Provided by: afterstep_2.2.12-13_amd64 bug

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  the  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.