to my first counter argument:
If your application relies so heavily on a particular look, why use platform tools like GTK?
GTK (formerly the GIMP ToolKit) is a toolkit made for designing graphical applications. It provides you with standardized controls and widgets, that adhere to the system theme coloring and other styling properties. That's the job of the toolkit; to provide a standard-compliant set of tools for you. However, that also binds you to such standards and the limitations they have. If you want your application to fit in with GNOME, you use GTK. If you want you application to live its own life, make an electron app.
This is also why such mentioned apps like Telegram and Atom have an "edge". These are basically web applications, styled by their own CSS stylesheet, ignoring the desktop theming completely. This isn't because GTK devs or distro maintainers are purposely making things difficult, it's the inate difference between GTK and electron. Speaking of electron and CSS:
Your application won't break if you set your style classes correctly.
Yes, the things that so often break are in fact custom controls, made with custom CSS styling that does not adhere to the system styling. To complain that a different theme breaks them is more an admittance of shoddy programming. Such custom controls are often added "to set the application apart from others" which in and by itself isn't a bad thing to do, but it's more often done for the visual "wow factor", rather than functional ingenuity. Which also brings me to:
Your application is a tool, not a brand.
Computer programs have a fundamental purpose on a computer. It's to make the computer do thing. The purpose of a program should be to perform a particular task, to help the user do something. Billboards were made to promote brands. Besides, I'm a firm believer that a good program will promote itself. People will always come back to an application that does exactly what they want, as easy as possible.
Adding to that, I would argue it's not the right of the developer to tell a user (or distro maintainer for that matter) how to use their system. If they want the authentic Hot Dog Stand experience, that's their prerogative. The user controls their system, and distro maintainers control their distro. This brings me to my next point:
Distro maintainers have the right to make their distro anything they want.
After all, the distro maintainers already have a fairly involved job. Theirs is to compile a large sum of software in order to create a linux distribution, a system suitable for daily use with all the tools people would want. It's not far-fetched to consider that it is therefore also the duty of the maintainers to cater to the presentation of their distro, not merely to promote their image, but to provide a pleasant, convenient and consistent desktop experience for users. After all, a distro that looks like a cluttered mess is not very nice to use.
Regarding convenience and a consistent desktop, let's also consider another particular group of users: those that require accessibility tools. No doubt the bane of these devs, because they need things like custom high contrast themes, enlarged icons, and perhaps even more particular things that no doubt would make an application look hideous. But for these people, it is a must.
People with physical limitations need accessibility options.
While it is fair to state that this is strictly about end-users and not the distro maintainers, I do still think this is a fair counter point to make. Maintainers should have a way of adding options to help people with limitations use their distro. And that could very well be implemented in the form of modified looks meant to increase contrast and readability, which would naturally conflict with all sorts of custom GUIs, worst offenders being electron apps, which straight up don't listen to such settings most of the time. This also really boils back to the "your application is a tool" argument, if your program is not usable for these people, there's little point to whatever fancy look it might have.
What they can do about it
Frankly, much of what the GNOME application developers say is just straight up bonkers. As said before, what they want is a form of control, over both the distro maintainers and users, basically telling them "your system should look like we tell you to". This however flies straight in the face of what open-source development is supposed to entail. It's about being open and collaborative, not about being closed and dictating.
If you don't want users tinkering with your application, consider not developing open source software.
Now that line I should not need to say considering GNOME devs are supposed to be GNU people. But GNOME has been so anti-open in the recent times that I would think it's needed now.
Another suggestion I can give to application developers is to not rely on hacky toolkit exploits and Adwaita-specific quirks to build your programs, as that quite locks you into being a full-blown quirk-program, entirely dependent on those exploits. This naturally does not carry over well to anything that isn't an Adwaita theme, so doing things that way, you kinda set yourself up to fail.
Do not rely on quirks. Keep it simple, and compliant.
Lastly, I would wholeheartedly invite the GNOME devs to open their minds to what the linux community has to say. We don't complain because we like to bash. We do so because we're fed up with the dictative abuse. The same things that made us run from Windows and OSX, are now the very things seeping into GNOME. Such would be a shame, given how much the GNOME desktop meant to people in older times.
As to the other readers, I would say "please continue theming your system". It's your system, you do with it what you want, and nobody can tell you otherwise. The same goes for distro maintainers; please provide us with a consistent, good looking desktop right out of the box. Give us a system we can use.