━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ STANDARD-THEMES: LIKE THE DEFAULT THEME BUT MORE CONSISTENT Protesilaos Stavrou info@protesilaos.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ This manual, written by Protesilaos Stavrou, describes the Emacs package called `standard-themes', and provides every other piece of information pertinent to it. The documentation furnished herein corresponds to stable version 1.2.0, released on 2023-02-16. Any reference to a newer feature which does not yet form part of the latest tagged commit, is explicitly marked as such. Current development target is 1.3.0-dev. ⁃ Package name (GNU ELPA): `standard-themes' ⁃ Official manual: ⁃ Git repo on SourceHut: • Mirrors: ⁃ GitHub: ⁃ GitLab: ⁃ Mailing list: ⁃ Backronym: Standard Themes Are Not Derivatives but the Affectionately Reimagined Default … themes. If you are viewing the README.org version of this file, please note that the GNU ELPA machinery automatically generates an Info manual out of it. Table of Contents ───────────────── 1. COPYING 2. About the Standard themes 3. Installation .. 1. GNU ELPA package .. 2. Manual installation 4. Sample configuration 5. Customization options .. 1. Disable other themes .. 2. Enable mixed fonts .. 3. Accented mode line .. 4. UI typeface .. 5. Bold constructs .. 6. Italic constructs .. 7. Fringe visibility .. 8. Link style .. 9. Option for command prompts .. 10. Option for headings .. 11. Style of region highlight .. 12. Palette overrides 6. Loading a theme 7. Preview theme colors 8. Use colors from the active Standard theme 9. Do-It-Yourself customizations .. 1. Get a single color from the palette .. 2. The general approach to advanced DIY changes .. 3. A theme-agnostic hook for theme loading .. 4. Add support for hl-todo .. 5. Configure bold and italic faces .. 6. Tweak `org-modern' timestamps .. 7. Tweak goto-address-mode faces 10. Faces defined by the Standard themes 11. Supported packages or face groups .. 1. Explicitly supported packages or face groups .. 2. Implicitly supported packages or face groups .. 3. Packages that are hard to support 12. Acknowledgements 13. GNU Free Documentation License 14. Indices .. 1. Function index .. 2. Variable index .. 3. Concept index 1 COPYING ═════════ Copyright (C) 2022-2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover Texts being “A GNU Manual,” and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License.” (a) The FSF’s Back-Cover Text is: “You have the freedom to copy and modify this GNU manual.” 2 About the Standard themes ═══════════════════════════ The `standard-themes' are a pair of light and dark themes for GNU Emacs. They emulate the out-of-the-box looks of Emacs (which technically do NOT constitute a theme) while bringing to them thematic consistency, customizability, and extensibility. 3 Installation ══════════════ 3.1 GNU ELPA package ──────────────────── The package is available as `standard-themes'. Simply do: ┌──── │ M-x package-refresh-contents │ M-x package-install └──── And search for it. GNU ELPA provides the latest stable release. Those who prefer to follow the development process in order to report bugs or suggest changes, can use the version of the package from the GNU-devel ELPA archive. Read: . 3.2 Manual installation ─────────────────────── Assuming your Emacs files are found in `~/.emacs.d/', execute the following commands in a shell prompt: ┌──── │ cd ~/.emacs.d │ │ # Create a directory for manually-installed packages │ mkdir manual-packages │ │ # Go to the new directory │ cd manual-packages │ │ # Clone this repo, naming it "standard-themes" │ git clone https://git.sr.ht/~protesilaos/standard-themes standard-themes └──── Finally, in your `init.el' (or equivalent) evaluate this: ┌──── │ ;; Make Elisp files in that directory available to the user. │ (add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/manual-packages/standard-themes") └──── Everything is in place to set up the package. 4 Sample configuration ══════════════════════ ┌──── │ ;; Make customisations that affect Emacs faces BEFORE loading a theme │ ;; (any change needs a theme re-load to take effect). │ (require 'standard-themes) │ │ ;; Read the doc string of each of those user options. These are some │ ;; sample values. │ (setq standard-themes-bold-constructs t │ standard-themes-italic-constructs t │ standard-themes-mixed-fonts t │ standard-themes-variable-pitch-ui t │ standard-themes-mode-line-accented t │ │ ;; Accepts a symbol value: │ standard-themes-fringes 'subtle │ │ ;; The following accept lists of properties │ standard-themes-links '(neutral-underline) │ standard-themes-region '(no-extend neutral intense) │ standard-themes-prompts '(bold italic) │ │ ;; more complex alist to set weight, height, and optional │ ;; `variable-pitch' per heading level (t is for any level not │ ;; specified): │ standard-themes-headings │ '((0 . (variable-pitch light 1.9)) │ (1 . (variable-pitch light 1.8)) │ (2 . (variable-pitch light 1.7)) │ (3 . (variable-pitch semilight 1.6)) │ (4 . (variable-pitch semilight 1.5)) │ (5 . (variable-pitch 1.4)) │ (6 . (variable-pitch 1.3)) │ (7 . (variable-pitch 1.2)) │ (t . (variable-pitch 1.1)))) │ │ ;; Disable all other themes to avoid awkward blending: │ (mapc #'disable-theme custom-enabled-themes) │ │ (load-theme 'standard-light :no-confirm) │ │ (define-key global-map (kbd "") #'standard-themes-toggle) └──── 5 Customization options ═══════════════════════ The `standard-themes' provide user options which tweak secondary aspects of the theme. All customizations need to be evaluated before loading a theme. Any change after the theme has been loaded require a re-load ([Loading a theme]). [Loading a theme] See section 6 5.1 Disable other themes ──────────────────────── The user option `standard-themes-disable-other-themes' controls which themes to disable when loading a Standard theme ([Loading a theme]). When the value is non-nil, the command `standard-themes-toggle' as well as the functions `standard-themes-load-dark' and `standard-themes-load-light', will disable all other themes while loading the specified Standard theme. This is done to ensure that Emacs does not blend two or more themes: such blends lead to awkward results that undermine the work of the designer. When the value is nil, the aforementioned command and functions will only disable the other Standard theme. This option is provided because Emacs themes are not necessarily limited to colors/faces: they can consist of an arbitrary set of customizations. Users who use such customization bundles must set this variable to a nil value. [Loading a theme] See section 6 5.2 Enable mixed fonts ────────────────────── The user option `standard-themes-mixed-fonts' controls whether strictly spacing-sensitive constructs inherit from `fixed-pitch' (a monospaced font family). By default (a `nil' value for this user option) no face inherits from `fixed-pitch': they all use the default font family, regardless of whether it is monospaced or not. When `standard-themes-mixed-fonts' is set to a non-`nil' value, faces such as for Org tables, inline code, code blocks, and the like, are rendered in a monospaced font at all times. The user can thus set their default font family to a proportionately spaced font without worrying about breaking the alignment of relevant elements, or if they simply prefer the aesthetics of mixed mono and proportionately spaced font families. A temporary switch to a proportionately spaced font (known in Emacs as `variable-pitch') can be enabled in the current buffer with the activation of the built-in `variable-pitch-mode'. To get consistent typography, the user may need to edit the font family of the `fixed-pitch' and `variable-pitch' faces. The `fontaine' package on GNU ELPA (by Protesilaos) can be helpful in this regard. 5.3 Accented mode line ────────────────────── The user option `standard-themes-mode-line-accented' handles the background color of the active mode line. When the value is `nil', the color is gray, while non-`nil' uses an accent value. 5.4 UI typeface ─────────────── The user option `standard-themes-variable-pitch-ui' controls whether the elements of the User Interface (UI) use a proportionately spaced font. By default (a `nil' value), all UI elements use the default font family. When this user option is set to a non-`nil' value, all UI elements will inherit the face `variable-pitch', thus rendering them in a proportionately spaced font. In this context, the UI elements are: • `header-line' • `mode-line' (active and inactive) • `tab-bar-mode' • `tab-line-mode' To get consistent typography, the user may need to edit the font family of the `fixed-pitch' and `variable-pitch' faces. The `fontaine' package on GNU ELPA (by Protesilaos) can be helpful in this regard. 5.5 Bold constructs ─────────────────── The user option `standard-themes-bold-constructs' determines whether select faces will inherit the `bold' face. When the value is non-`nil', a bold weight is applied to code constructs. This affects keywords, builtins, and a few other elements. [Configure bold and italic faces]. [Configure bold and italic faces] See section 9.5 5.6 Italic constructs ───────────────────── The user option `standard-themes-italic-constructs' determines whether select faces will inherit the `italic' face. When the value is non-`nil', an italic style is applied to code constructs. This affects comments, doc strings, and a few other minor elements. [Configure bold and italic faces]. [Configure bold and italic faces] See section 9.5 5.7 Fringe visibility ───────────────────── The user option `standard-themes-fringes' controls the visibility and intensity of the fringes. With regular Emacs settings “Fringe” is a small surface area to either side of the Emacs window: it is where certain indicators are displayed, such as continuation lines. When the value is `nil', do not apply a distinct background color. With a value of `subtle', use a gray background color that is visible yet close to the main background color. This is the default style. With `intense', use a more pronounced gray background color. 5.8 Link style ────────────── The user option `standard-themes-links' controls the style of links. The value is a list of properties, each designated by a symbol. The default (a `nil' value or an empty list) is a prominent text color, typically blue, with an underline of the same color. For the style of the underline, a `neutral-underline' property turns the color of the line into a subtle gray, while the `no-underline' property removes the line altogether. If both of those are set, the latter takes precedence. For text coloration, a `faint' property desaturates the color of the text and the underline, unless the underline is affected by the aforementioned properties. A `bold' property applies a heavy typographic weight to the text of the link. An `italic' property adds a slant to the link’s text (italic or oblique forms, depending on the typeface). Combinations of any of those properties are expressed as a list, like in these examples: ┌──── │ (faint) │ (no-underline faint) └──── The order in which the properties are set is not significant. In user configuration files the form may look like this: ┌──── │ (setq standard-themes-links '(neutral-underline faint)) └──── The placement of the underline, meaning its proximity to the text, is controlled by `x-use-underline-position-properties', `x-underline-at-descent-line', `underline-minimum-offset'. Please refer to their documentation strings. 5.9 Option for command prompts ────────────────────────────── The user option `standard-themes-prompts' controls the style of all prompts, such as those of the minibuffer and REPLs. The value is a list of properties, each designated by a symbol. The default (a `nil' value or an empty list) means to only use an accented foreground color. The property `background' applies a background color to the prompt’s text and adjusts the foreground accordingly. The property `bold' makes the text use a bold typographic weight. Similarly, `italic' adds a slant to the font’s forms (italic or oblique forms, depending on the typeface). Combinations of any of those properties are expressed as a list, like in these examples: ┌──── │ (background) │ (bold italic) │ (background bold italic) └──── The order in which the properties are set is not significant. In user configuration files the form may look like this: ┌──── │ (setq standard-themes-prompts '(background bold)) └──── 5.10 Option for headings ──────────────────────── The user option `standard-themes-headings' provides support for individual heading styles for regular heading levels 0 through 8, as well as the Org agenda headings. This is an alist that accepts a `(KEY . LIST-OF-VALUES)' combination. The `KEY' is either a number, representing the heading’s level (0 through 8) or `t', which pertains to the fallback style. The named keys `agenda-date' and `agenda-structure' apply to the Org agenda. Level 0 is a special heading: it is used for what counts as a document title or equivalent, such as the `#+title' construct we find in Org files. Levels 1-8 are regular headings. The `LIST-OF-VALUES' covers symbols that refer to properties, as described below. Here is a complete sample with various stylistic combinations, followed by a presentation of all available properties: ┌──── │ (setq standard-themes-headings │ '((1 . (light variable-pitch 1.5)) │ (2 . (regular 1.3)) │ (3 . (1.1)) │ (agenda-date . (1.3)) │ (agenda-structure . (variable-pitch light 1.8)) │ (t . (variable-pitch)))) └──── By default (a `nil' value for this variable), all headings have a normal typographic weight, a font family that is the same as the `default' face (typically monospaced), and a height that is equal to the `default' face’s height. • A `variable-pitch' property changes the font family of the heading to that of the `variable-pitch' face (normally a proportionately spaced typeface). Also check the `fontaine' package (by Protesilaos) for tweaking fonts via faces. • The symbol of a weight attribute adjusts the font of the heading accordingly, such as `light', `semibold', etc. Valid symbols are defined in the variable `standard-themes-weights'. The absence of a weight means that no distinct weight will be used. • A number, expressed as a floating point (e.g. 1.5), adjusts the height of the heading to that many times the base font size. The default height is the same as 1.0, though it need not be explicitly stated. Instead of a floating point, an acceptable value can be in the form of a cons cell like `(height . FLOAT)' or `(height FLOAT)', where `FLOAT' is the given number. Combinations of any of those properties are expressed as a list, like in these examples: ┌──── │ (semibold) │ (variable-pitch semibold) │ (variable-pitch semibold 1.3) │ (variable-pitch semibold (height 1.3)) ; same as above │ (variable-pitch semibold (height . 1.3)) ; same as above └──── The order in which the properties are set is not significant. In user configuration files the form may look like this: ┌──── │ (setq standard-themes-headings │ '((1 . (light variable-pitch 1.5)) │ (2 . (regular 1.3)) │ (3 . (1.1)) │ (t . (variable-pitch)))) └──── When defining the styles per heading level, it is possible to pass a non-`nil' value (t) instead of a list of properties. This will retain the original aesthetic for that level. For example: ┌──── │ (setq standard-themes-headings │ '((1 . t) ; keep the default style │ (2 . (variable-pitch 1.2)) │ (t . (variable-pitch)))) ; style for all unspecified headings │ │ (setq standard-themes-headings │ '((1 . (variable-pitch 1.6)) │ (2 . (1.3)) │ (t . t))) ; default style for all unspecified levels └──── 5.11 Style of region highlight ────────────────────────────── The user option `standard-themes-region' controls the appearance of the `region' face (the highlighted selection of an area). The value it accepts is a list of symbols. If `nil' or an empty list (the default), use a subtle background for the region and preserve the color of selected text. The `no-extend' symbol limits the highlighted area to the end of the line, so that it does not reach the edge of the window. The `neutral' symbol makes the highlighted area’s background gray (or more gray, depending on the theme). The `intense' symbol amplifies the intensity of the highlighted area’s background color. It also overrides any text color to keep it legible. Combinations of those symbols are expressed in any order. In user configuration files the form may look like this: ┌──── │ (setq standard-themes-region '(intense no-extend)) └──── Other examples: ┌──── │ (setq standard-themes-region '(intense)) │ (setq standard-themes-region '(intense no-extend neutral)) └──── 5.12 Palette overrides ────────────────────── The Standard themes define their own color palette as well as semantic color mappings. The former is the set of color values such as what shade of blue to use. The latter refers to associations between a color value and a syntactic construct, such as a `variable' for variables in programming modes or `heading-1' for level 1 headings in Org and others. The definition is stored in the variable `NAME-palette', where `NAME' is the symbol of the theme, such as `standard-light'. Overrides for those associations are specified in the variable `NAME-palette-overrides'. The variable `standard-themes-common-palette-overrides' is available for shared values. It is advised to only use this for mappings that do not specify a color value directly. This way, the text remains legible by getting the theme-specific color value it needs. All associations take the form of `(KEY VALUE)' pairs. For example, the `standard-light-palette' contains `(blue-warmer "#3a5fcd")'. Semantic color mappings are the same, though the `VALUE' is one of the named colors of the theme. For instance, `standard-light-palette' maps the aforementioned like `(link blue-warmer)'. The easiest way to learn about a theme’s definition is to use the command `describe-variable' (bound to `C-h v' by default) and then search for the `NAME-palette'. The resulting Help buffer will look like this: ┌──── │ standard-light-palette is a variable defined in ‘standard-light-theme.el’. │ │ Its value is shown below. │ │ The ‘standard-light’ palette. │ │ This variable may be risky if used as a file-local variable. │ │ Value: │ ((bg-main "#ffffff") │ (fg-main "#000000") │ (bg-dim "#ededed") │ │ [... Shortened for the purposes of this manual.] └──── The user can study this information to identify the overrides they wish to make. Then they can specify them and re-load the theme for changes to take effect. Sample of how to override a color value and a semantic mapping: ┌──── │ (setq standard-light-palette-overrides │ '((blue-warmer "#5230ff") ; original value is #3a5fcd │ (variable blue-warmer))) ; original value is yellow-cooler └──── The overrides can contain as many associations as the user needs. Changes to color values are reflected in the preview of the theme’s palette ([Preview theme colors]). They are shown at the top of the buffer. In the above example, the first instance of `blue-warmer' is the override and the second is the original one. Contact me if you need further help with this. [Preview theme colors] See section 7 6 Loading a theme ═════════════════ Emacs can load and maintain enabled multiple themes at once. This typically leads to awkward styling and weird combinations. The theme looks broken and the designer’s intent is misunderstood. Before loading either of the `standard-themes', the user is encouraged to disable all others ([Disable other themes]): ┌──── │ (mapc #'disable-theme custom-enabled-themes) └──── Then load the theme of choice. For example: ┌──── │ (load-theme 'standard-light :no-confirm) └──── The `:no-confirm' is optional. It simply skips the step where Emacs asks the user whether they are sure about loading the theme. Consider adding code like the above to the user configuration file, such as `init.el'. As the Standard themes are extensible, another way to load the theme of choice is to use either `standard-themes-load-dark' or `standard-themes-load-light'. These functions take care of (i) disabling other themes, (ii) loading the specified Standard theme, and (iii) running the `standard-themes-post-load-hook' which is useful for do-it-yourself customizations ([The general approach to DIY changes]). These two functions are also called by the command `standard-themes-toggle'. [Disable other themes] See section 5.1 [The general approach to DIY changes] See section 9.2 7 Preview theme colors ══════════════════════ The command `standard-themes-preview-colors' uses minibuffer completion to select an item from the Standard themes and then produces a buffer with previews of its color palette entries. The buffer has a naming scheme which reflects the given choice, like `standard-light-preview-colors' for the `standard-light' theme. The command `standard-themes-preview-colors-current' skips the minibuffer selection process and just produces a preview for the current Standard theme. When called with a prefix argument (`C-u' with the default key bindings), these commands will show a preview of the palette’s semantic color mappings instead of the named colors. Aliases for those commands are `standard-themes-list-colors' and `standard-themes-list-colors-current'. Overrides to color values are reflected in the buffers produced by the aforementioned commands ([Palette overrides]). Each row shows a foreground and background coloration using the underlying value it references. For example a line with `#b3303a' (a shade of red) will show red text followed by a stripe with that same color as a backdrop. The name of the buffer describes the given Standard theme and what the contents are, such as `*standard-light-list-colors*' for named colors and `=*standard-light-list-mappings*' for the semantic color mappings. [Palette overrides] See section 5.12 8 Use colors from the active Standard theme ═══════════════════════════════════════════ Advanced users may want to call color variables from the palette of the active Standard theme. The macro `standard-themes-with-colors' supplies those to any form called inside of it. For example: ┌──── │ (standard-themes-with-colors │ (list bg-main fg-main bg-mode-line)) │ ;; => ("#ffffff" "#000000" "#b3b3b3") └──── The above return value is for `standard-light' when that is the active Standard theme. Switching to `standard-dark' and evaluating this code anew will give us the relevant results for that theme: ┌──── │ (standard-themes-with-colors │ (list bg-main fg-main bg-mode-line cursor)) │ ;; => ("#000000" "#ffffff" "#505050") └──── [Do-It-Yourself customizations]. The palette of each Standard theme is considered stable. No removals shall be made. Though please note that some tweaks to individual hues or color mapping are still possible. At any rate, we will not outright break any code that uses `standard-themes-with-colors'. [Do-It-Yourself customizations] See section 9 9 Do-It-Yourself customizations ═══════════════════════════════ This section shows how the user can tweak the Standard themes to their liking, often by employing the `standard-themes-with-colors' macro ([Use colors from the active Standard theme]). [Use colors from the active Standard theme] See section 8 9.1 Get a single color from the palette ─────────────────────────────────────── [The general approach to advanced DIY changes]. The fuction `standard-themes-get-color-value' can be called from Lisp to return the value of a color from the active Standard theme palette. It takea a `COLOR' argument and an optional `OVERRIDES'. `COLOR' is a symbol that represents a named color entry in the palette. [Preview theme colors]. If the value is the name of another color entry in the palette (so a mapping), this function recurs until it finds the underlying color value. With an optional `OVERRIDES' argument as a non-nil value, it accounts for palette overrides. Else it reads only the default palette. [Palette overrides]. With optional `THEME' as a symbol among `standard-themes-collection', use the palette of that item. Else use the current Standard theme. If `COLOR' is not present in the palette, this function returns the `unspecified' symbol, which is safe when used as a face attribute’s value. An example with `standard-light' to show how this function behaves with/without overrides and when recursive mappings are introduced. ┌──── │ ;; Here we show the recursion of palette mappings. In general, it is │ ;; better for the user to specify named colors to avoid possible │ ;; confusion with their configuration, though those still work as │ ;; expected. │ (setq standard-themes-common-palette-overrides │ '((cursor red) │ (prompt cursor) │ (variable prompt))) │ │ ;; Ignore the overrides and get the original value. │ (standard-themes-get-color-value 'variable) │ ;; => "#a0522d" │ │ ;; Read from the overrides and deal with any recursion to find the │ ;; underlying value. │ (standard-themes-get-color-value 'variable :overrides) │ ;; => "#b3303a" └──── [The general approach to advanced DIY changes] See section 9.2 [Preview theme colors] See section 7 [Palette overrides] See section 5.12 9.2 The general approach to advanced DIY changes ──────────────────────────────────────────────── When the user wants to customize Emacs faces there are two considerations they need to make if they care about robustness: 1. Do not hardcode color values, but instead use the relevant variables from the Standard themes. 2. Make the changes persist through theme changes between the Standard themes. For point 1 we provide the `standard-themes-with-colors' macro, while for point 2 we have the `standard-themes-post-load-hook'. The hook runs at the end of the command `standard-themes-toggle'. [Use colors from the active Standard theme]. [A theme-agnostic hook for theme loading]. We need to wrap our code in the `standard-themes-with-colors' and declare it as a function which we then add to the hook. Here we show the general approach of putting those pieces together. To customize faces in a way that mirrors the Standard themes’ source code, we use the built-in `custom-set-faces'. The value it accepts has the same syntax as that found in `standard-themes.el', specifically the `standard-themes-faces' constant. It thus is easy to copy lines from there and tweak them. Let’s pick a couple of font-lock faces (used in all programming modes, among others): ┌──── │ (defun my-standard-themes-custom-faces () │ "My customizations on top of the Standard themes. │ This function is added to the `standard-themes-post-load-hook'." │ (standard-themes-with-colors │ (custom-set-faces │ ;; These are the default specifications │ `(font-lock-comment-face ((,c :inherit standard-themes-italic :foreground ,comment))) │ `(font-lock-variable-name-face ((,c :foreground ,variable)))))) │ │ ;; Using the hook lets our changes persist when we use the commands │ ;; `standard-themes-toggle', `standard-themes-load-dark', │ ;; `standard-themes-load-light'. │ (add-hook 'standard-themes-post-load-hook #'my-standard-themes-custom-faces) └──── Each of the Standard themes has its own color palette and corresponding mapping of values to constructs. So the color of the `comment' variable will differ between the themes. For the purpose of our demonstration, we make variables look like comments and comments like variables: ┌──── │ (defun my-standard-themes-custom-faces () │ "My customizations on top of the Standard themes. │ This function is added to the `standard-themes-post-load-hook'." │ (standard-themes-with-colors │ (custom-set-faces │ `(font-lock-comment-face ((,c :foreground ,variable))) │ `(font-lock-variable-name-face ((,c :inherit standard-themes-italic :foreground ,comment)))))) │ │ ;; Using the hook lets our changes persist when we use the commands │ ;; `standard-themes-toggle', `standard-themes-load-dark', │ ;; `standard-themes-load-light'. │ (add-hook 'standard-themes-post-load-hook #'my-standard-themes-custom-faces) └──── All changes take effect when a theme is loaded again. As such, it is better to use either `standard-themes-load-dark' or `standard-themes-load-light' at startup so that the function added to the hook gets applied properly upon first load. Like this: ┌──── │ (defun my-standard-themes-custom-faces () │ "My customizations on top of the Standard themes. │ This function is added to the `standard-themes-post-load-hook'." │ (standard-themes-with-colors │ (custom-set-faces │ `(font-lock-comment-face ((,c :foreground ,variable))) │ `(font-lock-variable-name-face ((,c :inherit standard-themes-italic :foreground ,comment)))))) │ │ ;; Using the hook lets our changes persist when we use the commands │ ;; `standard-themes-toggle', `standard-themes-load-dark', │ ;; `standard-themes-load-light'. │ (add-hook 'standard-themes-post-load-hook #'my-standard-themes-custom-faces) │ │ ;; Load the theme and run `standard-themes-post-load-hook' │ (standard-themes-load-light) ; OR (standard-themes-load-dark) └──── Please contact us if you have specific questions about this mechanism. We are willing to help and shall provide comprehensive documentation where necessary. [Use colors from the active Standard theme] See section 8 [A theme-agnostic hook for theme loading] See section 9.3 9.3 A theme-agnostic hook for theme loading ─────────────────────────────────────────── The themes are designed with the intent to be useful to Emacs users of varying skill levels, from beginners to experts. This means that we try to make things easier by not expecting anyone reading this document to be proficient in Emacs Lisp or programming in general. Such a case is with the use of the `standard-themes-post-load-hook', which is called after the evaluation of any of the commands we provide for loading a theme ([Loading a theme]). We recommend using that hook for advanced customizations, because (1) we know for sure that it is available once the themes are loaded, and (2) anyone consulting this manual, especially the sections on enabling and loading the themes, will be in a good position to benefit from that hook. Advanced users who have a need to switch between the Standard themes and other items (e.g. the `modus-themes' and `ef-themes') will find that such a hook does not meet their requirements: it only works with the Standard themes and only with the functions they provide. A theme-agnostic setup can be configured thus: ┌──── │ (defvar after-enable-theme-hook nil │ "Normal hook run after enabling a theme.") │ │ (defun run-after-enable-theme-hook (&rest _args) │ "Run `after-enable-theme-hook'." │ (run-hooks 'after-enable-theme-hook)) │ │ (advice-add 'enable-theme :after #'run-after-enable-theme-hook) └──── This creates the `after-enable-theme-hook' and makes it run after each call to `enable-theme', which means that it will work for all themes and also has the benefit that it does not depend on functions such as `standard-themes-select' and the others mentioned in this manual. The function `enable-theme' is called internally by `load-theme', so the hook works everywhere. The downside of the theme-agnostic hook is that any functions added to it will likely not be able to benefit from macro calls that read the active theme, such as `standard-themes-with-colors' (the Modus and Ef themes have an equivalent macro). Not all Emacs themes have the same capabilities. In this document, we always mention `standard-themes-post-load-hook' though the user can replace it with `after-enable-theme-hook' should they need to (provided they understand the implications). [Loading a theme] See section 6 9.4 Add support for hl-todo ─────────────────────────── The `hl-todo' package provides the user option `hl-todo-keyword-faces': it specifies an association list of `(KEYWORD . COLOR-VALUE)' pairs. There are no faces, which the theme could style seamlessly. As such, it rests on the user to specify appropriate color values. This can be done either by hardcoding colors, which is inefficient, or by using the macro `standard-themes-with-colors' ([The general approach to DIY changes]). Here we show the latter method. ┌──── │ (defun my-standard-themes-hl-todo-faces () │ "Configure `hl-todo-keyword-faces' with Standard themes colors. │ The exact color values are taken from the active Standard theme." │ (standard-themes-with-colors │ (setq hl-todo-keyword-faces │ `(("HOLD" . ,yellow) │ ("TODO" . ,red) │ ("NEXT" . ,blue) │ ("THEM" . ,magenta) │ ("PROG" . ,cyan-warmer) │ ("OKAY" . ,green-warmer) │ ("DONT" . ,yellow-warmer) │ ("FAIL" . ,red-warmer) │ ("BUG" . ,red-warmer) │ ("DONE" . ,green) │ ("NOTE" . ,blue-warmer) │ ("KLUDGE" . ,cyan) │ ("HACK" . ,cyan) │ ("TEMP" . ,red) │ ("FIXME" . ,red-warmer) │ ("XXX+" . ,red-warmer) │ ("REVIEW" . ,red) │ ("DEPRECATED" . ,yellow))))) │ │ (add-hook 'standard-themes-post-load-hook #'my-standard-themes-hl-todo-faces) └──── To find the names of the color variables, the user can rely on the commands for previewing the palette ([Preview theme colors]). [The general approach to DIY changes] See section 9.2 [Preview theme colors] See section 7 9.5 Configure bold and italic faces ─────────────────────────────────── The Standard themes do not hardcode a `:weight' or `:slant' attribute in the faces they cover. Instead, they configure the generic faces called `bold' and `italic' to use the appropriate styles and then instruct all relevant faces that require emphasis to inherit from them. This practically means that users can change the particularities of what it means for a construct to be bold/italic, by tweaking the `bold' and `italic' faces. Cases where that can be useful include: ⁃ The default typeface does not have a variant with slanted glyphs (e.g. Fira Mono/Code as of this writing on 2022-11-30), so the user wants to add another family for the italics, such as Hack. ⁃ The typeface of choice provides a multitude of weights and the user prefers the light one by default. To prevent the bold weight from being too heavy compared to the light one, they opt to make `bold' use a semibold weight. ⁃ The typeface distinguishes between oblique and italic forms by providing different font variants (the former are just slanted versions of the upright forms, while the latter have distinguishing features as well). In this case, the user wants to specify the font that applies to the `italic' face. To achieve those effects, one must first be sure that the fonts they use have support for those features. In this example, we set the default font family to Fira Code, while we choose to render italics in the Hack typeface (obviously one needs to pick fonts that work in tandem): ┌──── │ (set-face-attribute 'default nil :family "Fira Code" :height 110) │ (set-face-attribute 'italic nil :family "Hack") └──── And here we play with different weights, using Source Code Pro: ┌──── │ (set-face-attribute 'default nil :family "Source Code Pro" :height 110 :weight 'light) │ (set-face-attribute 'bold nil :weight 'semibold) └──── To reset the font family, one can use this: ┌──── │ (set-face-attribute 'italic nil :family 'unspecified) └──── Consider the `fontaine' package on GNU ELPA (by Protesilaos) which provides the means to configure font families via faces. 9.6 Tweak `org-modern' timestamps ───────────────────────────────── The `org-modern' package uses faces and text properties to make Org buffers more aesthetically pleasing. It affects tables, timestamps, lists, headings, and more. In previous versions of the Standard themes, we mistakenly affected one of its faces: the `org-modern-label'. It changed the intended looks and prevented the user option `org-modern-label-border' from having its desired effect. As such, we no longer override that face. Users who were used to the previous design and who generally do not configure the user options of `org-modern' may thus notice a change in how clocktables (or generally tables with timestamps) are aligned. The simplest solution is to instruct the mode to not prettify timestamps, by setting the user option `org-modern-timestamp' to `nil'. For example, by adding this to the init file: ┌──── │ (setq org-modern-timestamp nil) └──── Alignment in tables will also depend on the use of proportionately spaced fonts. Enable the relevant option to work with those without any further trouble ([Enable mixed fonts]). For any further issues, you are welcome to ask for help. [Enable mixed fonts] See section 5.2 9.7 Tweak goto-address-mode faces ───────────────────────────────── The built-in `goto-address-mode' uses heuristics to identify URLs and email addresses in the current buffer. It then applies a face to them to change their style. Some packages, such as `notmuch', use this minor-mode automatically. The faces are not declared with `defface', meaning that it is better that the theme does not modify them. The user is thus encouraged to consider including this in their setup: ┌──── │ (setq goto-address-url-face 'link │ goto-address-url-mouse-face 'highlight │ goto-address-mail-face 'link │ goto-address-mail-mouse-face 'highlight) └──── My personal preference is to set `goto-address-mail-face' to `nil', because it otherwise adds too much visual noise to the buffer (email addresses stand out more, due to the use of the uncommon `@' caharacter but also because they are often enclosed in angled brackets). 10 Faces defined by the Standard themes ═══════════════════════════════════════ The themes define some faces to make it possible to achieve consistency between various groups of faces. For example, all “marks for selection” use the `standard-themes-mark-select' face. If, say, the user wants to edit this face to include an underline, the change will apply to lots of packages, like Dired, Trashed, Ibuffer. [Do-It-Yourself customizations]. All the faces defined by the themes: ⁃ `standard-themes-bold' ⁃ `standard-themes-fixed-pitch' ⁃ `standard-themes-fringe-error' ⁃ `standard-themes-fringe-info' ⁃ `standard-themes-fringe-warning' ⁃ `standard-themes-heading-0' ⁃ `standard-themes-heading-1' ⁃ `standard-themes-heading-2' ⁃ `standard-themes-heading-3' ⁃ `standard-themes-heading-4' ⁃ `standard-themes-heading-5' ⁃ `standard-themes-heading-6' ⁃ `standard-themes-heading-7' ⁃ `standard-themes-heading-8' ⁃ `standard-themes-italic' ⁃ `standard-themes-key-binding' ⁃ `standard-themes-mark-delete' ⁃ `standard-themes-mark-other' ⁃ `standard-themes-mark-select' ⁃ `standard-themes-ui-variable-pitch' ⁃ `standard-themes-underline-error' ⁃ `standard-themes-underline-info' ⁃ `standard-themes-underline-warning' [Do-It-Yourself customizations] See section 9 11 Supported packages or face groups ════════════════════════════════════ The `standard-themes' will only ever support a curated list of packages based on my judgement ([Packages that are hard to support]). Nevertheless, the list of explicitly or implicitly supported packages already covers everything most users need. [Packages that are hard to support] See section 11.3 11.1 Explicitly supported packages or face groups ───────────────────────────────────────────────── • all basic faces • all-the-icons • all-the-icons-dired • all-the-icons-ibuffer • ansi-color • auctex • auto-dim-other-buffers • bongo • bookmark • calendar and diary • cider • change-log and log-view (part of VC) • chart • clojure-mode • company • compilation • completions • consult • corfu • custom (`M-x customize') • denote • dictionary • diff-hl • diff-mode • dired • dired-subtree • diredfl • dirvish • display-fill-column-indicator-mode • doom-modeline • ediff • eglot • eldoc • elfeed • embark • epa • eshell • eww • flycheck • flymake • flyspell • font-lock • git-commit • git-rebase • gnus • hi-lock (`M-x highlight-regexp') • ibuffer • image-dired • info • isearch, occur, query-replace • keycast • lin • line numbers (`display-line-numbers-mode' and global variant) • magit • man • marginalia • markdown-mode • messages • mode-line • mu4e • neotree • notmuch • olivetti • orderless • org • org-habit • org-modern • outline-mode • outline-minor-faces • package (`M-x list-packages') • perspective • powerline • pulsar • pulse • rainbow-delimiters • rcirc • recursion-indicator • regexp-builder (re-builder) • ruler-mode • shell-script-mode (sh-mode) • show-paren-mode • shr • smerge • tab-bar-mode • tab-line-mode • tempel • term • textsec • transient • trashed • tree-sitter • tty-menu • vc (`vc-dir.el', `vc-hooks.el') • vertico • wgrep • which-function-mode • whitespace-mode • widget • writegood-mode • woman 11.2 Implicitly supported packages or face groups ───────────────────────────────────────────────── Those are known to work with the Standard themes either because their colors are appropriate or because they inherit from basic faces which the themes already cover: • apropos • dim-autoload • hl-todo • icomplete • ido • multiple-cursors • paren-face • which-key • xref Note that “implicitly supported” does not mean that they always fit in perfectly. If there are refinements we need to made, then we need to intervene ([Explicitly supported packages or face groups]). [Explicitly supported packages or face groups] See section 11.1 11.3 Packages that are hard to support ────────────────────────────────────── These are difficult to support due to their (i) incompatibility with the design of the `standard-themes', (ii) complexity or multiple points of entry, (iii) external dependencies, (iv) existence of better alternatives in my opinion, or (v) inconsiderate use of color out-of-the-box and implicit unwillingness to be good Emacs citizens: avy its UI is prone to visual breakage and is hard to style correctly. calibredb has an external dependency that I don’t use. ctrlf use the built-in isearch or the `consult-line' command of `consult'. dired+ it is complex and makes inconsiderate use of color. ein (Emacs IPython Notebook) external dependency that I don’t use. ement.el has an external dependency that I don’t use. helm it is complex and makes inconsiderate use of color. Prefer the `vertico', `consult', and `embark' packages. info+ it is complex and makes inconsiderate use of color. ivy/counsel/swiper use the `vertico', `consult', and `embark' packages which are designed to be compatible with standard Emacs mechanisms and are modular. lsp-mode has external dependencies that I don’t use. solaire in principle, it is incompatible with practically every theme that is not designed around it. Emacs does not distinguish between “UI” and “syntax” buffers. sx has an external dependency that I don’t use. telega has an external dependency that I don’t use (I don’t even have a smartphone). treemacs it has too many dependencies and does too many things. web-mode I don’t use all those Web technologies and cannot test this properly without support from an expert. It also defines lots of faces that hardcode color values for no good reason. The above list is non-exhaustive though you get the idea. 12 Acknowledgements ═══════════════════ This project is meant to be a collective effort. Every bit of help matters. Author/maintainer Protesilaos Stavrou. Contributions to code Clemens Radermacher. Ideas and/or user feedback Fritz Grabo, Manuel Uberti, Tassilo Horn. 13 GNU Free Documentation License ═════════════════════════════════ 14 Indices ══════════ 14.1 Function index ─────────────────── 14.2 Variable index ─────────────────── 14.3 Concept index ──────────────────