Note for modus-themes users on Emacs 29

As you may know, I only sync the modus-themes with core Emacs whenever a new tagged version is available. So the last such update I made to emacs.git was in commit ce33ad8bae on 2021-11-18 when I published version 1.7.0 (see release notes). The next version will come in a few weeks. In the meantime, users may have to apply some changes to their Emacs init file to cope with the occasional introduction of a new face.

One such example is the new mode-line-active face, which makes use of proportionately spaced fonts (it inherits the variable-pitch face). We already support that face in modus-themes.git but until the new version is available users must introduce their own tweaks.

A basic setup for those who only use either modus-operandi or modus-vivendi:

(set-face-attribute 'mode-line-active nil :inherit 'mode-line)

And this for those who switch between the two themes (e.g. with M-x modus-themes-toggle):

(defun my-modus-themes-custom-faces ()
  (set-face-attribute 'mode-line-active nil :inherit 'mode-line))

;; This is so that the changes persist when switching between the themes
(add-hook 'modus-themes-after-load-theme-hook #'my-modus-themes-custom-faces)

If you prefer to use the syntax from the themes’ source code or if you intend to define multiple faces that use colours from the active theme’s palette, implement the following:

(defun my-modus-themes-custom-faces ()
  (modus-themes-with-colors
    (custom-set-faces
     `(mode-line-active ((,class :inherit mode-line))))))

;; This is so that the changes persist when switching between the themes
(add-hook 'modus-themes-after-load-theme-hook #'my-modus-themes-custom-faces)

The manual, which you can also access from Emacs (evaluate (info "(modus-themes) Top")) provides more advanced examples for all sorts of do-it-yourself scenaria.

Finally, note that the themes have long supported variable-pitch in the user interface as an option, though the default is the monospaced font (or, if you want to be technical, the :font-family of the default face). Just set the variable modus-themes-variable-pitch-ui to non-nil and, as always, reload the theme for changes to take effect.