Adding colours to manual-pages is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. It's purely aesthetic.
As both a graphic designer *and* a programmer, I can say with confidence that both disciplines exist to solve problems. If colour is what helps a reader navigate a manpage's content, then the content in question is probably a victim of a more mundane issue of poor structuring, verbosity, and/or misuse of formatting. On 20 August 2016 at 23:57, Steffen Nurpmeso <stef...@sdaoden.eu> wrote: > Clarke Echols <cla...@verinet.net> wrote: > |Just because you can doesn't mean you should. > > To me the problem is that i can't right now, even though i want. > > |With a world gone crazy over apps for this, apps for that, > |and apps to manage apps (I'm guessing because I've never > |owned a cell phone -- much less a smart phone) I see no > > I don't know about that. I have an «emergency» mobile phone. It > is the second mobile phone i own – you know the story of the > extreme cruelty and environmental terror surrounding Coltan, and > that the Chinese even paid over world market price to calm down > the situation some ten years ago, _if_ i recall correctly. So, > no. I would still use my first, even older, Nokia, but the power > plug is dead, and no one seems to be able to repair it. Though it > would very well be worth it. Anyway i am now the owner of a used > Samsung, which, i admit, has a camera and, once unfolded, > a monitor. I couldn't wait for the renaissance of the plain old > good stuff, unfortunately. > > Granted that we possibly have seen a step forward regarding user > interfaces due to all this. Then again, i think it is just a step > heading towards the vision that materialized in the Newton. > And that in turn is most likely (not only!) a real-life > translation of the brain transplant and do-by-thinking, which is > much, much older, i think. > > |need for it. > > I can't agree. Though i am pretty conservative regarding this > myself, most of the time – my vim, with which i stay practically > all the time, uses DarkRed (brown) for comments and > reverse,bold,red for warning messages. > > I see the need because this software, not only the macros, don't > allow people to realize what they want. And they seem to do so, > because whenever i start vim without my own config file, myself > starts laughing. And it was like that already when i started > using vim, around Y2K. And then colors offer the option to «break > out» of a situation: say you work twelve hours in a two-colour > editor session, it is, in my gut feeling, helpful to switch to > a different environment with a completely different visualization. > E.g., whereas i am completely fine with > > colour mono sum-dotmark ft=bold,ft=reverse dot > colour mono sum-header ft=bold dot > colour mono sum-thread ft=bold dot > colour mono view-header ft=bold from,subject > colour mono view-msginfo ft=reverse,ft=underline '' > colour mono view-partinfo ft=bold,ft=underline '' > colour mono mle-position ft=bold '' > colour mono mle-prompt ft=bold '' > > on a monochrome display (the reverse is even too much), i also > like switching to > > colour iso sum-dotmark ft=reverse,fg=blue dot > colour iso sum-header fg=blue dot > colour iso sum-thread fg=blue dot > colour iso sum-thread fg=magenta '' > colour iso view-from_ fg=brown '' > colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=red from,subject > colour iso view-header fg=red '' > colour iso view-msginfo fg=green '' > colour iso view-partinfo fg=brown '' > colour iso mle-position ft=bold '' > colour iso mle-prompt fg=red '' > > on a normal eight-colour display and really like, for quite some > weeks now, periodically switching over to > > colour 256 sum-dotmark ft=bold,fg=13 dot > colour 256 sum-header fg=19 older > colour 256 sum-header fg=16,bg=219 dot > colour 256 sum-header fg=17 '' > colour 256 sum-thread ft=bold,fg=164,bg=219 dot > colour 256 sum-thread fg=172 '' > colour 256 view-from_ fg=142 '' > colour 256 view-header ft=bold,fg=red from,subject > colour 256 view-header fg=124 to,cc > colour 256 view-header fg=203 reply-to,mail-followup-to,user-agent > colour 256 view-header fg=88 '' > colour 256 view-msginfo fg=green '' > colour 256 view-partinfo fg=brown '' > colour 256 mle-position fg=202 '' > colour 256 mle-prompt fg=red '' > > on a 256-colour display, even though that is, well, colourful. > > |But one factor nobody's mentioned is the fact that some > |users are color blind, and the wrong combination of > |colors can make a page very difficult to read, and that > |is NOT what's needed. > > I wouldn't enable this by default, then. That is easy to do if > the software is a good one and the mechanism as such is backed by > good code. > > I.e., the software should be capable to automatically detect > whether colours are applicable, choose the right terminal sequences > to realize what is desired, etc. I don't really honour the latter > because i always have presupposed ISO 6429, i.e., ANSI > attribution, which originates in the 1970s. > > |I suggest leaving well enough alone. Black text on a > |white background has always worked well. Strong > |contrast (NEVER grey on white like so many "modern" > |graphic designers seem to think is so pretty, even if > |it makes text much harder to read) is still the best > |way to put text on a screen or on paper either for > |that matter. > | > |My engineering manager from decades ago said the best > |designs are always the simplest, and have the least > |need for adjustments. > > I do appreciate clean and reduced designs myself. But it depends, > and other people may have other desires. If the software can > scale to the needs of those people, too, and does so automatically > and correctly, then it is a personal matter chosen freely, not > something imposed by outer restrictions. And that is what > i desire, even though i know that most people don't survive > freedom mentally. But the software has to move. > > --steffen > >
