Solaire mode

If only certain buffers could be so grossly incandescent.

solaire-mode is an aesthetic plugin that helps visually distinguish file-visiting windows from other types of windows (like popups or sidebars) by giving them a slightly different -- often brighter -- background.

Praise the sun.

Note:

• Uses face-remapping-alist, which other plugins may overwrite.
• Tested mainly on Emacs 25.1+
• This was once a part of doom-themes as doom-buffer-mode
• Try jumping.

Screenshot

Install

M-x package-install RET solaire-mode

(require 'solaire-mode)

;; Enable solaire-mode anywhere it can be enabled
(solaire-global-mode +1)
;; To enable solaire-mode unconditionally for certain modes:
(add-hook 'ediff-prepare-buffer-hook #'solaire-mode)

;; ...if you use auto-revert-mode, this prevents solaire-mode from turning
;; itself off every time Emacs reverts the file
(add-hook 'after-revert-hook #'turn-on-solaire-mode)

;; highlight the minibuffer when it is activated:
(add-hook 'minibuffer-setup-hook #'solaire-mode-in-minibuffer)

;; if the bright and dark background colors are the wrong way around, use this
;; to switch the backgrounds of the `default` and `solaire-default-face` faces.
;; This should be used *after* you load the active theme!
;;
;; NOTE: This is necessary for themes in the doom-themes package!
(solaire-mode-swap-bg)

;; An alternative for `use-package' users:
(use-package solaire-mode
  :hook ((change-major-mode after-revert ediff-prepare-buffer) . turn-on-solaire-mode)
  :config
  (add-hook 'minibuffer-setup-hook #'solaire-mode-in-minibuffer)
  (solaire-mode-swap-bg))

Configuration

• By default, solaire-mode's effects will be invisible. Its faces must be defined:

  • solaire-default-face
  • solaire-minibuffer-face
  • solaire-line-number-face
  • solaire-hl-line-face
  • solaire-org-hide-face
  • solaire-mode-line-face
  • solaire-mode-line-inactive-face

  The only theme(s) that supports this, that I know of, is doom-themes.

• What faces get remapped is controlled by solaire-mode-remap-faces and solaire-mode-remap-modeline.

  By default, these faces are affected:

  • default
  • hl-line
  • linum
  • org-hide
  • mode-line
  • mode-line-inactive

• The function in solaire-mode-real-buffer-fn determines if a buffer should be brightened or not.

Jolly cooperation with other plugins

• By default, solaire-mode remaps the mode-line faces. This interferes with certain mode-line packages like telephone-line or powerline. You can undo this with:

  (setq solaire-mode-remap-modeline nil)

• When persp-mode loads a perspective from file, it doesn't restore solaire-mode. The function solaire-mode-restore-persp-mode-buffers is available for this:

  (advice-add #'persp-load-state-from-file :after #'solaire-mode-restore-persp-mode-buffers)

• Don't trust Patches!