[Pan-users] Re: How can I set pan2 to show white letters on black backgrounds on all panes?

[Duncan]

SciFi <address@hidden> posted
address@hidden, excerpted below, on  Mon, 23 Apr 2007 18:06:53
+0000:

> We're using Apple's X11 but with the guts updated to current XFree86-cvs
> (4.6.99.22+).
> 
> How might I set pan2 to show white (or 85% white) letters on a black
> (15%) background?
> 
> Must I install the entire Gnome system to do this?  I'd rather not if at
> all possible.  The quartz-wm is doing great as it is.
> 
> Apple's X11 does support the xinit and app-defaults stuff under /etc/X11
> .
>  I have a set of defs in there for xterm to do white-on-black working
>  fine
> -- could I do this for pan2, too?
> 
> Thanks for any clues.  Hoping to let my eyes relax.  ;)

I strongly prefer light text on a dark background as well, and yes, it's 
possible with pan -- without GNOME. =8^)

I have no clue on Apple (as with most proprietary/slaveryware, I couldn't 
legally run it if I wanted to, given that I can't agree to the EULA and 
such are possibly enforceable here), but I imagine the same thing applies 
there as elsewhere, with perhaps a filesystem location difference, if any.

pan is based on gtk, and it's the gtk color settings you need to change.  
Look for a file similar to gtkrc or gtkrc-2.0, possibly as a hidden file 
(.gtkrc) in your home dir, or under /etc or /etc/gtk-2.0 or the like -- 
or whatever the equivalent subdir for your installation (/local/ or the 
like) might be.  You might not have one if nothing has set anything other 
than the defaults.

You can also set GTK2_RC_FILES to a colon delimited list of file 
locations, and it will build a config out of the union of all of them (I 
believe later settings overwrite earlier ones if they set the same thing).

As for the gtkrc files themselves, initially, my colors were set (and at 
least one of my files created) when I checked the box in KDE to export my 
prefs to non-KDE apps.  However, I've modified them a bit manually since 
then.  If you have no such files to serve as a starting place or 
otherwise might find mine useful, ask, and I'll post them.  (One of the 
reasons I prefer KDE to GNOME is that the KDE settings are easier, both 
in the GUI and to set manually, than GTK/GNOME.  Some of the GTK settings 
can be rather obscure and aren't so intuitive, at least to me, so a file 
to start on can be quite useful.)  My background isn't black; I prefer a 
bit of color, but it's a middle-dark cadetblue, a bit darker than the 
named cadetblue4 but about the same blue-green-gray hue.  Default text is 
white.  However, it should serve as a starting place, if you wish to edit 
them manually.

Or... There are GTK2 themes and a theme manager around, that wouldn't 
require installing all of Gnome, and you've already the GTK2 base, so...  
Again, I don't believe they offer individual color choices, only themes 
(grr!!), but they may do stuff like bitmap-textures and the like, that 
are beyond the simple KDE color inheritance that forms the basis of mine.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman