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<article id="colors" lang="&language;">
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<author>&Matthew.Woehlke; &Matthew.Woehlke.mail;</author>
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<!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->
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<date>2013-11-05</date>
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<releaseinfo>4.12</releaseinfo>
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<keyword>KDE</keyword>
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<keyword>KControl</keyword>
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<keyword>color</keyword>
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<keyword>kcm</keyword>
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<sect2 id="color-intro">
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<title>Introduction</title>
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<para>The Color Selection module is comprised of several sections:</para>
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<link linkend="color-scheme">The <guilabel>Scheme</guilabel> tab</link>,
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used to manage schemes.
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<link linkend="color-options">The <guilabel>Options</guilabel> tab</link>,
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used to change the options of the current scheme.
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<link linkend="color-colors">The <guilabel>Colors</guilabel> tab</link>,
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used to change the colors of the current scheme.
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<link linkend="color-effects">The state effects tabs</link>
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(<guilabel>Inactive</guilabel>, <guilabel>Disabled</guilabel>), used to
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change the state effects of the current scheme.
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<para>Note: This documentation will sometimes refer to the
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"current" scheme, or the "active" scheme.
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The "current" scheme is the set of colors and color scheme options
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that was most recently applied, &ie; what you would get if you choose
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<guibutton>Cancel</guibutton>. The "active" scheme is the set of
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colors as has been most recently edited by you, &ie; what you would get if
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you choose <guibutton>Apply</guibutton>.</para>
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<sect2 id="color-scheme">
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<title>Scheme Management</title>
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<para>The <guilabel>Scheme</guilabel> tab lets you manage the color schemes
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on your machine. Only one scheme is active at once, but you may save schemes,
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allowing you to quickly change the scheme later. When you have created a
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scheme you like, you can save it with <guibutton>Save Scheme...</guibutton>.
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You can remove schemes using <guibutton>Remove Scheme</guibutton>.
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Note that system schemes cannot be removed; trying to do so will display an
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<para>&kde; ships with several schemes. If you have an Internet connection,
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you can also browse and retrieve user-created schemes using <guibutton>Get
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New Schemes...</guibutton>.</para>
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<title>Importing Schemes</title>
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<para>You can also import schemes that you have downloaded or otherwise
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obtained, as well as import &kde; 3 schemes. &kde; 4 color schemes are
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named like "*.colors", while &kde; 3 schemes are named like
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"*.kcsrc".</para>
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<para>Because &kde; 4 has many more color roles than &kde;, importing a
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&kde; 3 scheme is different from importing a &kde; 4 scheme. When a
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&kde; 4 scheme is imported, it becomes part of your saved scheme
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collection. When a &kde; 3 scheme is imported, the colors that exist in
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&kde; 3 are overlaid onto the active scheme, and the result is not
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automatically saved into your collection. After importing a &kde; 3 scheme,
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you will likely need to adjust the colors that are new in &kde; 4, as well
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as the state effects. For best results, before importing a &kde; 3 scheme,
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select a similar &kde; 4 scheme (you do not need to apply the scheme before
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<sect2 id="color-options">
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<title>Color Scheme Options</title>
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<para>The <guilabel>Options</guilabel> tab allows you to change some
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properties that deal with how the color scheme is used, as well as some
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options that change the color scheme that are different from actually
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assigning colors.</para>
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<listitem><para><guilabel>Apply inactive window color effects</guilabel>
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— If checked, state effects (see below) will be applied to inactive
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windows. This can help visually identify active versus inactive windows,
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and may have aesthetic value, depending on your taste. However, some
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users feel that it causes distracting "flickering" since
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windows must be repainted when they become inactive. Unlike desktop
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effects, color state effects do not require compositing support and will
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work on all systems, however they will only work on &kde; 4 applications.
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<listitem><para><guilabel>Inactive selection changes color</guilabel>
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— If checked, the current selection in elements which do not have
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input focus will be drawn using a different color. This can assist visual
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identification of the element with input focus in some applications,
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especially those which simultaneously display several lists.
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<listitem><para><guilabel>Shade sorted column in lists</guilabel>
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— If checked, multi-column lists will use a slightly different
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color to paint the column whose information is being used to sort the
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<listitem><para><guilabel>Apply colors to non-KDE4 applications</guilabel>
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— If checked, &kde; will attempt to export its color scheme so that
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non-&kde; 4 applications will use the same colors. Most applications will
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honor the exported scheme to varying degrees, though some may have bugs
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or otherwise not honor the exported scheme.
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<listitem><para><guilabel>Contrast</guilabel>
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— This slider controls the contrast of shaded elements, such as
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frame borders and the "3D" effects used by most styles. A lower
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value gives less contrast and therefore softer edges, while a higher
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value makes such edges "stand out" more.
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<sect2 id="color-colors">
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<title>Colors</title>
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<para>The <guilabel>Colors</guilabel> tab allows you to change the colors in
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the active color scheme.</para>
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<para>Creating or changing a scheme is a simple matter of clicking on the
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swatch in the color list and selecting a new color. You can check your
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changes at any time by pressing <guibutton>Apply</guibutton>. It is suggested
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that you save your scheme (via the <guilabel>Scheme</guilabel> tab) when you
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<para>The <guilabel>Common Colors</guilabel> set, which is displayed
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initially, is not actually a "set" in the sense used by &kde; (see
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next section), but presents a number of color roles in a way that makes it
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easier to edit the scheme as a whole. When creating a new color scheme, you
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will usually change these colors first, and use the other sets to tweak
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specific colors if needed.</para>
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<para>Note that <guilabel>Common Colors</guilabel> makes available roles from
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all sets. For example, "View Background" here is shorthand for the
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Normal Background role from the View set. Also, setting colors that do not
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refer to a specific set will change that color in <emphasis>all</emphasis>
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sets. (As an exception, "Inactive Text" will change the color for
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all sets <emphasis>except</emphasis> for Selection; there is a separate
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"Selection Inactive Text" for Inactive Text in the Selection set.)
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Some roles may not be visible under <guilabel>Common Colors</guilabel> at
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all, and can only be changed (if needed) by selecting the appropriate
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<title>Color Sets</title>
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<para>&kde; 4 breaks the color scheme into several sets based on the type
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of user interface element, as follows:</para>
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<listitem><para><guilabel>View</guilabel> —
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information presentation elements, such as lists, trees, text input boxes, etc.
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<listitem><para><guilabel>Window</guilabel> —
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window elements that are not buttons or views.
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<listitem><para><guilabel>Button</guilabel> —
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buttons and similar elements.
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<listitem><para><guilabel>Selection</guilabel> —
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selected text and items.
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<listitem><para><guilabel>Tooltip</guilabel> —
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tool tips, "What's This" tips, and similar elements.
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<listitem><para>Window Manager —
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window title bars and related elements.
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<para>Each set contains a number of color roles. Except for the Window
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Manager colors, each set has the same roles. All colors are associated with
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one of the above sets.</para>
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<title>Color Roles</title>
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<para>Each color set is made up of a number of roles which are available in
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all other sets. (The Window Manager set is an exception; it has its own
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unique roles that do not exist in any other set, and does not use the same
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roles as the other sets.) In addition to the obvious Normal Text and Normal
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Background, these roles are as follows:</para>
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<listitem><para>Alternate Background —
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used when there is a need to subtly change the background to aid in
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item association. This might be used ⪚ as the background of a
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heading, but is mostly used for alternating rows in lists, especially
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multi-column lists, to aid in visually tracking rows.
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<listitem><para>Link Text —
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used for hyperlinks or to otherwise indicate "something which may
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be visited", or to show relationships.
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<listitem><para>Visited Text —
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used for "something (⪚ a hyperlink) that has been
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visited", or to indicate something that is "old".
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<listitem><para>Active Text —
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used to indicate an active element or attract attention, ⪚ alerts,
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notifications; also for hovered hyperlinks.
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<listitem><para>Inactive Text —
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used for text which should be unobtrusive, ⪚ comments,
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"subtitles", unimportant information, etc.
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<listitem><para>Negative Text —
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used for errors, failure notices, notifications that an action may be
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dangerous (⪚ unsafe web page or security context), etc.
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<listitem><para>Neutral Text —
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used to draw attention when another role is not appropriate; ⪚
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warnings, to indicate secure/encrypted content, etc.
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<listitem><para>Positive Text —
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used for success notices, to indicate trusted content, etc.
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<para>As well as the text roles, there are a few additional
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"decoration" roles that are used for drawing lines or shading
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UI elements (while the above may, in appropriate circumstances, also be
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used for this purpose, the following are specifically
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<emphasis>not</emphasis> meant for drawing text). These are:</para>
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<listitem><para>Focus Decoration —
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used to indicate the item which has active input focus.
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<listitem><para>Hover Decoration —
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used for mouse-over effects, ⪚ the "illumination" effects for
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<para>In addition, except for Inactive Text, there is a corresponding
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background role for each of the text roles. Currently (except for Normal
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and Alternate Background), these colors are not chosen by the user, but are
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automatically determined based on Normal Background and the corresponding
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Text color. These colors may be previewed by selecting one of the sets
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other than "Common Colors".</para>
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<para>The choice of color role is left to the developer; the above are
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guidelines intended to represent typical usage.</para>
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<title>Window Manager Colors</title>
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<para>As previously stated, the Window Manager set has its own roles,
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independent of those in other sets. These are (currently) only accessible
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via <guilabel>Common Colors</guilabel>, and are as follows:</para>
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<listitem><para>Active Titlebar —
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used to draw the title bar background, borders, and/or decorations for
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the active window (that is, the one with input focus). Not all window
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decorations will use this in the same way, and some may even use the
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Normal Background from the Window set to draw the title bar.
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<listitem><para>Active Titlebar Text —
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used to draw the title bar text when Active Titlebar is used to draw
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the title bar background. May also be used for other foreground
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elements which use Active Titlebar as the background.
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<para>The Inactive Titlebar [Text] roles are the same as the above, but for
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inactive windows, rather than active windows.</para>
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<sect2 id="color-effects">
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<title>Color State Effects</title>
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<para>Color state effects are applied to interface elements in the inactive
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(windows that do not have focus; only if <guilabel>Apply inactive window
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color effects</guilabel> is enabled) or disabled states. By changing the
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effects, the appearance of elements in these states can be changed. Usually,
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inactive elements will have reduced contrast (text fades slightly into the
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background) and may have slightly reduced intensity, while disabled elements
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will have strongly reduced contrast and are often notably darker or lighter.
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<para>Three types of effect may be applied to each state (with the effects
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of the two states being independent). These are Intensity, Color and
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Contrast. The first two (Intensity, Color) control the overall color, while
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the last (Contrast) deals with the foreground colors relative to the
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<title>Intensity</title>
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<para>Intensity allows the overall color to be lightened or darkened.
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Setting the slider to the middle produces no change. The available effects
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<listitem><para>Shade —
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makes everything lighter or darker in a controlled manner. Each
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"tick" on the slider increases or decreases the overall
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intensity (&ie; perceived brightness) by an absolute amount.
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<listitem><para>Darken —
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changes the intensity to a percentage of the initial value. A slider
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setting halfway between middle and maximum results in a color half as
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intense as the original. The minimum gives a color twice as intense as
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<listitem><para>Lighten —
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conceptually the opposite of darken; lighten can be thought of as
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working with "distance from white", where darken works with
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"distance from black". The minimum is a color twice as
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"far" from white as the original, while halfway between
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middle and maximum gives an intensity halfway between the original
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<para>Color also changes the overall color, but is not limited to
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intensity. The available effects are:</para>
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<listitem><para>Desaturate —
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changes the relative chroma. The middle setting produces no change;
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maximum gives a gray whose perceptual intensity equals that of the
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original color. Lower settings increase the chroma, giving a color that
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is less gray / more "vibrant" than the original.
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<listitem><para>Fade —
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smoothly blends the original color into a reference color. The minimum
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setting on the slider produces no change; maximum gives the reference
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<listitem><para>Tint —
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similar to Fade, except that the color (hue and chroma) changes more
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quickly while the intensity changes more slowly as the slider value is
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<title>Contrast</title>
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<para>The contrast effects are similar to the color effects, except they
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apply to the text, using the background color as the reference color, and
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desaturate is not available. Fade produces text that "fades out"
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more quickly, but keeps its color longer, while Tint produces text that
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changes color to match the background more quickly while keeping a greater
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intensity contrast for longer (where "longer" means higher
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settings on the slider). For Contrast effects, the minimum setting on the
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slider produces no change, while maximum causes the text to completely
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disappear into the background.</para>
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