Tags: EmacsStuff
I wrote earlier that the Leuven theme was the most suitable for me. It has been some months since I stopped using the Leuven theme. I am usually using the Modus Operandi, or the Zenburn theme for a change of dark goodness. Leuven funnily enough was one color too many and felt like intruding into the private Emacs space. One could say that about Zenburn as well, however, the contrast is soothing when the sun is blasting on the only windows in your room and the blinds are down. At such ambient conditions, a dark soothing theme is fun to work with. Here's my note from my Emacs configuration:
- Note taken on [2020-04-24 Fri 20:06] \\ I've tried quite a few themes over the years, and have even had phases where I was constantly changing themes. One caveat I've noticed is that not all themes are designed to work well with the terminal as well. After yet another quick foray into the Doom themes today - I will settle down on the following themes to be the best for me (note that relatively minor customisations like the font, proportional headings and so on are made to all)
- Modus operandi: well designed light theme that does not hurt my eyes and offers a good basic configuration. This theme appears to work well with terminal emacs as well.
- Zenburn : As many say, this theme is definitely the easiest on my eyes and will be a preferred dark theme. There are a tonne of configuration options out of the box.
- Modus vivendi: This is a good dark theme that I prefer since it is based on similar design principles as the modus operandi. However, the contrast especially under no/low light conditions is jarring as compared to the mute and friendly nature of the Zenburn theme. I would not want to use the Modus vivendi theme for long durations in low light.
- Leuven: I used this theme for a long time when I was on Scimax. Undoubtedly this light theme has its advantages, however, it seems a little too opinionated on a lot of things, and I would prefer a lighter theme that also plays well on terminals.
- Doom's solarized dark theme: this is an honorable mention. As a dark theme that does not hurt the themes - this is similar to zenburn, but not as good looking.
One area where dark themes do not work so well are with using mu4e. The rendering of the html emails are often not legible at all at certain lighting conditions.
Even so, a theme should have subtle options to control it's behaviour and appearance. A standard template of options like that available with the Zenburn theme is useful.
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