Scheme vs Theme

[joshgoebel]

Perhaps the ship has sailed, but do we need BOTH of these terms? It seems the distinction only exists so we can speak about the "scheme" (in the abstract) vs the app specific generated "theme"s... but not all applications call their themes "themes", so this is already a bit broken when it comes to clarity/correctness.

And if you say "that's just OUR name for it" I think that makes it even worse... so now we have:

• schemes generate...
  • themes which...
  • are really just themes/schemes/styles/colorsets

I don't see the value we're providing inserting that middle term "theme".

---

Could we simplify:

A Base16 theme is a set of 16 colors used as a base to build per application themes/schemes/styles. A Base16 scheme is a set of 16 colors used as a base to build per application themes/schemes/styles.

I'm not even really suggesting which should win (I like theme a little better) just that I have ONE word to wrap my head around vs two (in the base16 context).

[belak]

I've never been a huge fan of the term "scheme" - I'd also prefer to switch to the name "theme" all over the place, though that would most likely be a breaking change (at least if we switch to it in the spec as well, which we probably should).

I think the original distinction was that themes are generated from templates and colorschemes... is there a clearer way to name all 3 of those things?

[joshgoebel]

"themes are generated"

I maintain this is actually the broken part as what we're generating depends on the application in question, the output might be:

• a MS Paint palette
• a Vim Color Scheme
• a VS Code Theme
• an .Xresources config file

We're converting a "colorscheme" (using a "template") into something, but not necessary a "theme"... so I think we should first stop saying "theme" and instead switch to something that's more nebulous/reflective of the wide variety of names actual apps use (some use multiple)... to be most accurate in our naming we need to give up on a 3rd consistent noun.

And after that step we could then decide what to call our "sets of pretty colors"... themes, schemes, etc... but that's all I got, if anyone has better ideas.

[belak]

I'm on board with that - let's stop calling things themes for now to be as clear as possible. If there's anywhere in the documentation that's outdated, PRs would be welcomed.

[actionless]

i personally prefer "color palette" as it leaving less place for misundestanding

[joshgoebel]

15 We were already pretty inconsistent with using scheme and theme for our schemes.

[actionless]

it might be bigger question though not how to call schemes/palettes but indeed how to call the generated artefacts

[joshgoebel]

but indeed how to call the generated artefacts

That's what the whole thread is about... but I'm not sure there is a single answer since the artifacts exist for the target apps - and target apps have their own wording for these things. Vim and VS Code do not use the same term to refer to a "theme".