The full syntax of the resources files is described online at: http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/gtk/gtk-resource-files.html Definining styles is not very difficult: bg[state] = base[state] = text[state] = bg_texts[state] = font = fontset = }]]> Where 'name' is the name you give this particular style, 'parent' is the name of the parent style the attributes of which this one will inherit. <color> can be specified as a string "#rrrrggggbbbb", "#rrrgggbbb", "#rrggbb", or "#rgb", where r g, and b are hex digits, or as a triplet of floats { r, g, b }. As an example: Note that the wildcards are important: "\*GtkScrolledWindow\*" makes sure that it applies to the scroll window inside "main window" even if it's bundled in a box or something like that, and "\*GtkButton\*" says that the button can be packed up in a box and that the style will also apply to the child of the button, that is, label. Without the final asterisk the button label font would not be affected.