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Member "vim72/runtime/colors/README.txt" of archive vim-7.2.tar.gz:

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    1 README.txt for color scheme files
    2 
    3 These files are used for the ":colorscheme" command.  They appear in the
    4 Edit/Color Scheme menu in the GUI.
    5 
    6 
    7 Hints for writing a color scheme file:
    8 
    9 There are two basic ways to define a color scheme:
   10 
   11 1. Define a new Normal color and set the 'background' option accordingly.
   12 	set background={light or dark}
   13 	highlight clear
   14 	highlight Normal ...
   15 	...
   16 
   17 2. Use the default Normal color and automatically adjust to the value of
   18    'background'.
   19 	highlight clear Normal
   20 	set background&
   21 	highlight clear
   22 	if &background == "light"
   23 	  highlight Error ...
   24 	  ...
   25 	else
   26 	  highlight Error ...
   27 	  ...
   28 	endif
   29 
   30 You can use ":highlight clear" to reset everything to the defaults, and then
   31 change the groups that you want differently.  This also will work for groups
   32 that are added in later versions of Vim.
   33 Note that ":highlight clear" uses the value of 'background', thus set it
   34 before this command.
   35 Some attributes (e.g., bold) might be set in the defaults that you want
   36 removed in your color scheme.  Use something like "gui=NONE" to remove the
   37 attributes.
   38 
   39 To see which highlight group is used where, find the help for
   40 "highlight-groups" and "group-name".
   41 
   42 You can use ":highlight" to find out the current colors.  Exception: the
   43 ctermfg and ctermbg values are numbers, which are only valid for the current
   44 terminal.  Use the color names instead.  See ":help cterm-colors".
   45 
   46 The default color settings can be found in the source file src/syntax.c.
   47 Search for "highlight_init".
   48 
   49 If you think you have a color scheme that is good enough to be used by others,
   50 please check the following items:
   51 
   52 - Does it work in a color terminal as well as in the GUI?
   53 - Is "g:colors_name" set to a meaningful value?  In case of doubt you can do
   54   it this way:
   55   	let g:colors_name = expand('<sfile>:t:r')
   56 - Is 'background' either used or appropriately set to "light" or "dark"?
   57 - Try setting 'hlsearch' and searching for a pattern, is the match easy to
   58   spot?
   59 - Split a window with ":split" and ":vsplit".  Are the status lines and
   60   vertical separators clearly visible?
   61 - In the GUI, is it easy to find the cursor, also in a file with lots of
   62   syntax highlighting?
   63 - Do not use hard coded escape sequences, these will not work in other
   64   terminals.  Always use color names or #RRGGBB for the GUI.