Change font for org-date to have more contrast

[ska2342]

The current value for org-date is darktooth-faded_blue which has very little contrast. My expectation is that dates stand out because they are important. All the other variants of blue can not be used (either to dark or conflict with level 3), that's why I suggest an aqua variant here: darktooth-neutral_aqua.

Emacs 25.1 before the change

Emacs 25.1 after the change

[ska2342]

Just suggesting this change. My old eyes have a hard time reading the low contrast, dark timestamps. ;-)

[dieggsy]

I don't personally like this change - I sort of liked the contrast between the headings and the date. I like my attention to flow from the title to the date, whereas in the second one that's less clearly the case. However, I do keep a fork of darktooth for myself, so I wouldn't really be too affected.

I think it's worth considering if/when a change is more for you than the theme and using a fork or M-x customize for those changes. I don't necessarily mean for this specific change, just putting the thought out there. I can definitely see the argument for higher contrast dates, and I could possibly get used to it.

And sorry if it seems I have something to say about your every change, this is just my favorite theme and so I'm very attentive to its changes and progression. I do appreciate the attention and discussion the theme is getting recently!

[ska2342]

Hi Diego,

No worries at all. Of course these changes have to be discussed as many people may be affected by them. I am totally fine if the PR gets rejected. I am glad I get your feedback this quickly.

I did not find any design document enabling me to decide whether a change is suitable for the theme or just my taste. That's why I try to describe my reasoning behind the changes. So far, I've been trying to find something similar in the theme.

Regarding your argument to let the attention flow from the title to the date, I can relate to that. Maybe another color would have a higher contrast and be more readable but still maintain your flow of attention at the same time?

Best regards, stefan

[jasonm23]

I'm a little ambivalent about this change, I'm going to add palette images & generator to Darktooth (see the palette image builder I made for Emacs Gruvbox)

This will help in choosing colors for theming. I think the palette display needs to be improved first, i.e. colors should be displayed on the default background color.

I'll try and get onto this today (in the evening.)

(Timezone context: I'm on Sydney time Z+11:00, for the next few weeks at least.)

[jasonm23]

Related #47

[jasonm23]

47 is done, I still need to present the palette on the bg color though.

I hope what's there now helps a little bit. I am thinking one of the mid colors for org dates myself.

[ska2342]

The mid colors are more or less invisible if I turn down the brightness on my laptop to save battery with mid_cyan being an exception.

I also like the look of faded_purple and faded_orange.

Low brightness and blue-filters (via Redshift) are very high on my list of things helpers to ease computing work for the eyes. Combined with dark themes everywhere.

[jasonm23]

I intended​ to post a comment rescinding​ the mid color idea, but I got pulled away by some distraction.

Anyway I agree that mid are too dark for foreground (unless using an alternative bg color)

Faded and muted are my preference for the date colors. I like cyan, aqua and purple for this. But if blue light is a concern I'm interested to see other ideas.

[ska2342]

Here come the screenshots with several colors. Please see the darktooth-theme.el buffer in the bottom window for the current color selection. All were done with Emacs 25.1.

I guess the cyan colors are too light breaking Diego's flow of attention. I think, my favorite is faded_aqua.

[jasonm23]

This one gets my vote

[jasonm23]

Btw slightly off topic, but I wanted to ask what your feelings were about the current org-agenda colors.

[dieggsy]

@jasonm23 in my fork, i added org-agenda-current-time, set to darktooth-bright_green. I think it makes the current time stand out from the rest better.

[jasonm23]

@therockmandolinist

Thanks for the feedback Diego, I will look at improving it on trunk.

[ska2342]

@jasonm23 cough, cough, I don't really use org for self-management and thus don't use the agenda neither. blush

[jasonm23]

Thanks Stefan, I also don't use Org mode extensively for time tracking either.

Thanks for your efforts and help, merging this now.