i3blocks Custom Status Line

This repository contains a collection of custom scripts and configurations for i3blocks, designed to generate a dynamic and informative status line for the i3 window manager.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Screenshot
• Installation
  • Dependencies
  • Setup
• Configuration
  • i3blocks.config
  • Custom Scripts
  • Color Gradient Generation
• Icons
• Usage with i3wm
• Contributing
• License

Features

This i3blocks setup provides the following status line blocks:

• Volume: Displays current audio volume and mute status with appropriate icons and color coding.
• Battery: Shows battery level, charging status, and uses color to indicate charge level (red for low, yellow for medium, green for high).
• Time: Displays the current date and time.
• WLAN: Indicates active Wi-Fi connection and displays the SSID.
• Ethernet: Shows if an Ethernet connection is active.
• Updates: (Arch Linux specific) Displays the number of pending system updates.
• Active Window: Shows the title of the currently active window, truncated if too long.
• Caps Lock: Indicates if Caps Lock is active.
• Display Brightness: Shows the current screen brightness percentage.

Screenshot

Installation

Dependencies

Ensure you have the following tools and fonts installed on your system for all blocks to function correctly:

• i3blocks: The main status line program.
• xdotool: For active_window.sh.
• amixer: For volume.sh (part of alsa-utils on many systems).
• xbacklight: For display_brightness.sh.
• checkupdates: For checkforupdates.sh (Arch Linux specific, part of pacman-contrib).
• iwgetid: For wlan_connection.sh (part of wireless_tools).
• iwctl: For iwd_wlan_connection.sh (if using iwd for Wi-Fi).
• Font Awesome 5 Free: Used for various icons.
• statusline-icons.ttf: Custom font for additional icons.

Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/i3blocks.git
   cd i3blocks

2. Copy configuration: Copy the i3blocks.config file to your i3 configuration directory. A common location is ~/.config/i3/ or ~/.config/i3blocks/.

   mkdir -p ~/.config/i3blocks/
   cp i3blocks.config ~/.config/i3blocks/

3. Copy scripts: Copy the scripts/ directory to ~/.config/i3blocks/.

   cp -r scripts ~/.config/i3blocks/

4. Make scripts executable: Ensure all scripts in ~/.config/i3blocks/scripts/ are executable.

   chmod +x ~/.config/i3blocks/scripts/*.sh

5. Install custom font: Install statusline-icons.ttf to your system's font directory (e.g., ~/.local/share/fonts/ or /usr/local/share/fonts/) and update your font cache.

   mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts/
   cp statusline-icons.ttf ~/.local/share/fonts/
   fc-cache -fv

Configuration

i3blocks.config

The main configuration file for i3blocks. It defines the order, interval, and commands for each block.

• Global Properties: The [general] section sets default interval, color, and separator_block_width for all blocks.
• Block-specific Properties: Each [block_name] section overrides global properties and defines the command to execute.
• Pango Markup: Most blocks use markup=pango to enable rich text formatting, including custom fonts and colors.

Note: The battery2.sh and iwd_wlan_connection.sh scripts are present but not currently used in the provided i3blocks.config. You can integrate them if needed.

Custom Scripts

The scripts/ directory contains the bash scripts executed by i3blocks.

• helpers.sh: Contains reusable functions, such as get_color_for_percentage, to maintain consistency across scripts.
• Individual scripts (e.g., volume.sh, battery.sh): Fetch system information and format it for i3blocks output, often using Pango markup for icons and colors.

Color Gradient Generation

The generate_color_gradient.py Python script can be used to generate a gradient of hex colors. This can be useful for creating custom color schemes for your status line.

python3 generate_color_gradient.py <start_hex_color> <end_hex_color> <steps>

Example:

python3 generate_color_gradient.py "#FF0000" "#0000FF" 10

Icons

This setup utilizes:

• Font Awesome 5 Free: For a wide range of common icons.
• statusline-icons.ttf: A custom font providing additional specific icons.

Ensure both are correctly installed and accessible by your system.

Statusline Icons Font Information

The statusline-icons.ttf font was generated using IcoMoon (as indicated by selection.json in the icons/ directory). The statusline-icons.README file in the root directory incorrectly states Fontello.com as the generator.

This font includes icons from the following open-source iconic fonts (as listed in the original statusline-icons.README):

• Font Awesome (http://fontawesome.io)

  • License: SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
  • Copyright: Font Awesome is a trademark of Fonticons, Inc.

• Entypo (http://www.entypo.com)

  • License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
  • Copyright: Daniel Bruce

• Typicons (http://typicons.com)

  • License: CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
  • Copyright: Stephen Hutchings

• Modern Pictograms (http://modernpictograms.com)

  • License: SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
  • Copyright: John Caserta

• Meteocons (http://www.alessioatzeni.com/meteocons/)

  • License: CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
  • Copyright: Alessio Atzeni

• Linecons (http://designmodo.com/linecons-free/)

  • License: CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
  • Copyright: Designmodo

• MFG Labs Iconset (http://mfglabs.github.io/mfglabs-iconset/)

  • License: SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
  • Copyright: MFG Labs

• Zocial (http://zocial.smcllns.com/)

  • License: MIT (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
  • Copyright: Sam Collins

• Brandico (https://github.com/andreysitnik/Brandico)

  • License: MIT (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
  • Copyright: Andrey Sitnik

• Elusive Icons (http://elusiveicons.com/)

  • License: MIT (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
  • Copyright: Aristeides Stathopoulos

• Web Symbols (http://www.websymbols.net/)

  • License: CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
  • Copyright: Just Be Nice Studio

• Iconic (http://somerandomdude.com/work/iconic/)

  • License: CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
  • Copyright: P.J. Onori

• Maki (https://www.mapbox.com/maki/)

  • License: BSD (https://github.com/mapbox/maki/blob/master/LICENSE.txt)
  • Copyright: Mapbox

• Open Iconic (https://useiconic.com/open/)

  • License: MIT (https://github.com/iconic/open-iconic/blob/master/LICENSE)
  • Copyright: Waybury

• Rpg Awesome (https://nagoshiashumari.github.io/Rpg-Awesome/)

  • License: MIT (https://github.com/nagoshiashumari/Rpg-Awesome/blob/master/LICENSE.txt)
  • Copyright: Nagoshiashumari

• Material Design Icons (https://materialdesignicons.com/)

  • License: Apache 2.0 (https://github.com/Templarian/MaterialDesign/blob/master/LICENSE)
  • Copyright: Google

• Community Material Design Icons (https://materialdesignicons.com/)

  • License: Apache 2.0 (https://github.com/Templarian/MaterialDesign/blob/master/LICENSE)
  • Copyright: Community

Additionally, some icons may originate from Flaticon, specifically from:

• Freepik (https://www.flaticon.com/de/autoren/freepik)
• Those Icons (https://www.flaticon.com/authors/those-icons) (As noted in icons/Read Me.txt)

Usage with i3wm

To integrate i3blocks with your i3 window manager, add the following line to your ~/.config/i3/config file:

bar {
    status_command i3blocks -c ~/.config/i3blocks/i3blocks.config
    # Other bar configurations...
}

After modifying your i3 config, reload i3 (usually Mod+Shift+R).

Contributing

Feel free to fork this repository, make improvements, and submit pull requests.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.