From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Emanuel Berg Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: a dark theme? Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 22:32:47 +0200 Organization: Aioe.org NNTP Server Message-ID: <87a989f3io.fsf@debian.uxu> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1405542924 8851 80.91.229.3 (16 Jul 2014 20:35:24 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 20:35:24 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Jul 16 22:35:19 2014 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1X7Vv5-0004pT-0g for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 16 Jul 2014 22:35:19 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:41112 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1X7Vv4-0007ym-IN for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 16 Jul 2014 16:35:18 -0400 Original-Path: usenet.stanford.edu!goblin2!goblin.stu.neva.ru!aioe.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Original-Lines: 87 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: SIvZRMPqRkkTHAHL6NkRuw.user.speranza.aioe.org Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@aioe.org User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.3 (gnu/linux) X-Notice: Filtered by postfilter v. 0.8.2 Cancel-Lock: sha1:p3H8yo5ZBUgi01oluihsOFVTx0g= Mail-Copies-To: never Original-Xref: usenet.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:206421 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:98693 Archived-At: Sharon Kimble writes: > I'm hoping that someone can advise me, I'm looking > for a theme to use with emacs and gnus which has a > dark background, but also allows me to read all the > text in a gmail which currently appears as > nearly-white on a slightly-grey background. "All the text in a gmail"? To get a default bright-on-dark "theme" (which I highly recommend to reduce eye strain) simply evaluate this: (set-face-attribute 'default nil :foreground "cyan" :background "black" :bold nil) Change "cyan" to whatever fits you the best. I use a Linux VT/tty/"the console" and you probably use X. That means I can't help you with the colors, but try "green", "blue", etc. See if you can find something you like; if not, dig deeper. Probably you don't won't bold for ordinary text, save that option for faces that highlight stuff (headers, keywords, and so on). If you run into some text that you don't like the color of, use this defun to identify the face: (defun what-face (pos) (interactive "d") (let ((face (or (get-char-property (point) 'read-face-name) (get-char-property (point) 'face)))) (if face (message " Face: %s" face) (message " No face at %d." pos) ))) Put it in an init file, for example ~/.emacs. Then invoke it with `M-x what-face' with point at the face you don't like the color of. This will show you what face it is. Then do as above again, only substitute 'default for the face you found. Note that several modes/modules of Emacs uses the same faces. So if it looks great with brown somewhere, it might not look as great somewhere else, and of course, if you change it again, the first place may look less good! In practice, this is seldom or never a problem. If it is, it is solvable but I never got to that. Just go for what sticks out in a pleasant way, it should work everywhere. Where applicable, put some thought into it: with programming, the `font-lock-comment-face' shouldn't be as bright and emphasized as `font-lock-function-name-face' (because people comment-out stuff, and read comments only as a secondary measure, when they don't immediately understand the code), what's more, perhaps red is a natural color for `font-lock-warning-face', and so on. But don't overthink it. Most important thing is it should look clear, relaxed, and fun. Check out this screenshot of a modest major-mode a once did. That's how I like it. Obviously I didn't intellectualize every singly color I put to use. It is still very pleasant to work in such a mode - like a night club :) [1] > I've recently been using aalto-dark, aalto-light, > adwaita, alect-black-alt, tsdh-dark and all have > failed the gmail test. I'm currently using tango, > which is the complete reverse of what I'm looking > for. The problem with themes, which I didn't know existed until this discussion by the way, is that you find one mode, you like it to 80%, but not quite, so you look for another, maybe you like that to 90%, and so on. Instead of jumping between Emacs themes, Linux distros, and so on, just put that time setting it up the way you want it. Plain and simple. Time-consuming, yes, but educational. Fun. And ultimately, much more capable of getting not to 90% but (almost) all the way (and those last percent missing not because some perfect theme is eluding you, but because of your current understanding and skills. Remember, "Don't chase the dragon - become the dragon!" [1] http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/fps/fpscalc.png -- underground experts united