bug#38710: 26.3; (elisp) `Fond and Color Parameters'

bug#38710: 26.3; (elisp) `Fond and Color Parameters'

[Drew Adams]

Compare the descriptions of `foreground-color' and `background-color':

'foreground-color'
     The color to use for the image of a character.  It is equivalent to
     the ':foreground' attribute of the 'default' face.

'background-color'
     The color to use for the background of characters.  It is
     equivalent to the ':background' attribute of the 'default' face.

The latter is OK.  The former talks about "the image of a character",
which is unclear and misleading.  Certainly this has nothing to do with
other uses of "image" in the context of Emacs, and the phrase is
undefined here.

Please consider using language for foreground similar to what is used
for background, or make the former description clear in some other way.

(If you really want to keep the form of the description and just replace
"image" there then maybe use something like "grapheme" or "figure" or
"appearance" or "representation" or "form".  But "image" is misleading
here.)

In GNU Emacs 26.3 (build 1, x86_64-w64-mingw32)
 of 2019-08-29
Repository revision: 96dd0196c28bc36779584e47fffcca433c9309cd
Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 10.0.17763
Configured using:
 `configure --without-dbus --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32
 --without-compress-install 'CFLAGS=-O2 -static -g3''

bug#38710: 26.3; (elisp) `Fond and Color Parameters'

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

> The latter is OK.  The former talks about "the image of a character",
> which is unclear and misleading.  Certainly this has nothing to do with
> other uses of "image" in the context of Emacs, and the phrase is
> undefined here.

Yup.  Now fixed in Emacs 28.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no