Protesilaos Stavrou

Emacs: change colour values and mappings in Modus themes version 4

The forthcoming “version 4” rewrite of the modus-themes simplifies the code while also making it more powerful and easier to extend. The code is currently in the version-4 branch and will be merged into main in the coming weeks (WORK-IN-PROGRESS).

In this article, I demonstrate the power of the new design compared to what we had before.

How do I get back my “yellow comments”?

Before, we had the user option modus-themes-syntax. It took a list of symbols which changed how syntax highlighting looked. The accepted symbols were predefined: there was a yellow-comments style and a green-strings, among others.

The problem was that the user could not, say, easily define a red hue for their comments nor change the exact colour value for them. The design was hardcoded.

With version-4 I am abstracting the colour palette and introducing colour mappings. The user can now provide overrides for values and those mappings in a uniform fashion.

Using the modus-operandi theme as an example, I can make its comments a shade of yellow:

(setq modus-operandi-palette-overrides
      '((comment yellow)))

And here is with a red colour:

(setq modus-operandi-palette-overrides
      '((comment red-faint)))

Reload the theme for changes to take effect.

Use the command modus-themes-list-colors to preview all the colours in the palette.

To view all the colour values/mappings, visit a theme file such as modus-operandi-theme.el.

Semantic mappings

If you check the definition of each theme, you will find easy-to-understand names such as these:

(builtin magenta-warmer)
(comment fg-dim)
(constant blue-cooler)
(docstring green-faint)
(fnname magenta)
(keyword magenta-cooler)
(preprocessor red-cooler)
(string blue-warmer)
(type cyan-cooler)
(variable cyan)

Want your keywords to be blue? No problem! Red strings? Say no more:

(setq modus-operandi-palette-overrides
      '((keyword blue)
        (string red)))

Meaningful colour names

In the past, colours were named like magenta, magenta-alt, magenta-alt-other whereas now they are called magenta, magenta-warmer, magenta-cooler. You can thus expect the magenta-cooler to be closer to blue and the magenta-warmer closer to red.

Using the code I shared above, we can override colour values in the same way. For example, I want red to be a pure red and blue to be pure blue:

(setq modus-operandi-palette-overrides
      '((red "#ff0000")
        (blue "#0000ff")
        (keyword blue)
        (string red)))

Fewer user options; more power

If you check the version-4 branch, you will notice that many user options have been deprecated (“user options” are the defcustom variables). We do not need them—and their complexity—when the aforementioned mechanism gives the user almost complete control over the looks of the theme.

A word of caution for those who used to override colours in previous versions of the themes: the old user options will not work, nor will the definition of colours as cons cells (e.g. (red . "#ff0000")). Check how the themes are defined and copy+tweak the relevant entries into the corresponding “overrides” variable.

The manual will include comprehensive examples along those lines. If something is unclear, you can always contact me.

Version 4 of the modus-themes will be available at the end of this month or the beginning of the next one. Your feedback on the development process is most welcome.

[ I also have a little surprise for those who check the version-4 branch right now: new themes, which are made possible by the cleaner design. ]

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