From 480108a18896dfb45ce135addf2acaa752372ae7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: nojhan Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2022 09:24:41 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] rationale + limitations --- README.md | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 24 insertions(+) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index eaf68a5..5821cf8 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1,5 +1,6 @@ Kalolo is a dark 256-colors scheme for the [kakoune](https://kakoune.org/) editor, designed with consistency in mind. + Features ======== @@ -37,3 +38,26 @@ Screenshots ![Screenshot in insert mode](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nojhan/kalolo/main/screen_insert.png) ![Screenshot in normal mode](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nojhan/kalolo/main/screen_normal.png) + + +Rationale +========= + +Color schemes are often perceived as a matter af taste. +While this is true in essence, there are still some usability guidelines that may be followed. +Most of color schemes for text editors show some of the following antipatterns: + +- themes with too few colors (e.g. the default theme for Eclipse), +- fancy rainbows which tries to pack so many colors on each lines that it becomes difficult to parse the text visually (e.g. the "one" theme for Atom), +- use of colors without semantic consistency, +- a lack of understanding of what information are important (e.g. making comments less visible), +- no visual clue on the current status of the (modal) editor (e.g. grey status bar, single-color cursors). + +Kalolo tries to address those kind of problems. + + +Limitations +=========== + +- So far, Kalolo only exists as a dark theme (but contributions are welcomed). +- The design is limited by a compromise with the syntax parsing engine: less keyword types necessarily means less color shades. Adding more keyword types would mean more configuration.