Re: Easy way to make Emacs look more "modern"

[Daniele Nicolodi <daniele@grinta.net>]

On 09/04/2022 23:25, Dmitry Gutov wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> On 10.04.2022 00:13, Daniele Nicolodi wrote:
>> (set-face-attribute 'mode-line nil
>>                       :height 110
>>                       :background "grey88"
>>                       :box '(:line-width 4 :color "grey88" :style nil))
>> (set-face-attribute 'mode-line-inactive nil
>>                       :height 110
>>                       :background "grey95"
>>                       :box '(:line-width 4 :color "grey95" :style nil))
> 
> That actually does look better. Or more "modern", at least.
> 
> Another thing I would suggest -- is use lighter background for the
> currently selected window (compared to the unselected). That is, I'd
> swap the faces in the two statements above.
> 
> Emacs currently defaults to the light-background theme and uses a darker
> background in the mode-line of the current window. That makes is lower
> contrast than the non-selected ones. It feels counter-productive and
> seems to go against the contemporary practice in this area.

I actually like the way it looks by default. This is why I classified 
the change of color as a very subjective preference.

Note that the inactive windows get a lower contrast modeline via a 
thinner font (if you use a font that support thin weights, many do not) 
and a lighter foreground.

Changing the box style minimally invasive but IMHO improves the look 
significantly. Of course others may disagree and this is why Emacs is 
maximally customizable :-)

Cheers,
Dan