How to create your own template themes - bakkeby/dusk GitHub Wiki
This guide gives an introduction as to how you could go about creating your own themes using the existing template mechanism.
The guide assumes that you have gone through and have understood the How to theme dusk using templates guide.
First here are all the pre-processor macros that can be defined.
| Foreground | Background | Border |
|---|---|---|
| NORM_FG_COLOR | NORM_BG_COLOR | NORM_BORDER_COLOR |
| TITLE_NORM_FG_COLOR | TITLE_NORM_BG_COLOR | TITLE_NORM_BORDER_COLOR |
| TITLE_SEL_FG_COLOR | TITLE_SEL_BG_COLOR | TITLE_SEL_BORDER_COLOR |
| SCRATCH_NORM_FG_COLOR | SCRATCH_NORM_BG_COLOR | SCRATCH_NORM_BORDER_COLOR |
| SCRATCH_SEL_FG_COLOR | SCRATCH_SEL_BG_COLOR | SCRATCH_SEL_BORDER_COLOR |
| HID_NORM_FG_COLOR | HID_NORM_BG_COLOR | |
| HID_SEL_FG_COLOR | HID_SEL_BG_COLOR | |
| URGENT_FG_COLOR | URGENT_BG_COLOR | URGENT_BORDER_COLOR |
| MARKED_FG_COLOR | MARKED_BG_COLOR | MARKED_BORDER_COLOR |
| WS_NORM_FG_COLOR | WS_NORM_BG_COLOR | |
| WS_VIS_FG_COLOR | WS_VIS_BG_COLOR | |
| WS_SEL_FG_COLOR | WS_SEL_BG_COLOR | |
| WS_OCC_FG_COLOR | WS_OCC_BG_COLOR |
These should map to the individual colours in the dusk configuration.
static char *colors[SchemeLast][4] = {
/* fg bg border */
[SchemeNorm] = { "#D9CFC5", "#492B2D", "#492B2D" },
[SchemeTitleNorm] = { "#D9CFC5", "#492B2D", "#643B3E" },
[SchemeTitleSel] = { "#D9CFC5", "#82363A", "#82363A" },
[SchemeScratchNorm] = { "#D9CFC5", "#492B2D", "#643B3E" },
[SchemeScratchSel] = { "#D9CFC5", "#82363A", "#82363A" },
[SchemeHidNorm] = { "#D9CFC5", "#492B2D", "#000000" },
[SchemeHidSel] = { "#D9CFC5", "#82363A", "#000000" },
[SchemeUrg] = { "#E0E0E0", "#A23419", "#A23419" },
[SchemeMarked] = { "#DDC470", "#724559", "#724559" },
[SchemeWsNorm] = { "#D9CFC5", "#492B2D", "#000000" },
[SchemeWsVisible] = { "#D9CFC5", "#82363A", "#000000" },
[SchemeWsSel] = { "#D9CFC5", "#82363A", "#000000" },
[SchemeWsOcc] = { "#D9CFC5", "#492B2D", "#000000" },
};There are also these shorthand aliases for some of the macros.
| Alias | Macro | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| BORDER | NORM_BORDER_COLOR | The bar border colour |
| TITLENORM | TITLE_NORM_BG_COLOR | |
| TITLESEL | TITLE_SEL_BG_COLOR | |
| SCRATCHNORM | SCRATCH_NORM_BG_COLOR | |
| SCRATCHSEL | SCRATCH_SEL_BG_COLOR | |
| HIDNORM | HID_NORM_BG_COLOR | |
| HIDSEL | HID_SEL_BG_COLOR | |
| WARNING | WARNING_BG_COLOR | Used by dmenu and slock |
| URGENT | URGENT_BG_COLOR | |
| MARKED | MARKED_BG_COLOR | |
| FLOATNORM | FLOAT_NORM_BG_COLOR | |
| FLOATSEL | FLOAT_SEL_BG_COLOR | |
| WSNORM | WS_NORM_BG_COLOR | |
| WSOCC | WS_OCC_BG_COLOR | |
| WSSEL | WS_SEL_BG_COLOR | |
| WSVIS | WS_VIS_BG_COLOR |
Additionally most themes also include COLOR0 through COLOR15 and CURSOR for terminals and
other terminal applications that use global colours.
The templates use a cascading effect. This means that if you do not define a colour, then that colour may be derived from another colour.
There are four macros that are required for this cascading effect to work. These are the
BASE_FOREGROUND, BASE_BACKGROUND, SELECTED_FOREGROUND and SELECTED_BACKGROUND.
Here is a rundown of which macros are derived from what.
| Macro | Cascades to | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| BASE_FOREGROUND | NORM_FG_COLOR | |
| - | TITLE_NORM_FG_COLOR | |
| - | SCRATCH_NORM_FG_COLOR | |
| - | HID_NORM_FG_COLOR | |
| - | URGENT_FG_COLOR | |
| - | WARNING_FG_COLOR | Only if WARNING is defined |
| - | MARKED_FG_COLOR | |
| - | WS_NORM_FG_COLOR | |
| - | WS_OCC_FG_COLOR | |
| - | MARKED_BG_COLOR | |
| SELECTED_FOREGROUND | SEL_FG_COLOR | |
| - | TITLE_SEL_FG_COLOR | |
| - | SCRATCH_SEL_FG_COLOR | |
| - | HID_SEL_FG_COLOR | |
| - | FLOAT_SEL_FG_COLOR | Only if FLOAT_NORM_BG_COLOR is defined |
| - | WS_VIS_FG_COLOR | |
| - | WS_SEL_FG_COLOR | |
| BASE_BACKGROUND | NORM_BG_COLOR | |
| - | TITLE_NORM_BG_COLOR | |
| - | HID_NORM_BG_COLOR | |
| - | URGENT_BG_COLOR | |
| - | MARKED_BG_COLOR | |
| - | WS_NORM_BG_COLOR | |
| - | BORDER | |
| SELECTED_BACKGROUND | SEL_BG_COLOR | |
| - | TITLE_SEL_BG_COLOR | |
| - | HID_SEL_BG_COLOR | |
| - | WS_SEL_BG_COLOR | |
| NORM_BG_COLOR | NORM_BORDER_COLOR | |
| TITLE_NORM_BG_COLOR | TITLE_NORM_BORDER_COLOR | |
| - | SCRATCH_NORM_BG_COLOR | |
| SCRATCH_NORM_BG_COLOR | SCRATCH_NORM_BORDER_COLOR | |
| URGENT_BG_COLOR | URGENT_BORDER_COLOR | |
| MARKED_BG_COLOR | MARKED_BORDER_COLOR | |
| WS_NORM_BG_COLOR | WS_OCC_BG_COLOR | |
| TITLE_SEL_BG_COLOR | TITLE_SEL_BORDER_COLOR | |
| - | SCRATCH_SEL_BG_COLOR | |
| SCRATCH_SEL_BG_COLOR | SCRATCH_SEL_BORDER_COLOR | |
| WS_SEL_BG_COLOR | WS_VIS_BG_COLOR | |
| FLOAT_NORM_BG_COLOR | FLOAT_NORM_BORDER_COLOR | |
| FLOAT_SEL_BG_COLOR | FLOAT_SEL_BORDER_COLOR |
As a practical example let's have a look at the dwm theme and the macros it defines.
#define BASE_FOREGROUND #bbbbbb
#define BASE_BACKGROUND #222222
#define SELECTED_FOREGROUND #eeeeee
#define SELECTED_BACKGROUND #005577
#define TITLE_NORM_BORDER_COLOR #444444
#define MARKED_FG_COLOR #222222
#define MARKED_BG_COLOR #bbbbbb
#define WARNING #99500C
#define URGENT_FG_COLOR #005577
#define URGENT_BG_COLOR #eeeeee
We see that the primary colours are set using the base and selected macros, with a few tweaks to make urgent and marked clients stand out.
So start with the four base macros and build your theme up from there.
Tip: using a tool like entr can be handy to see your changes being reflected as soon as you save your theme file.
ls favourite_theme.res | entr xrdb_reload.shBack to Guides.