ColorScheme(1) AfterStep X11 window manager ColorScheme(1)

NAME

ColorScheme - defines color values for standard set of internal color
names, to be used in other configuration files

CONFIGURATION OPTIONS

Active

Color that will be used for background of different focused
elemets, such as focused window's titlebar, selected menu
item, etc. This color should be contrasting with Base,
Inactive1 and Inactive2 in hue, but similar in saturation.


ActiveDark

This color should have slightly lesser value then Active (be
5-10% darker). This is useful when background of focused
titlebar is a gradient.


ActiveLight

This color should have slightly higher value then Active (be
5-10% lighter). This is useful when background of focused
titlebar is a gradient.


ActiveText

Color of the text on focused titlebars. It should be in high
value contrast with Active color.


Angle

Defines angle on the hue circle between Inactive1, Base and
Inactive2 colors in color schemes, that are automagically
calculated by AfterStep. Default angle is 30 degrees. Use
smaller angle to make Inactive and Base colors more similar.


Base

This color is defining color of the color scheme. It will be
used for desktop background. When AfterStep is allowed to
calculate color scheme automagically - it will use this color
in conjunction with the Angle value as base of calculations.


BaseDark

Color that should be about 10% darker then the Base color, but
have similar hue and saturation. Useful for drawing gradiented
desktop background.


BaseLight

Color that should be about 10% lighter then the Base color,
but have similar hue and saturation. Useful for drawing
gradiented desktop background.


Cursor

This color will be used for pmouse pointer, and it should be
in high contrast with all the other colors.


DisabledText

Color of the text of disabled menu items. Should be very
similar to menu item's background color.


HighActive

Used for focused menus. Should be similar to Active color, but
somewhat lighter.


HighActiveBack

Used for current menu item's background. Should be similar,
but somewhat brighter them Active color.


HighActiveBackDark

Should be 10% darker then HighActiveBack color. Useful for
gradiented background of selected menu item.


HighActiveBackLight

Should be 10% lighter then HighActiveBack color. Useful for
gradiented background of selected menu item.


HighActiveDark

Should be 10% darker then HighActive color. Useful for
gradiented background of focused menu titlebar.


HighActiveLight

Should be 10% lighter then HighActive color. Useful for
gradiented background of focused menu titlebar.


HighActiveText

Color to be used for drawing text on focused menu titlebar.
Should be in high contrast with HighActive color.


HighInactive

Used for unfocused menus. Should be similar to Inactive1
color, but somewhat lighter.


HighInactiveBack

Used for inactive menu item's background. Should be similar,
but somewhat brighter them HighInactive color.


HighInactiveBackDark

Should be 10% darker then HighInactiveBack color. Useful for
gradiented background of inactive menu item.


HighInactiveBackLight

Should be 10% lighter then HighInactiveBack color. Useful for
gradiented background of inactive menu item.


HighInactiveDark

Should be 10% darker then HighInactive color. Useful for
gradiented background of inactive menu titlebars.


HighInactiveLight

Should be 10% lighter then HighInactive color. Useful for
gradiented background of inactive menu titlebars.


HighInactiveText

Color of the text on unfocused menu titlebar. Should be highly
contrasting with HighInactive color.


Inactive1

Primary color used for unfocused window titlebar's background.


Inactive1Dark

Should be 10% darker then Inactive1. Useful for gradiented
background of unfocused windows.


Inactive1Light

Should be 10% lighter then Inactive1. Useful for gradiented
background of unfocused windows.


Inactive2

Secondary color used for unfocused window titlebar's
background. Should be used for unfocused sticky windows.


Inactive2Dark

Should be 10% darker then Inactive2. Useful for gradiented
background of sticky windows.


Inactive2Light

Should be 10% lighter then Inactive2. Useful for gradiented
background of sticky windows.


InactiveText1

Color of the text on unfocused titlebars. Should be highly
contrasting with Inactive1.


InactiveText2

Color of the text on sticky titlebars. Should be highly
contrasting with Inactive2.

DESCRIPTION

AfterStep color schemes are supposed to ease the pain of assembling
set of colors that go well with each other, while providing
additional flexibility while designing custom looks/themes.

AfterStep Colorscheme is a standard set of color names, that may have
different color values assigned to them. This color names are used in
defining Look and in XML images. By assigning different color values
to teh same color names it is possible to instantly change colors
throughout entire Look, without altering any images or configuration
files.

Not all of the Colorscheme colors have to be explicitly defined. Only
the Base color is important. AfterStep is capable of autogeneration
of good-looking colorscheme, from this single color. Explicit color
definition in colorscheme file will override any automatic choice.
Example of this is the NeXTish colorscheme, where all of the colors
are customized. If grayscale color is chosen for Base - it will
generate grayscale colorscheme, where different shades of gray are
used for different colors.

Selected colorscheme file is loaded by all modules and afterstep
proper. Whenever new colorscheme is selected - it triggers reloading
of the Look file and all image files.

All of the supplied Look files had been written to take advantage of
the AfterStep colorschemes.

Please read below for more details on how colorschemes are generated
and other color-related topics :


HARMONIOUS COLORS Task of selecting a set of matching colors is a
serious matter, and it was studied by artists and designers for
centuries. AS the result there are certain rules developed to
simplify this task.

Firstly, instead of selecting colors in Red/Green/Blue colorspace,
matching colors should be selected using Hue/Saturation/Value (HSV)
colorspace. Color hues are the most important characteristic of the
color, and is measured in degrees from 0(red hue) to 60(yellow hue)
to 120(green hue) to 180(cyan hue) to 240(blue hue) to 300(purple
hue) and then to 360 which is the same hue as 0 - red. Hues could be
placed on a so called color circle, making it easier to choose
matching colors.

There are two main approaches to selecting color scheme - single hue,
or several hues.

Single hue colors differ in its saturation, and usually allow for a
soothing, simple theme. Such theme could be pleasant to look at, but
it lacks in excitement, and makes it difficult to distinguish between
different elements.

Using several hues makes theme a bit more exciting, and adds more
visual cues to the screen, providing for easier operation, and
allowing user to relax eye muscles, resulting in better ergonomics.
Accordingly this is the approach that should be used for user
interface colors. Now how to select hues that compose harmonious
theme? The rule of the thumb is that hues that are close to each
other on color circle go well with each other, while those, located
on opposing sides of the circle, create contrasting effect.

AfterStep addresses the task of selecting harmonious colors, by
generating a set of colors from a single color using designer rules.
IMAGE HUES Look of the screen (aka Theme), includes numerous images,
such as icons, backgrounds, bars, etc. Each such image may have one
or several dominating hues, which brings us back to the task of
matching hues, in order to achieve harmonious look.

The rule of the thumb to follow here is that, each image on any
particular interface element, such as titlebar, should have at least
one dominating hue to be the same as the hue of the background of
this element.

There are several way to make sure that hue of the image matches that
of the background :


tinting
If an image has single dominating hue, it could be converted
to grayscale and then tinted with the color of the background.

hue rotation
If an image has several hues, or a hue and some grayscale
parts - its hues could be rotated, by converting image into
HSV colorspace, changing range of hues, and then converting
image back into RGB colorspace.

superimposition
Also image hues may be altered by superimposing it over the
background image using allanon composition method, where each
pixel is substituted with the average of image's pixel value
and background's pixel value.

AfterStep addresses the task of changing hues of images using
XML image scripting. See asimagexml for more on that. COLOR
NAMES AfterStep Colorscheme color names could be separated in
several categories :


Foreground and Background
Foreground colors are used to render text, while background
colors make up a backdrop for that text. Now there are several
constraints on foreground colors - they should be contrasting
with backgrounds, and it is always better to constrain
foreground colors to black and white, as colored text tends to
"bleed" ontop background, making it less eligible. Another
problem with foreground being colorful is that it increases
strain on user's eyes, forcing them to adapt to too many
different contrasting colors.

Base, Active and Inactive
General color theme of the screen is determined by background.
Accordingly we term it a Base color, and determine the rest of
the colors as relation to it. Now at any given time there
could be one element that is focused and active, while other
are off focus and should assume lower visibility. We define
Active colors to be used with focused items (should be
contrasting with the Base color). We also define Inactive
colors to be used with off-focus items (its a good idea to
make them analogues to the Base color). Now as we may have 2
kinds of off-focus windows (sticky and non-sticky ), we
actually define 2 Inactive colors: Inactive1 and Inactive2.

Gradient colors
Gradients create very appealing look when used to color
titlebars and other interface elements. Generally its a good
idea to use colors of the same hue, but having different
intensity. To denote colors designated for gradients we add
Dark/Light postfix to color names. COLOR VALUES AfterStep
supports extremely flexible and extensive ways to define color
value. Standard approach is to use #RRGGBB notation. In
addition to that, AfterStep supports the following notations :


#RGB Same as #RRGGBB, only using 4bit values for components. For
example #F84 is the same as #F08040.

#ARGB This is the same as #RGB plus Alpha value is added (Alpha
value defines opacity of the color).

#AARRGGBB
This is the same as #RRGGBB plus 8-bit Alpha value is added.

hsv(hue,saturation,value)
Defines color using HSV colorspace hue is measured from 0 to
360 degrees, saturation and value are measured from 0 to 100.

rgb(red,green,blue)
Defines color in RGB colorspace. Similar to #RRGGBB form, but
values are not in hex, but in decimals (from 0 to 255). It
also allows for nested expressions, such as :
rgb(128,128,blue(Base)).

ahsv(alpha,hue,saturation,value)
Same as hsv(), but also adds Alpha channel.

argb(alpha,red,green,blue)
Same as argb(), but also adds Alpha channel.

hue(hue,color)
Alters hue of the given predefined color, preserving its
saturation and value.

sat(saturation,color)
Alters saturation of the given predefined color.

val(value,color)
Alters value of the given predefined color.

alpha(alpha,color)
Alters alpha of the given predefined color. This is useful to
make colors from colorscheme semi-transparent.

red(red,color)
Alters red channel value of the given predefined color.

green(green,color)
Alters green channel value of the given predefined color.

blue(blue,color)
Alters blue channel value of the given predefined color.


Example :
#This could be used in colorscheme definition :

Inactive1 #FF5C5B66 # or ahsv(255,245,10,40) or
argb(255,92,91,102)

#This could be used in MyStyle definition in the look. #That
makes Sticky window's titlebar semi-transparent:

BackMultiGradient 6 alpha(50,Inactive2Dark) 0.0
alpha(50,Inactive2Light) 1.0


Actuall usage of colors is defined in AfterStep look file, in
MyStyle definitions. Also all ColorScheme colors could be used
in AfterStep XML images, similarly to standard X color
aliases. It is also possible to use different aspects of each
color - red, green, blue and alpha, hue, saturation and value
individualy. For each color there are 6 variables defined
using following sytax: $ascs.colorname.component . For example
$ascs.Active.hue represents hue of the Active color. This is
useful while doing transformations (tinting, hsv, etc ) in
AfterStep XML images.


3rd Berkeley Distribution AfterStep v.2.2.12 ColorScheme(1)