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Change log of the Modus Themes for GNU Emacs
This document contains the release notes that are included in each tagged commit on the project's main git repository: <https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes>.
The newest release is at the top. Since the notes are meant to be in plain text format, I copy them verbatim.
For further details, please consult these additional resources:
- Manual
- <https://protesilaos.com/modus-themes>
- Screenshots
- <https://protesilaos.com/modus-themes-pictures>
0.13.0
Modus Operandi and Modus Vivendi version 0.13.0
By Protesilaos Stavrou <info@protesilaos.com> on 2020-10-08
This entry documents the changes since version 0.12.0 (2020-08-26).
There have been around 150 commits in the meantime, making this the
largest release to date (though sheer volume should not be conflated
with quality, of which there is plenty).
As always, everything described herein conforms with the overarching
accessibility objective of the themes for a minimum contrast ratio of
7:1 between background and foreground values in their given combinations
(conformance with the WCAG AAA standard).
Overview
========
1. There is a new Info manual that documents the customisation options
as well as every other piece of information pertinent to the themes.
You will find it in the Info pages inside of Emacs. Or browse it
online: <https://protesilaos.com/modus-themes>.
2. New customisation options grant users more power to further adapt the
active theme to their preferences.
3. Extended coverage for even more faces and face groups, adding to the
already comprehensive list of directly supported ones.
4. Lots of tweaks to improve the use of colour and avoid exaggerations
(well, "exaggerations" is relative, since the prior state was already
carefully designed).
5. A new page hosts all pictures that demo the themes across a wide
range of scenaria: <https://protesilaos.com/modus-themes-pictures>.
6. Similarly, the change log also has its own dedicated web page:
<https://protesilaos.com/modus-themes-changelog>.
New customisation options
=========================
Note that all customisation options are documented at length in the new
Info manual. What is offered here is not necessarily exhaustive.
Diff styles
-----------
Symbol names ("choice" type):
+ modus-operandi-theme-diffs
+ modus-vivendi-theme-diffs
Possible values:
1. nil (default)
2. desaturated
2. fg-only
DEPRECATED ("boolean" type):
+ modus-operandi-theme-subtle-diffs
+ modus-vivendi-theme-subtle-diffs
This option supersedes older ones while retaining their functionality.
The default remains unaltered, meaning that the diffs will use fairly
prominent colour-coded combinations for the various elements (e.g. green
text on an unambiguously green backdrop).
A 'desatured' value will tone down the default aesthetic, giving a less
vibrant feel.
While 'fg-only' removes almost all coloured backgrounds, opting to apply
colour only to the relevant text (this was the case with the
now-deprecated options). There are some exceptions, like word-wise or
"refined" diffs, which still use coloured backgrounds to convey their
meaning.
Modeline styles
---------------
Symbol names ("choice" type):
+ modus-operandi-theme-mode-line
+ modus-vivendi-theme-mode-line
Possible values:
1. nil (default)
2. 3d
3. moody
DEPRECATED ("boolean" type):
+ modus-operandi-theme-3d-modeline
+ modus-vivendi-theme-3d-modeline
The default modeline continues to be a two-dimensional rectangle with a
border around it. Active and inactive modelines use different colour
combinations for their main background and foreground.
Option '3d' produces an effect similar to what you get in a generic
Emacs session, where the active modeline has a pseudo three-dimensional
effect applied to it. This option offers the same functionality as that
of the deprecated variables.
Option 'moody' is designed specifically for use with the Moody library,
though it can also be used without it. Instead of implementing a box
effect, it applies an overline and underline instead, while also toning
down the inactive modeline.
Thanks to Nicolas De Jaeghere for the feedback and code samples in issue
80: <https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/80>
Headline styles
---------------
Symbol names ("alist" type):
+ modus-operandi-theme-headings
+ modus-vivendi-theme-headings
DEPRECATED ("boolean" type):
+ modus-operandi-theme-rainbow-headings
+ modus-operandi-theme-section-headings
+ modus-vivendi-theme-rainbow-headings
+ modus-vivendi-theme-section-headings
Possible values, which can be specified for each heading level (examples
further below):
0. nil (default fallback option---covers all heading levels)
1. t (default style for a single heading, when the fallback differs)
2. no-bold
3. line
4. line-no-bold
5. rainbow
6. rainbow-line
7. rainbow-line-no-bold
8. highlight
9. highlight-no-bold
10. rainbow-highlight
11. rainbow-highlight-no-bold
12. section
13. section-no-bold
14. rainbow-section
15. rainbow-section-no-bold
This supersedes and greatly expands upon what the deprecated variables
once offered. It is now possible to (i) benefit from more stylistic
choices, and (ii) apply them on a per-level basis.
As always, the defaults remain in tact: headings are just rendered in a
bold weight and their colours are not too saturated to offer a plain
text impression that relies on typography to convey its meaning.
The info manual explains the details. A few examples:
;; Per-level styles (t means everything else)
(setq modus-operandi-theme-headings
'((1 . highlight)
(2 . line)
(t . rainbow-line-no-bold)))
;; Uniform style for all levels
(setq modus-operandi-theme-headings
'((t . rainbow-line-no-bold)))
;; Default style for level 1, while others differ
(setq modus-operandi-theme-headings
'((1 . t)
(2 . line)
(t . rainbow-line-no-bold)))
Thanks to Adam Spiers for the feedback in issue 81:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/81>. Also thanks
to Nicolas De Jaeghere for helping refine relevant stylistic choices:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/90>.
No link underlines
------------------
Symbol names ("boolean" type):
+ modus-operandi-theme-no-link-underline
+ modus-vivendi-theme-no-link-underline
Possible values:
1. nil (default)
2. t
By default, the themes apply an underline effect to links, symbolic
links, and buttons. Users can now disable this style by setting the new
option to 't'.
Thanks to Utkarsh Singh for the feedback in issue 94:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/94>
No mixed fonts
--------------
Symbol names ("boolean" type):
+ modus-operandi-theme-no-mixed-fonts
+ modus-vivendi-theme-no-mixed-fonts
Possible values:
1. nil (default)
2. t
By default, the themes configure some spacing-sensitive faces, such as
Org tables and code blocks, to always inherit from the 'fixed-pitch'
face (documented in the manual). This is to ensure that those
constructs remain monospaced when users opt for something like the
built-in 'M-x variable-pitch-mode'. Otherwise the layout would break.
The obvious downside with this theme design is that users need to
explicitly configure the font family of 'fixed-pitch' in order to apply
their desired typeface (how to do this is also covered in the manual).
That may be something they do not want to do. Hence this option to
disable any kind of font mixing done by the active theme. Set it to
't'.
Support for new faces or face groups
====================================
+ awesome-tray
+ binder
+ cperl-mode
+ eldoc-highlight-function-argument
+ erc escaped colour sequences
+ eshell-syntax-highlighting
+ flycheck-color-mode-line
+ isearch regexp groups (Emacs version >= 28)
+ mpdel
+ objed
+ org 9.4 new faces: 'org-headline-todo' and 'org-table-header'
+ racket-mode
+ typescript-mode
Thanks to:
+ Damien Cassou for reporting the issue with mpdel:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/99>
+ Dario Gjorgjevski for reporting the issue with erc:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/92>
+ Markus Beppler for contributing the patch for cperl-mode:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/merge_requests/11>
+ User "Moesasji" for reporting the issue with objed:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/79>
Refinements to existing faces
=============================
+ calfw applies colours and styles in a way that makes it consistent
with the rest of the themes' metaphors.
+ diredfl makes more considerate use of colour. We still apply colour
everywhere (the whole point of this package) but make sure to avoid
exaggerations.
+ doom-modeline-battery-error face fits better with the rest of the
design.
+ elfeed search buffers use less intense colours, while still keeping
all elements fairly distinct. The intent is to avoid a "rainbow
effect" in such a dense interface.
+ elfeed read and unread items are more distinct.
+ git commit and vc log edit messages benefit from refined colour
combinations for their various constructs. The commit's summary is
now rendered in a bold weight, to better convey the idea that this is
a quasi heading element.
+ gnus heading colours are more consistent. All information remains
clearly distinct, but we now avoid using colours that are on opposite
sides of the colour spectrum. Basically to keep things distinct
without going over the top.
+ gnus read and unread items are easier to tell apart. Thanks to user
"Nick" for reporting the issue:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/97>.
+ help-argument-name has a distinct foreground colour, so that it is
easier to spot it in "*Help*" buffers. Its slant is also controlled
by the active theme's customisation option for slanted constructs (nil
by default---check the manual).
+ helpful-heading now is consistent with other heading styles. Thanks
to Nicolas De Jaeghere for reporting the issue:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/90>.
+ icomplete, ido, orderless are all tweaked to work better under various
circumstances.
+ info-menu-star uses a red colour to make it easier to select a menu
entry by estimating its number. This face applies to every third
element and is a nice little extra to have.
+ info quoted strings are configured to always render in 'fixed-pitch',
in line with the themes' design for mixed fonts (remember to check the
relevant customisation option).
+ line numbers work properly with 'text-scale-adjust'. Thanks to user
"jixiuf" for reporting the issue:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/98>.
+ line-number-current-line no longer applies a bold weight to its text.
This is to avoid a certain "jump effect" while moving between lines,
where the affected numbers grow and shrink in weight as the line
changes (once you see it, you will know what I mean).
+ line-number-major-tick and line-number-minor-tick do use a bold weight
because they are fixed on the scale. Their colours are also improved
to better complement their intended role (these faces are for Emacs 27
or higher).
+ magit-diff-file-heading-selection, magit-diff-hunk-heading-selection
use more appropriate colour combinations.
+ markdown blockquotes and org quote blocks use a different foreground,
which is colder than the previous one. Just to make sure that they
are not mistaken for inline code.
+ message headers use less exaggerated colour combinations. The
differences are fairly minor.
+ message-mml no longer uses a green foreground, as that could
potentially cause confusion with quoted text in some cases. A unique,
albeit less saturated, foreground is used instead.
+ message-separator uses a more neutral colour combination, while
retaining its overall uniqueness within its context (i.e. mail
composition).
+ modeline colours are refined to improve the contrast between active
and inactive states.
+ mu4e-replied-face has a new colour that accounts for colour distance
relative to its context. Thanks to Shreyas Ragavan for reporting the
issue: <https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/69>.
+ org agenda date and structure no longer behave like headings in other
Org buffers. Instead, they have their own styles to better perform
their intended function and to avoid exaggerations.
+ org agenda dimmed to-do items (which have blocked sub-items) are no
longer assigned a subtle grey background colour. They are instead
rendered with a bold weight and a subtle grey foreground to minimise
distractions. Thanks to Roman Rudakov for reporting this in issue
101: <https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/101>.
+ org agenda clocked items are configured to extend their background to
the edge of the window. Otherwise they are cut off at the last text
character, which creates inconsistencies while using tags: a tag is
placed to the right so the background extends further than without
them. Based again on the feedback of Roman Rudakov in issue 101:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/101>.
+ org agenda current time no longer uses a background. A bold weight
and a blue foreground are applied instead. The intent is to keep
things clean. This is also covered by Roman Rudakov's feedback in
issue 101: <https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/101>.
+ org-checkbox-statistics-done, org-checkbox-statistics-todo inherit
from org-done and org-todo respectively, instead of defining their own
properties.
+ org drawers and their data now use 'fixed-pitch' in the interest of
consistency with other metadata-like faces. Thanks (yet again!) to
Nicolas De Jaeghere for reporting the issue:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/91>.
+ org-footnote underlines will now always use the same colour, instead
of applying the one of other coloured constructs (e.g. when the
footnote is inline and part of the text is rendered as verbatim).
+ org-meta-line is less prominent and, thus, more consistent with other
metadata-related constructs.
+ org-roam faces are updated to match the current state of the upstream
project. The main colour of org-roam links is now different than that
of standard links in an attempt to differentiate between the two (due
to their unique semantics). If this is not desired, you can evaluate
the following:
(setq org-roam-link-use-custom-faces nil)
+ org-todo, org-done, as well as relevant faces such as priorities and
statistics are reviewed to work better with all heading combinations.
Though please read the next section about "adaptive headings", as such
workarounds will no longer be necessary for future stable releases of
Org.
+ selectrum uses different styles than before to account for its unique
property of overlaying matching characters on top of the current
line's background. We want to avoid scenaria where matches are
difficult to discern and the current line is not clear.
+ vc modeline states benefit from improved colour choices. Just minor
adjustments to account for the review of the base modeline colours.
+ vterm base colours now are variants of gray to ensure that some tools,
such as zsh suggestions work properly. Thanks to user "jixiuf" for
reporting this issue and suggesting a possible solution:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/93>.
Contributions to the wider community
====================================
Sometimes the themes reveal bugs in other packages. It is of paramount
importance that we report those to the upstream developers, try to help
them reproduce the issue, and, where possible, support them in tracing
the problem's root cause.
Four such cases during this release:
1. Adaptive Org headings. Solved upstream and documented on my website:
<https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2020-09-24-org-headings-adapt/>.
Reported and discussed on the themes' issue tracker:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/37>.
2. Alignment of Org tags with proportional fonts. Ongoing thread:
<https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-orgmode/2020-09/msg00415.html>.
Reported and discussed on the themes' issue tracker:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/85>.
3. Org priority cookie has extra space. Ongoing thread:
<https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-orgmode/2020-09/msg00696.html>.
Reported and discussed on the themes' issue tracker, with feedback
from Roman Rudakov:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/95>.
4. Company overlay pop-up misaligns items. Reported upstream and
acknowledged as a known issue that occurs in certain cases:
<https://github.com/company-mode/company-mode/issues/1010>.
Discussion on the themes' issue tracker, with feedback from Iris
Garcia: <https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/96>.
Miscellaneous
=============
+ Belatedly (by about 2 weeks) pushed tag for version 0.12.0. Thanks to
Alex Griffin for bringing this to my attention:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/89>
+ Fixed a bug with how some older customisation options were declared as
obsolete. Thanks to Tassilo Horn for noticing and reporting the
problem: <https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/88>.
+ Fixed a misplaced optional prefix argument in the manual for how to
switch themes using a custom function. Thanks to Manuel Uberti for
catching this omission of mine and reporting it:
<https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/84>.
+ Silenced the Elisp package linter for a spurious error on a single
eldoc face. Thanks to Steve Purcell for the guidance:
<https://github.com/purcell/package-lint/issues/187>.
+ Defined two new dedicated background colours for exceptional cases.
These are intended for internal use in very special circumstances.
+ Reword GuixSD to "Guix System" in the list of package formats
currently available.
+ Reviewed the main blue colours for both themes. While the changes are
practically impossible to discern upon first sight, the process was
far from straightforward. A complete report documents the minutia:
<https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2020-09-14-modus-themes-review-blues/>.
+ Reviewed the "active" palette subset, typically used in the modelines.
No report was necessary for those, as the changes were fairly simple.
+ Reviewed the "intense" background colour that comes into effect when
users opt for the customisation option for intense paren-match styles
(check the manual). Both the hue and the saturation have been changed
to better conform with the intended function of this particular entry.
+ Reviewed the fringe-specific accented backgrounds. Commit 7316e3320
contains tables that compare the relative luminance of old and new
values.
+ Improved the advice for setting fonts using 'set-face-attribute'. The
information is in the manual and is also available as a blog entry:
<https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2020-09-05-emacs-note-mixed-font-heights/>.
+ Rewrote an expression as "(or x y)" instead of "(if x x y)" in one
place. Just goes to show that tweaking the code is also part of the
deal.
+ Abstracted and simplified heading level properties by using bespoke
theme faces. Makes it easier to keep things consistent across the
various face groups.
+ Same principle as above for diff-related styles.
+ Users who prefer to do things their own way or who just wish to
contribute code to the Modus themes may wish to read my "Notes for
aspiring Emacs theme developers":
<https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2020-08-28-notes-emacs-theme-devs/>.
This has been yet another period of intense work: reviewing faces and
applying colours is never easy, adding new customisation options is
always tricky, and documenting everything takes a lot of time (unless
you do all of those on a whimsy, which hopefully is not the case here).
Thanks again to everyone who helped improve the themes!0.12.0
Modus Operandi and Modus Vivendi version 0.12.0
By Protesilaos Stavrou <info@protesilaos.com> on 2020-08-26
This entry documents the set of changes since version 0.11.0
(2020-07-31). There have been around 70 commits in the meatime, though
the sheer number may obfuscate the fact that a lot of work has gone into
this release.
As always, every change described here conforms with the accessibility
objective of the themes for a minimum 7:1 contrast ratio between
background and foreground values in their given combinations
(conformance with the WCAG AAA standard).
New customisation options
=========================
1 Completion Frameworks
-----------------------
The star of the show has to be the new option that refashions the
aesthetics of completion UIs: Helm, Icomplete, Ido, Ivy, Sallet,
Selectrum. The 'modus-operandi-theme-completions' and
'modus-vivendi-theme-completions' accept the following symbols:
+ nil (default)
+ moderate
+ opinionated
Nil means that the overall presentation of the UI follows the patterns
established by its own source code. For example, Ivy uses four distinct
background and foreground combinations of accented colours to highlight
the matching groups. A grey background is added to denote the implicit
match between those groups. So we choose to respect this metaphor,
while applying colours that conform with the accessibility goal of our
project. Whereas Icomplete or Ido use subtle styles to present their
results. Again, we remain faithful to their presentation.
With 'moderate', we apply nuanced background and foreground combinations
of accented colour values. This will slightly tone down Helm, Ivy,
Sallet, Selectrum, while it will slightly adjust the looks of Icomplete
and Ido.
Whereas 'opinionated' has a more pronounced effect on the overall
aesthetics of the UI. For the likes of Icomplete and Ido which are
subtle by default, this option will use intense combinations of
background and foreground colours. They are the diametric opposite of
the nil value. Whereas Helm, Ivy, Sallet, Selectrum, will use even more
subtle colours. Again, they are farther away than their default looks.
These new options supersede the now-deprecated and more limited in scope
variables of prior releases:
+ modus-operandi-theme-intense-standard-completions
+ modus-vivendi-theme-intense-standard-completions
Thanks to the following people for their valuable feedback in issue 75:
https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/75
+ Anders Johansson
+ Manuel Uberti
+ Shreyas Ragavan
2 Prompts
---------
The 'modus-operandi-theme-prompts' and modus-vivendi-theme-prompts' will
change the overall looks of minibuffer and shell prompts ('M-x shell' as
well as 'M-x eshell'). Their possible values are:
+ nil (default)
+ subtle
+ intense
Nil will only use a coloured foreground for the prompts' text. Simple
and effective.
With 'subtle', the default foreground value is retained but is now
complemented by an appropriately tinted background. The effect is more
noticeable than the default, though not by much.
While 'intense' applies a coloured background and foreground combination
that should clearly stand out from the rest of the context.
Thanks to Manuel Uberti for sharing feedback in issue 74:
https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/74
3 Fringe visibility
-------------------
A new pair of symbols supersedes older variables:
+ modus-operandi-theme-visible-fringes ==> modus-operandi-theme-fringes
+ modus-vivendi-theme-visible-fringes ==> modus-vivendi-theme-fringes
While the deprecated options were booleans, the current ones offer a
choice between the following:
+ nil (default)
+ subtle
+ intense
Nil means that the fringes have no distinct background of their own.
They still exist per the settings of 'fringe-mode', but can only be
discerned by tracking the negative space between the frame's or window's
edge and the buffer's effective boundaries.
The 'subtle' value will apply a greyscale background that is fairly
close to the default main background (pure white/black). The fringes
are now visible.
As its name implies, 'intense' has a more pronounced effect than the
other values. It also uses a greyscale background.
Review of already supported faces and colours
=============================================
1 Magit blame styles
--------------------
The headers that Magit's blame interface produces were difficult to tell
apart from their context. A set of carefully selected colours now makes
sure that they are always distinct. Some subtle background values are
used, in addition to other typographic elements.
Thanks to Damien Cassou for reporting this problem and for providing
valuable feedback that informed the final design. Refer to issue 71:
https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/71
2 Paren match colours
---------------------
The face that highlights the matching delimiter when 'show-paren-mode'
(or equivalent) is enabled uses two dedicated colours, whose names are:
'bg-paren-match' and 'bg-paren-match-intense'. Those have been reviewed
to make them more obvious in various contexts and to improve their
overall consistency.
A report with relative contrast ratios is available on my website:
https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2020-08-09-modus-themes-paren-match/
I benefited from valuable feedback from Shreyas Ragavan in issue 70:
https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/70
3 Mu4e faces
------------
Some faces were tweaked to make it easier to distinguish replied,
forwarded, and draft messages from other headers. The changes are
fairly small in scope, but the effect should be that of an overall
improvement.
Thanks to Shreyas Ragavan for noticing these inconsistencies and for
their continued participation in addressing them. See issue 69:
https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/69
4 Notmuch message headings
--------------------------
A couple of inconsistencies with how notmuch would style email addresses
and folded messages were addressed. The generic 'italic' face was also
tweaked in the process, removing the foreground it would falsely define.
Thanks to Damien Cassou for bringing these to my attention in issue 72:
https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/72
5 hl-todo
---------
Let the special keywords of 'hl-todo-mode' use an optional slant, just
like code comments do. This is to ensure that they feel part of their
context.
6 Magit general interface
-------------------------
Several faces were reviewed in the interest of colour harmony and to
address potential inconsistencies or exaggerations. The most noticeable
change pertains to the log views, as we now use fewer accent values,
reducing whatever unnecessary "rainbow effect" may have existed.
7 VC commit logs
----------------
The presentation of 'vc-print-log' and 'vc-print-root-log' has been
reviewed to reduce the stark contrast between the colours it once used.
While the elements remain distinct, the differences between them are
more subtle, which is preferable when viewing long lists of
similar-looking patterns.
8 Powerline
-----------
The active and inactive minibuffers now use appropriate accented
backgrounds or foregrounds for some of their elements. This makes them
better for their intended function.
Thanks to Shreyas Ragavan and tycho garen for their feedback in issue
73, which was actually about adding support for Spaceline. It uses
Powerline as its dependency, so we eventually had to accommodate both of
them: https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/73
Shreyas also helped by adding a short note in the README which informs
users of those two packages on how to tweak things when conducting tests
or changing themes. See merge requests 9 and 10:
+ https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/merge_requests/9
+ https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/merge_requests/10
9 Latex sectioning
------------------
The themes will no longer affect the height of the Latex sectioning
faces. This is because there already exists a variable that scales them
accordingly.
Thanks to Anders Johansson for providing insights in issue 77:
https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/77
10 Transient pop-up menu
------------------------
Extended support for its new colour-coded faces that follow in the
footsteps of the 'hydra' package for visual semantics.
11 Miscellaneous
----------------
The following faces were refined:
+ 'org-formula' inherits from 'fixed-pitch' to ensure that it does not
break table layouts when the user opts for a mixed-font setup (such as
with 'M-x variable-pitch-mode').
+ 'bongo-elapsed-track-part' uses a more appropriate accented
background.
+ 'symbol-overlay-default-face' is less intense than before. This is in
response to feedback I received from Manuel Uberti as an aside in
issue 75: https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/75
+ 'rectangle-preview' uses a slightly accented background, which
distinguishes it from the highlighted region. This is to denote a
different state where the user is typing in some text.
+ 'diff-hl-change' now uses the more appropriate yellow colour instead
of blue. Yellow denotes "mixed changes" and, therefore, stands
between "removed" (red) and "added" (green). As it so happens, yellow
is a colour that derives by mixing red with green.
New packages
============
The following are now explicitly supported by the themes:
+ org-table-sticky-header
+ pkgbuild-mode
+ semantic
+ spaceline
More faces or face groups that are defined:
+ git-rebase (magit)
+ doom-modeline-debug-visual
+ file-name-shadow
+ the faces used by Emacs 27's 'display-line-numbers-major-tick' and
'display-line-numbers-minor-tick'
+ table-cell
Final notes
===========
There now exists an HTML version of the README, which will hopefully
make things easier for users: https://protesilaos.com/modus-themes/
Other changes are not user-facing. For example, using 'pcase' instead
of 'cond' to make relevant expressions more succinct. Or defining a
coloured underline in a more straightforward way. No need to document
them at length.
While this release introduces customisation options, it feels as though
the themes are approaching a stable state. We know what works, we have
a comprehensive colour palette that can meet our evolving needs, and we
have already achieved broad package/face coverage. All while conforming
with the overarching objective of this project for a minimum 7:1
contrast ratio between background and foreground values in any given
combination we specify.
I wish to thank everyone who has helped me by testing things and sharing
their thoughts. The people already mentioned herein:
- Anders Johansson (https://gitlab.com/andersjohansson)
- Damien Cassou (https://gitlab.com/DamienCassou)
- Manuel Uberti (https://gitlab.com/muberti)
- Shreyas Ragavan (https://gitlab.com/shrysr)
- tycho garen (https://gitlab.com/tychoish)0.11.0
Modus Operandi and Modus Vivendi version 0.11.0
By Protesilaos Stavrou <info@protesilaos.com> on 2020-07-31
This entry records the changes since version 0.10.0 (2020-06-24). The
present release covers close to 100 commits, some of which introduce
far-reaching changes. It is not just the quantity that matters.
Sometimes even a minor tweak requires lots of testing and forethought.
This release represents another month of intense work and attention to
detail.
Palette review of "nuanced" colours
===================================
The themes contain a subset of palette variables that have a two-fold
utility:
1. Provide a subtle coloured background that can be combined with all
foreground colours that are intended for text/code highlighting.
2. Produce variegated text in cases where complementary information
needs to be displayed alongside some more prominent construct
(e.g. Org table formulas).
In early July 2020, these colours went through a comprehensive review to
improve their intended use. The complete report is available on my
website:
<https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2020-07-08-modus-themes-nuanced-colours/>
This formed the preparatory work that enabled several of the changes
documented herein, most noticeable among which is the "Org blocks"
customisation option.
Customisation options
=====================
Org blocks
----------
1. The symbols 'modus-operandi-theme-distinct-org-blocks' and
'modus-vivendi-theme-distinct-org-blocks' are DEPRECATED. They are
now REPLACED by the general-purpose 'modus-operandi-theme-org-blocks'
and 'modus-vivendi-theme-org-blocks' respectively.
2. The aforementioned new symbols allow users to configure different
styles for Org blocks.
+ Option 'greyscale' (which you must quote like this: 'greyscale)
will apply a subtle grey background to the contents of the block,
while it will extend its beginning and end lines to ensure that the
area is distinct from the rest of the buffer. This is the style
you would normally get with the old customisation options.
+ Option 'rainbow' (again, must be quoted) will instead apply a
colour-coded subtle background in the main area of the block. The
exact colour depends on the programming language being used. You
would need to check the source code for how these are currently
mapped (search for "org-src-block-faces"). The basic idea is to
have different colours that make it easier for mixing the
input/output of multiple programming languages. Users who engage
in literate programming may find this particularly useful. Because
the block is already quite apparent, the beginning and end lines
are not extended to the edge of the window, to avoid exaggerations
that could create distractions.
Variable pitch headings (proportionately-spaced headings)
---------------------------------------------------------
The symbols 'modus-operandi-theme-proportional-fonts' and
'modus-vivendi-theme-proportional-fonts' are DEPRECATED. They are now
REPLACED by the more appropriately-named
'modus-operandi-theme-variable-pitch-headings' and
'modus-vivendi-theme-variable-pitch-headings' respectively.
The intended effect is exactly the same as before, namely, to let
headings in Org and relevant modes use a proportionately-spaced font
regardless of what the default is (typically a monospaced typeface).
Remember that to configure the exact font family for the generic
'variable-pitch' face, you can use something like this:
(set-face-attribute 'variable-pitch nil :family "FiraGO")
Check the README for further details on setting and mixing fonts.
Faint syntax for programming
----------------------------
Users can now enable 'modus-operandi-theme-faint-syntax' or
'modus-vivendi-theme-faint-syntax'. The intended effect is to tone down
all syntax highlighting in programming modes, while always respecting
the overarching objective of these themes for a minimum contrast ratio
of 7:1 (highest accessibility standard for colour contrast---WCAG AAA).
The default is to use more saturated colours.
Intense hl-line
---------------
Toggling on 'modus-operandi-theme-intense-hl-line' or
'modus-vivendi-theme-intense-hl-line' will apply a more pronounced grey
to the background of faces that highlight the current line. This
affects tools such as the built-in 'hl-line-mode', which is in turn
enabled automatically by lots of other packages, like 'elfeed' and
'mu4e'.
The default is to use a subtle grey.
Intense paren-match
-------------------
Same principle as above. 'modus-operandi-theme-intense-paren-match' and
'modus-vivendi-theme-intense-paren-match' will make the matching
parentheses more intense than the default subtle warm background. This
concerns modes such as that of the 'smartparens' package as well as the
built-in 'show-paren-mode'.
Refactored the use of bold
==========================
A major review of the themes now makes it possible to specify the exact
weight of what a "bold" typeface is. This is only meaningful for cases
where a font family has variants such as "semibold".
Evaluate this, replacing "semibold" with the one your typeface supports:
(set-face-attribute 'bold nil :weight 'semibold)
The default is to use a standard bold weight.
Packages and face groups
========================
Refine already-supported faces
------------------------------
+ The following packages now use more appropriate colour combinations:
- diary
- annotate
- transient (magit pop-up menu, though also used elsewhere)
- fountain
- calendar
- mu4e
- markdown-mode
- outline-minor-faces
+ Other changes:
- org-agenda has undergone a thoroughgoing review to improve the
semantics of colour for scheduled tasks, deadlines, modeline
filters, current date etc.
- org and outline-mode headings have been refined to look better with
the "rainbow headings" option that was introduced in an earlier
release (check the README).
- org-quote now works properly with the "Org blocks" option mentioned
above.
- org-checkbox-statistics uses the same foreground colour as org-todo,
for the sake of consistency.
- org-date now always inherits from 'fixed-pitch', to ensure proper
alignment of elements when a mixed fonts setup is used (tools for
achieving this effect are documented at length in the README). The
relevant patch was contributed by Matthew Stevenson.
- org-meta-line no longer looks like a comment, which helps denote its
special utility (e.g. when evaluating a table's formula).
- org-warning now uses a variant of red for its text, which works
better in the contexts this face is used (e.g. the agenda or the
export dispatcher).
- We now apply a slightly more accented colour combination for
'secondary-selection', which is chiefly used by Org and Calendar in
various contexts.
- Gnus group level faces make more considerate use of colour to better
denote their significance.
- Cited text in message buffers has a better sequence of colours.
- Two new Helm faces are supported.
- Let 'keycast' use a different border colour when the "3D modeline"
option is enabled (refer to the README for that option).
- Extend 'hl-todo-keyword-faces' with the "bug" keyword.
- More intense colour for 'diff-hl-reverted-hunk-highlight'.
- Tone down the focused modeline's border colour.
- Define new bespoke faces that the themes use internally.
- Use more appropriate colours for 'header-line-highlight'.
- Apply greyscale line highlight for flycheck current line in the
diagnostics buffer, instead of the warmer colour combination it had
before.
- Tweak text colour difference between MU4E read and unread messages.
Added support for new packages
------------------------------
+ bongo
+ boon
+ dictionary
+ eshell-fringe-status
+ eshell-git-prompt
+ eshell-prompt-extras
+ highlight-tail
+ hl-defined
+ notmuch
+ tty-menu
Miscellaneous
=============
+ Expand the README with new documentation and clarify parts of the
existing one.
+ Update the Wiki page with screenshots and their descriptions (this in
itself is a day's worth of work):
https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/wikis/Screenshots
+ Make the source code of each theme work better with the built-in
'outline-minor-mode'. Check my video if you need a demo on how I use
this in tandem with 'imenu':
https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2020-07-20-emacs-outline-imenu/
Thanks to, in no particular order:
+ Shreyas Ragavan (https://gitlab.com/shrysr) for introducing me to the
idea that derived the "rainbow" Org blocks and for providing valuable
feedback in several issues.
+ Matthew Stevenson (https://gitlab.com/matth0204) for contributing the
aforementioned patch for the 'org-date' face.
+ Manuel Uberti (https://gitlab.com/muberti) for offering valuable
feedback in a number of issues (and special thanks for doing this for
several months now).
+ Dinko (https://gitlab.com/dinkonin) for noticing a not-so-obvious bug
in the initial implementation of the "rainbow Org blocks" option.
+ okamsn (https://gitlab.com/okamsn) for providing the necessary
feedback that allowed me to refactor the use of "bold", mentioned
above.
Refer to the issue tracker (or commit log) for further details:
https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues0.10.0
Modus Operandi and Modus Vivendi version 0.10.0
By Protesilaos Stavrou <info@protesilaos.com> on 2020-06-24
This entry records the changes since version 0.9.0 (2020-06-03). The
present release is focused on stability and internal improvements.
Fixes and adjustments
---------------------
Basil L. Contovounesios, aka @basil-conto, (and also a contributor to
core Emacs) sent several patches that do the following:
+ Fix top-level parentheses so that the results of
'custom-theme-set-faces' and 'custom-theme-set-variables' are not
passed as arguments to the first 'custom-theme-set-faces'.
+ Fix the docstrings of the custom 'modus-theme-*' faces.
+ Simplify the syntax of properties assigned to each face.
+ Improve the way styles are inherited by Dired and Ibuffer.
Basil also pointed out an inconsistency with regard to an unwanted
underline effect for the 'doom-modeline-urgent' face in Modus Vivendi.
It was promptly removed.
From my part, I fixed issues 46 and 51 that concerned the way the
compiler would evaluate each theme's palette. The palette is now
defined as a constant. Further information:
- https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/46
- https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/51
Improvements to existing faces
------------------------------
André Alexandre Gomes (@aadcg) provided valuable feedback and
suggestions in issue 50 on the redesign of several 'org-mode' faces.
The thread is long and contains lots of screenshots:
https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/50
The changes in outline:
+ Org checkboxes have a subtle background which gives them a more
pronounced appearance while retaining their overall simplicity.
+ Org dates use a more saturated variant of cyan than they did before.
It helps distinguish them from their context. Especially true for
dates inside of tables.
+ Org agenda dates have also undergone a slight review to match the
above.
+ Org time grid now uses a more appropriate foreground colour, which has
been designed specifically for unfocused context.
+ Org todo keywords use a more semantically-correct variant of red,
rather than the purple one they had before.
+ Org statistics' cookies for pending tasks use a red variant as well
rather than the previous yellow one, in the interest of consistency
and to avoid exaggerations.
Other internal refinements
--------------------------
+ Subtle review of the Modus Vivendi palette. In short, it addresses:
- Imbalanced levels of luminance and inconsistent differences in hue
between them and their neighbouring colours (e.g. the greens between
them, and the greens next to the yellows in the context of syntax
highlighting). The result was that they would create an undesirable
emphatic 'pop out' effect when placed close to more moderate
colours.
- Differences in luminance and hue could lead to scenaria where two
colours could be conflated with each other or otherwise fail to
perform their intended function.
- The complete report is on my website:
https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2020-06-13-modus-vivendi-palette-review/
+ Major review of the 'diredfl' faces, in the interest of improved
readability and harmony between the various colours. This benefits
from the palette changes in Modus Vivendi, but also from a similar
review to Modus Operandi that was documented in version 0.9.0.
+ Refactor the names of dedicates colours for "marking" purposes. These
are used in Dired, Ibuffer, Proced, etc. Then apply them consistently
throughout each theme.
+ Make sure that 'stripes' uses the same colours as 'hl-line-mode'.
+ Let symlinks use a more appropriate colour in Dired and Trashed.
+ Refine the use of colour in 'magit-tag', 'eshell-prompt',
'message-header-name', 'log-edit-header', 'change-log-function',
'message-mml', 'message-header-name', 'message-separator'. These are
subtle (i.e. difficult) tweaks that improve the overall presentation
in context.
+ Make diff indicators not use an unnecessary background when the
user-facing option for "subtle diffs" is enabled (check the README for
the exact name of this option). This ensures consistency between the
indicators and the actual scope of the diffs.
+ Add support for the 'minibuffer-line' package and extend existing
support of the faces used in the built-in Emacs info pages.
My thanks to Basil and André for their contributions!0.9.0
Modus Operandi and Modus Vivendi version 0.9.0
By Protesilaos Stavrou <info@protesilaos.com> on 2020-06-03
This entry records the changes since version 0.8.0 (2020-04-28). The
present release contains about 50 commits, covering a month of active
development.
All changes are aligned with the primary objective of this project,
which is conformance with the WCAG AAA accessibility standard for colour
contrast. This translates to a minimum contrast ratio of 7:1 between a
given combination of foreground and background colours. The highest
standard of its kind.
All customisation options that are booleans are off ('nil') by default.
The project's policy is to offer such features on an "opt-in" basis,
while always respecting the principle of least surprise.
Refer to the README for further information on the exact names of
symbols and the like.
New customisation options
-------------------------
+ It is now possible to make the faces of Icomplete, Ido, and a few
other related tools such as 'orderless', use coloured backgrounds to
style their feedback. This is the aesthetic already in effect for
Ivy, Helm, and Selectrum. The default is more subtle, in that it uses
just an accented foreground value without any added background.
+ Advanced users can now override both the exact values of colour
variables, as well as the mapping of properties/variables to faces.
In practice this means that it is possible to completely change parts
of the theme (or the entirety of it for that matter). It also means
that users can simply access the theme's palette for the sake of
correctly passing the appropriate value to some bespoke face of
theirs.
+ An extra increment for scaled headings is now available. This should
hold the highest value on the scale. Such variables only take effect
when the user opts for the "scaled headings" option.
Overview of changes
-------------------
+ A set of internal reforms were carried through in order to allow the
colour palette to be accessed from user configuration files. This
required a lot of debugging work to make sure the themes compile
properly and performance is not affected.
- The original idea for this redesign was suggested by Len Trigg in
issue 39: https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/39.
Len also provided a real-world implementation of this new option,
which is included in the project's README.
- André Alexandre Gomes helped figure out the problems caused by the
initial design of this feature. In particular, André identified a
performance penalty as well as errors pertaining to byte
compilation. Everything was eventually resolved. For more see
issue 44: https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/44.
+ Several org-mode faces were reviewed in order to cope well with mixed
font settings. This is about use-cases where the main typeface is
proportionately-spaced, either by default or by some minor mode like
the built-in 'variable-pitch-mode'. The intent of configuring those
faces is to make them always inherit a fixed-pitch (monospace) font
family, in the interest of preserving the alignment of elements. The
idea, suggested code, as well as user feedback were offered by Ben in
issue 40: https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/40.
+ Mixed font settings may have some side-effects depending on user
configurations. This is unavoidable as we cannot control how users
define their fonts. Mark Barton reported one such case, while he was
able to fix it by making use of the suggested typeface definitions.
See issue 42: https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/42.
+ The faces for the 'tab-bar-mode' and 'tab-line-mode' that ship with
Emacs 27 were written anew. Same for those of 'centaur-tabs'. The
ideas for the redesign as well as the overall aesthetic are Ben's, per
issue 41: https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/41.
+ An edge case with Helm's interpretation of colour values for its
ripgrep interface was reported by Manuel Uberti in issue 49:
https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/issues/49. It
essentially had to do with the syntax for the regexp engine as read by
the underlying 'rg' executable. Collaboration on that front
eventually led to fixes in Helm itself, committed by its maintainer.
Note that the README for the Modus themes already contains information
on how Helm applies a face to the matches of grep or grep-like
commands. Issue 49 confirmed what was already known in that regard
(i.e. that the "--color=never" command-line option is required to use
the Helm face, else a colour value from the ANSI colour vector is
used---both are supported by the themes).
+ The faces for Flycheck, Flymake, and Flyspell that would apply an
underline effect were completely rewritten to account for relevant
differences between GUI and TUI Emacs.
- For GUI Emacs, all affected faces will now just use a colour-coded
wavy underline. Empowered by the introduction of dedicated
linter-related colours in prior commits (for version 0.8.0), we no
longer have to change the foreground value of the offending text in
addition to applying the underline effect. Whereas before the text
would also get repainted, which was too intrusive in most
circumstances.
- If support for wavy underlines is not available, we assume the
presence of a TUI, which generally is relatively more limited in its
ability to reproduce colours with precision (meaning that the
dedicated linter colour could be distorted, potentially producing
inaccessible combinations). So for those cases we apply a straight
underline combined with a colour-coded foreground for the affected
text. This makes it more intense compared to the GUI equivalent,
but is the necessary course of action to overcome the constraints
imposed by the underlying terminal.
+ The palette of Modus Operandi underwent lots of subtle changes to make
the background value of hl-line-mode more visible while retaining the
overall style and character of the theme. In principle, you should
not be able to tell the difference, unless presented with a careful
side-by-side comparison. This is the comprehensive report, including
a reproducible org-mode document with all the relevant contrast ratios:
https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2020-05-10-modus-operandi-palette-review/.
+ Fixed `org-hide' to actually "hide" by using the appropriate colour
value.
+ Several other face groups received minor tweaks.
+ The README was improved to better present the available customisation
options and to cover other topics of interest.
+ Updated the screen shots and their description in the relevant Wiki
page: https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/wikis/Screenshots.
Added support for
-----------------
+ circe
+ el-search
+ eros
+ golden-ratio-scroll-screen
+ highlight-indentation
+ hyperlist
+ indium
+ journalctl-mode
+ minimap
+ nxml-mode
+ vdiff
+ yasnippet0.8.0
Modus Operandi and Modus Vivendi version 0.8.0
By Protesilaos Stavrou <info@protesilaos.com> on 2020-04-28
This entry records the changes since version 0.7.0 (2020-03-30). The
present release contains a little more than a hundred commits, covering
one month of intense work.
All changes are aligned with the primary objective of this project,
which is conformance with the WCAG AAA accessibility standard for colour
contrast. This translates to a minimum contrast ratio of 7:1 between a
given combination of foreground and background colours.
All customisation options mentioned herein are off ('nil') by default.
The project's policy is to offer such features on an "opt-in" basis,
while always respecting the principle of least surprise.
Refer to the README for further information.
Four new customisation options
------------------------------
The options in outline, with their detailed description below:
+ Rainbow headings
+ Section headings
+ 3D modeline
+ Subtle diffs
1. "Rainbow headings" will apply more vivid colours to headings in
'org-mode' and 'outline-mode'. The gradation is similar to that of a
rainbow's colour spectrum.
The default is to use colour values that are closer to the grey
scale.
2. "Section headings" also apply to 'org-mode' and 'outline-mode'. They
will draw an overline over each heading and use a nuanced background
colour that is appropriate for each level. For Org, this option has
some additional effects, where it will render keywords and priority
cookies in a box and add to them a subtle background. This is to
make sure that everything feels consistent (to the extent possible).
The default is to not use overlines, backgrounds, boxes in any of the
relevant faces. This is consistent with the standard austere
colouration of headings: to not deviate too much from a "plain text"
aesthetic.
NOTE: "rainbow headings" and "section headings" can work on their own or
be combined together.
3. "3D modeline" will use a faux unpressed button style for the current
window's modeline (like the standard looks of 'emacs -Q'). The
colours used for the active and inactive modelines are tweaked
accordingly to maximise the effect while retaining the visual
distinction between them.
The default is to draw the modelines in a two-dimensional style, with
the active one having a more noticeable border around it.
4. "Subtle diffs" will use colour-coded text for line-wise differences
without applying any appropriately-coded background value or, where
necessary, by using only a subtle greyscale background. This affects
'diff-mode', 'magit', 'ediff', and 'smerge-mode'. For Magit an extra
set of tweaks is implemented to account for the differentiation
between the focused and unfocused diff hunks.
Due to their unique requirements, word-wise or refined changes are
always drawn with a colour-coded background, though it is less
intense when this option is enabled.
The default is to use a colour-coded background and foreground
combination (e.g. light green text on a dark green backdrop) and to
make appropriate adjustments for refined diffs and modes of
interaction such as Magit's focused/unfocused diff states.
Other major refinements
-----------------------
+ Thoroughly revise the colours of 'ediff' and 'smerge-mode', so that
they are aligned with those of 'diff-mode' and 'magit'. This is in
addition to the "subtle diffs" options mentioned in the previous
section.
+ Review the faces used by Flycheck and Flymake. A wavy/curly underline
is now used in all terminals that support it. The underlined text is
drawn with a more nuanced foreground than before. The previous design
was exaggerating an already clear effect and could make things more
difficult under certain circumstances.
+ All language checkers, including the aforementioned linter front-ends,
now benefit from a new set of colours that are designed specifically
for this particular purpose. Makes the affected faces feel more
different than their context.
+ Use dedicated colours for escape sequences, regular expression
constructs, and quoted characters. The goal is to better
differentiate them from their surroundings.
+ Tweak the colours of 'hydra' to improve the distinction between its
various types of behaviour.
+ Reduce the overall luminance of the background colours used in the
fringes by the likes of 'flycheck', 'flymake', 'diff-hl', etc. They
should now not stand out more than they should, while retaining their
intended role.
+ Implement more saturated colours in Elfeed. The previous choices
could make it harder to differentiate the various parts of the
presentation.
+ Make better use of the customisation options for bold and slanted
constructs where that is allowed. If a face is not tied to the
semantics of these styles then it is drawn without them, unless the
user specifically opts for the relevant customisation options.
Added support for packages (A-Z)
--------------------------------
+ ag
+ color-rg
+ ctrlf
+ debbugs
+ eglot
+ forge
+ helpful
+ highlight-symbol
+ ibuffer
+ icomplete
+ iflipb
+ magit-imerge
+ man
+ orderless
+ page-break-lines
+ parrot
+ phi-grep
+ phi-search
+ pomidor
+ rcirc
+ spell-fu
+ switch-window
+ swoop
+ tab-bar-mode
+ tab-line-mode
+ trashed
+ tomatinho
+ tuareg
+ vimish-fold
+ visible-mark
+ vterm
+ wcheck-mode
+ winum
+ woman
Miscellaneous changes and concluding remarks
--------------------------------------------
+ Rewrote large parts of the README to make the customisation options
easier to discover and understand.
+ Updated the screen shots and their description in the relevant Wiki
page: https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/wikis/Screenshots0.7.0
Modus Operandi and Modus Vivendi version 0.7.0
By Protesilaos Stavrou <info@protesilaos.com> on 2020-03-30
This entry documents the changes since version 0.6.0 (2020-03-01). The
present release is the largest to date containing 110 commits.
All changes conform with the primary objective of this project, which is
conformance with the WCAG AAA accessibility standard for colour
contrast. This represents a minimum contrast ratio of 7:1 between a
given combination of foreground and background colours.
All customisation options mentioned herein are off ('nil') by default.
The project's policy is to offer such features on an "opt-in" basis.
Refer to the README or each theme's source code for the names of these
user-facing symbols.
Major refinements to existing face groups
-----------------------------------------
+ The headline feature of this release is a refined set of colours for
visualising version-control-system differences ("diffs"). The new
colours are less intense than before and are designed to better convey
the meaning of the constructs they apply to. Affected face groups are
those of 'magit' and 'diff-mode'. A future release will assess how
similar packages, such as 'ediff', can benefit from this work.
+ The other major set of changes concerns the colours that apply to
fringes (see 'fringe-mode'). A new customisation option allows for a
distinct background for the fringes (courtesy of Anders Johansson in
commit 80fb704). The default uses the same colours as the main
buffer's background. Building on this effort, fringe indicators, such
as those of 'flycheck' now benefit from an entirely new set of
background+foreground colour combinations that are designed
specifically for the fringes.
+ A new customisation option allows users to render 'org-mode' source
blocks in a distinct background colour. The default is to use the
same background as the rest of the buffer. When this option is
enabled, the background colour for the beginning and end line of such
blocks is extended to the end of the window (using the ':extend t'
attribute for >= Emacs 27). Older Emacs versions already extend to
the end of the window.
+ The colour combination that shows the matching parentheses or
delimiters has been reviewed. The commit is fairly small and the
changes are immediately noticeable only to the most discerning of
eyes. Still, the considerations informing the review imposed a
rigorous method. Rather than summarise the findings, interested
readers are advised to refer to commit af3a327: it offers a
comprehensive analysis on the matter.
Added support for packages (A-Z)
--------------------------------
+ auctex/tex
+ bm
+ buffer-expose
+ centaur-tabs
+ cider (tentative, feedback is much appreciated)
+ csv-mode
+ dynamic-ruler
+ ebdb
+ elfeed-score
+ flyspell-correct
+ fold-this
+ freeze-it
+ frog-menu
+ git-walktree
+ helm-switch-shell
+ highlight-defined
+ highlight-escape-sequences (hes-mode)
+ highlight-numbers
+ highlight-thing
+ hl-todo
+ ioccur
+ julia
+ kaocha-runner
+ markup-faces (adoc-mode)
+ multiple-cursors
+ num3-mode
+ org-roam
+ org-superstar
+ org-treescope
+ outline-minor-mode
+ paradox
+ rainbow-identifiers
+ rg
+ ripgrep
+ sallet (tentative, feedback is much appreciated)
+ selectrum
+ sesman
+ side-notes
+ skewer-mode
+ stripes
+ symbol-overlay
+ syslog-mode
+ vc-annotate (C-x v g)
+ volatile-highlights
+ web-mode
+ yaml-mode
Note about VC-annotate
----------------------
Quoting from the relevant note in the project's README:
Due to the unique way `vc-annotate' (`C-x v g') applies colours,
support for its background mode (`vc-annotate-background-mode') is
disabled at the theme level.
Normally, such a drastic measure should not belong in a theme:
assuming the user's preferences is bad practice. However, it has
been deemed necessary in the interest of preserving colour contrast
accessibility while still supporting a useful built-in tool.
If there actually is a way to avoid such a course of action, without
prejudice to the accessibility standard of this project, then please
report as much (or contribute as per the information in the
Contributing section).
Overview of refinements to already supported packages
-----------------------------------------------------
In this section the notion of "dedicated colours" pertains to colour
values that are reserved for special faces. They are never used for
syntax highlighting or other common scenaria.
+ Define new background colours for fringe indicators (as noted in the
first section). Apply them to 'bm', 'diff-hl', 'git-gutter',
'flycheck' fringe indicators. All such indicators are now made more
visible and work better with the new customisation option for
rendering the fringes in a distinct background.
+ Define dedicated colours for tab-like interfaces. Currently these
apply only to 'centaur-tabs'. The intention is to eventually
implement them to the tab modes that ship with Emacs 27, as well as
any other package that offers such functionality.
+ Define dedicated colours for actions that "mark" items. Use them in
'dired', 'proced', 'gnus'. An accented background is combined with an
accented foreground. The intention is to make the underlying
construct distinct even under circumstances where the mark's
background changes, such as when it intersects with 'hl-line-mode' or
'stripes': the accented foreground will still be recognisable as a
colour that differs from the main foreground. The use of a bold font
weight further reinforces the intended action.
+ Refine 'dired' faces to account for the new "mark" styles.
Directories are no longer rendered in a bold weight.
+ Tweak the colours used in the built-in 'diary' and 'calendar' for
better usability.
+ Tweak 'deadgrep' colours for consistency with packages that offer
similar functionality.
+ Tweak 'compilation-line-number' in the interest of consistency with
similar interfaces.
+ Use a more appropriate colour for 'trailing-whitespace'. It now is a
colour value that was designed specifically as a background.
+ Expand 'fountain-mode' support by covering its new heading faces. The
headings will be presented in larger font sizes, or using proportional
fonts, should the user enable the relevant theme customisation options
(see README or source code).
+ Remove bold weight from matching parentheses in 'show-paren-mode' and
'smartparens'. The temporarily applied bold weight can cause
misalignments while using certain fonts. Also apply the new colours
for matching delimiters, as documented in the first section.
+ Refine 'outline-mode' colours to be consistent with those of Org's
headings.
+ Several usability and colour refinements for 'helm' and related
packages in that milieu.
+ Remove box property from emphasis markers in the mode line. It
created inconsistencies with other faces.
+ Refine the colours used in Magit logs, `change-log', `log-view'. They
are meant to be more distinct from their context, without drawing too
much attention to themselves.
+ Minor internal fixes for indentation and the like.
Miscellaneous changes and concluding remarks
--------------------------------------------
+ Add section in the README which documents a legal requirement for all
potential non-trivial code contributions: the need to assign copyright
to the Free Software Foundation. The Modus Themes are now distributed
via the official GNU ELPA repository and copyright over them is
assigned to the FSF.
+ Add CHANGELOG file which consolidates all tagged release notes such as
this one.
+ Add new screen shots to the relevant Wiki page, together with detailed
descriptions on what is being demonstrated:
https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/modus-themes/-/wikis/Screenshots
Special thanks to Manuel Uberti for reporting several issues and
offering feedback where appropriate. I was able to add support for lots
of new packages. While a few among the already supported face groups
underwent tweaks and refinements. The 'helm' ecosystem benefited the
most.
Thanks to Anders Johansson for the patch that introduced the
fringes-related customisation option. It inspired me to reconsider the
use of this particular area of the interface, which eventually led to
the barrage of commits that refashioned the fringe indicators. A major
win overall.
Thanks to Jonathan Otsuka for fixing an error of mine on the naming of
some symbols. My apologies for missing it: I will be more careful from
now on.
Note: both patches were small, requiring no copyright assignment.
Larger contributions are always welcome, though make sure you read the
section in the README with regard to assigning copyright to the Free
Software Foundation.0.6.0
This release contains lots of refinements and additions.
Let me start with an administrative point: I have completed the process
of assigning my copy rights to the Free Software Foundation. This
covers every contribution I make to GNU Emacs. In practice, it means
that the Modus themes can now be included in the official ELPA archive
and theoretically be shipped with Emacs itself. The ELPA inclusion is
ongoing. Once it is completed, I will update the docs accordingly.
The administrative change has no effect on the way this project is
handled. I still am the developer/maintainer and will continue to
improve things further. If you still have questions, feel free to
contact me: https://protesilaos.com/contact
Moving on to the changes since version 0.5.0 (2020-01-26).
Added support for:
+ alert
+ apropos (built-in)
+ dap-mode
+ deft
+ dim-autoload
+ dired-git
+ enhanced-ruby-mode
+ gbd-mi.el (built-in library)
+ helm-ls-git
+ helm-xref
+ imenu-list
+ jira (org-jira)
+ js2-mode
+ jupyter
+ org-pomodoro
+ origami
+ rmail (built-in)
+ vc-print-log (built-in)
+ window-divider-mode (built-in)
+ xref (built-in)
Refinements to existing faces:
+ A new subset of "nuanced" accent colours has been introduced. These
are named {red,green,yellow,blue,magenta,cyan}-nuanced. Their purpose
is to be used in contexts where lots of structured information is
presented to the user, but each component does not need to draw too much
attention to itself (e.g. Org's metadata). As always, their contrast
ratio is designed to always be >= 7:1 relative to the backgrounds they
may be combined with.
+ Greatly improve the support for Gnus, even though most changes are
subtle and are made in the interest of consistency. The group levels
now make use of the "nuanced" palette where appropriate (to denote
levels of lower importance).
+ Several refinements for Org, including the use of "nuanced" colours
for various metadata tags. The agenda headers will now be scaled
appropriately and use a variable-pitch font if the user sets the
relevant customisation values of the theme they are using (check the
documentation in each theme file or the repo's README).
+ Lots of refinements for Helm. Some of these were introduced to align
the overall aesthetic with equivalent metaphors in Ivy. Others are
meant to improve the styles of the headers and make various constructs
consistent with their variants in the Helm ecosystem but also with their
non-Helm counterparts (such as xref file names with and without Helm,
but also with Helm's grep).
+ Improve the colours of buttons in contexts such as M-x customize.
This is especially noticeable in modus-vivendi-theme (the dark theme)
where the buttons are a darker shade of grey rather than the original
lighter one.
+ Keycast now uses styles that are more consistent with the overall
aesthetic of the Modus themes. This means that the mode line indicators
are blue-ish (blue is generally used for highlights in the mode line,
but also when hovering over an item with the mouse pointer). The pseudo
button effect (colours + 3d) has been removed in favour of a flat look,
in line with the flatness of the mode line itself. Whereas before the
keycast faces where designed to be consistent with the package's
defaults.
There were also a few minor refinements for:
+ calendar and diary
+ icomplete
+ mm-uu-extract
+ nobreak-hyphen and nobreak-space
+ org-habit
+ tooltip-mode
Finally, the Commentary section of each theme has been greatly expanded.
It now includes the user-facing customisation options and the complete
list of supported packages.0.5.0
This release contains support for several new packages and lots of
refinements for existing ones. A lot of work went into making the
themes more robust by reviewing the inheritance of styles from one
face group to another (in general, the ':inherit' property should not
be used frivolously). Several subtle changes were made to the colour
palette of both themes to ensure consistency, enable more possible
combinations, and avoid potential ambiguity under certain potential
circumstances.
Overall, this release gives me confidence that the themes have reached
a fairly stable state. What follows is an overview of the changes
since version 0.4.0 (2020-01-02).
Added support for:
+ equake
+ flymake
+ focus
+ fountain (fountain-mode)
+ git-lens
+ git-timemachine
+ hi-fill-column
+ highlight-blocks
+ info-colors
+ lsp-mode
+ lsp-ui
+ proced (built-in)
+ regexp-builder (built-in)
+ suggest
Refinements:
+ The header line uses its own dedicated colours. Several changes
were made in 'eww', 'info', 'elfeed', 'magit', 'flycheck' to make
sure that any accent value that appears there conforms with the
overarching accessibility objective of the Modus themes (contrast
ratio of >= 7:1, else WCAG AAA).
+ 'ivy' no longer uses a box style for the current line, as that was
not always reliable. Appropriate colours are used instead.
+ 'org-mode' blocks use a foreground value that distinguishes their
opening and closing tags from source code comments.
+ The 'org-ellipsis' face was configured to always inherit the looks
of its respective heading or element, rather than have its own
excessive styling.
+ 'paren-match' has colours that are designed specifically for it.
This is done to retain their utility while making sure they are not
mistaken for some other type of feedback.
+ 'magit' has explicit styles for the mode line process indicators,
instead of inheriting from another face. The intention is to use
foreground values that are designed specifically for use on the mode
line (the minimum contrast ratio requirement).
+ 'erc' faces have been thoroughly reviewed in the interest of better
usability. Its mode line indicators now use appropriate colours.
+ The faces of the 'messages' library have been thoroughly reviewed.
This affects various email interfaces, but also 'elfeed' entry
metadata headings.
+ 'whitespace-mode' no longer has a newline character that stands out.
That kind of emphasis was not necessary, given that the symbol used
is a dollar sign, which is already far more visible than a mid dot.
+ 'font-lock' (generic syntax highlighting) has better colour
combinations for regexp grouping constructs.
+ 'rainbow-delimiters' was given its missing base error face.
+ 'git-commit' comment action uses a slightly different foreground
value than before to better match its context.
+ 'isearch' and 'query-replace' use colours that properly denote each
action's utility.
+ 'visual-regexp' has been reviewed to make the matching groups more
distinct from each other.
+ 'occur' and any other buffer that relies on the 'match' face can now
benefit from the new colour combinations, in that its results cannot
be confused for the active 'isearch' or 'query-replace' or even
their lazily highlighted results (or, indeed, of any other search
tool).
+ 'company' uses faces for its search feedback that are consistent
with other search metaphors.
+ Emacs 27's new ':extend' property is only implemented where
necessary (note that the latest release is version 26.3).0.4.0
This is an overview of the changes since version 0.3.0 (2019-12-25).
Add support for:
+ ert
+ flycheck-indicator
+ mentor
+ mu4e-conversation
+ powerline-evil
+ telephone-line
+ vc (built-in version control)
Refinements to already-supported packages:
+ company-mode (several refinements)
+ doom-modeline (major review)
+ helm (several tweaks)
+ hl-line-mode (use unique background)
+ ivy (improve matching line)
+ line-number-mode (minor tweaks)
+ markdown-mode (comprehensive expansion)
+ mode-line (more appropriate styles for the highlight)
+ powerline (minor tweaks)
+ region (use unique background)
+ swiper (improve matching line in main window)
+ whitespace-mode (several refinements)
+ mu4e (tweak mu4e-modeline-face for consistency)
Miscellaneous:
+ Fix actual and potential problems with cursor faces that would
distort the use of appropriate background and foreground colours.
The documentation stipulates that the `cursor' face cannot be
inherited by other faces, due to its peculiar nature of only
recognising the background colour.
+ Add support for more bold constructs in code. As with all such
options, it is disabled by default, expecting the user to
explicitly opt in.
+ Declare additional custom faces. Only meant for internal use.
+ Subtle refinements to "active" colour values in both Modus
Operandi and Modus Vivendi. These mostly concern the mode line
(with a few special exceptions), where emphasis has been placed on
the need to provide greater contrast between accent values that
can be used there.
+ Minor documentation refinements.0.3.0
Overview of changes since 0.2.0 (2019-12-18):
+ Add support for the following packages:
+ apt-sources-list
+ calfw
+ counsel-css
+ counsel-notmuch
+ counsel-org-capture-string
+ cov
+ disk-usage
+ evil-visual-mark-mode
+ geiser
+ keycast
+ org-journal
+ org-noter
+ paren-face
+ powerline
+ vc
+ xah-elisp-mode
+ Explicitly style the following packages (these were already covered,
in terms of the colours they used, but are now targeted directly):
+ calendar
+ counsel
+ cursor
+ package (M-x list-packages)
+ Minor tweaks to face groups:
+ dired
+ compile
+ Fixes and refinements:
+ Documentation strings will now inherit the option for slanted
constructs (off by default -- see the README about all the user
options).
+ Comment delimiters have the same styles as the body of the comment
to avoid inconsistencies when the option for slanted constructs is
enabled.
+ The line number that is displayed in the compile log is now
correctly styled.
+ Removed duplicate entries for ivy-remote and added ivy-separator.
+ Ensure that the minibuffer prompt is always above the minimum
contrast ratio of 7:1, by using a more appropriate shade of cyan.
+ Properly reference a couple of variables in Modus Vivendi.
+ Internal adjustments:
+ Decouple the core dired faces from those of external packages.
+ Same for org and org-recur.
+ Minor documentation updates.0.2.0
Overview of changes since 0.1.0 (2019-12-09):
+ Comprehensive review of `org-mode' faces. The use of colour should
now be more consistent with the semantics of each element. These should
also respond better to a variety of combinations, such as when the user
has `hl-line-mode' enabled. The agenda view is the greatest beneficiary
of this review.
+ Make `mu4e' mode line faces consistent with other elements that may be
placed on the mode line.
+ Make `gnus' header name/subject more distinct.
+ Several minor refinements to `ivy' and its extensions.
+ General usability refinements to `ace-window'.
+ Minor review of `elfeed' styles, in the interest of improving the
contrast between the elements.
+ Add support for:
+ `persp-mode' (fork of the already supported `perspective')
+ `dashboard'
+ `evil-mode'
+ `evil-goggles'
+ `ruler-mode'0.1.0
First stable release of Modus Operandi and Modus Vivendi.