My first emacs package - *selected-window-accent-mode*

From my previous two posts regarding defining a Selected Window Accent some interesting posts from irreal arose, especially:

Marking The Active Window

Where it looks like the simple mode-line-active and mode-line-inactive was a good way to indicate the current focussed window, and I do agree.

However to practice my elisp and to create my first emacs package I thought I would bring together my preference which is to have a tiling window manager type of focus involving typically a border around the current window while leveraging the usual customization options that come with emacs.

I have put it on github/captainflasmr for now and below is the README for a package called selected-window-accent-mode

It’s a bit rough around the edges (pardon the pun!) but I think it might be a good starting point for further improvements.

selected-window-accent-mode

Summary

The Selected Window Accent Mode is an Emacs package designed to visually distinguish the currently selected window by applying a unique accent color to its fringes, mode line, header line, and margins.

Quick Start (emacs 29)

Add the following to the emacs init for a tiling window manager feel (see image above):

(use-package selected-window-accent-mode
  :vc (:fetcher github :repo "captainflasmr/selected-window-accent-mode")
  :custom
  (selected-window-accent-fringe-thickness 10)
  (selected-window-accent-custom-color "#916941")
  (selected-window-accent-mode-style 'tiling))

(selected-window-accent-mode 1)

Installation

use-package (emacs 29)

Put the following into your emacs init file:

(use-package selected-window-accent-mode
  :vc (:fetcher github :repo "captainflasmr/selected-window-accent-mode"))

use-package (MELPA)

from source

Download the `.el` file and place it in your Emacs `load-path`.

Then either manually load it or add it to your configuration to be loaded at startup.

(require 'selected-window-accent-mode)

Usage

Interactively Toggle the mode on and off M-x selected-window-accent-mode

Interactively change the current style M-x switch-selected-window-accent-style which will present a completing-read selection in the minibuffer

The styles that are currently supported :

see roadmap below for a description.

Typically I have bound these two interactive functions to a new keymap where I keep all my emacs visual change functions.

(defvar my-win-keymap (make-sparse-keymap))
(global-set-key (kbd "M-o") my-win-keymap)
(define-key my-win-keymap (kbd "a") 'selected-window-accent-mode)
(define-key my-win-keymap (kbd "y") 'switch-selected-window-accent-style)

Examples

Example 1 - Default / custom color

To enable the accent mode automatically upon starting Emacs, add the following line to your `.emacs` or `init.el` file:

(use-package selected-window-accent-mode
  :vc (:fetcher github :repo "captainflasmr/selected-window-accent-mode")
  :custom
  (selected-window-accent-custom-color "goldenrod")
  (selected-window-accent-mode-style 'default))

(selected-window-accent-mode 1)

This will accent the modeline only for the selected window with the goldenrod color.

Example 2 - Tiling / custom color / custom fringe thickness

(setq selected-window-accent-fringe-thickness 6)
(setq selected-window-accent-custom-color "#4179b2")
(setq selected-window-accent-mode-style 'tiling)

(selected-window-accent-mode 1)

This will accent the full outline of the window with the color #4175b2 more akin to a tiling window manager.

Example 3 - Tiling / theme highlight color

(setq selected-window-accent-custom-color nil)
(setq selected-window-accent-mode-style 'tiling)

(selected-window-accent-mode 1)

This will accent the full outline of the window with the highlight color taken from the current theme.

Example 4 - Subtle / custom fringe thickness (thick)

(setq selected-window-accent-fringe-thickness 40)
(setq selected-window-accent-custom-color nil)
(setq selected-window-accent-mode-style 'subtle)

(selected-window-accent-mode 1)

This will accent the modeline and just the left fringe and in this case be quite a pronounced thick accent.

Customization

Can be done through the customization interface:

Selected Window Accent Group group:

Customization group for the selected-window-accent package.

Selected Window Accent Custom Color

Custom accent color for the selected window. Set this variable to change the accent color.

Selected Window Accent Fringe Thickness: Integer:

The thickness of the fringes in pixels.

Selected Window Accent Mode: Boolean: Toggle

Non-nil if Selected-Window-Accent mode is enabled

Selected Window Accent Mode Style

Current style for accenting the selected window.

Minor Mode

The selected-window-accent-mode is a global minor mode that you can toggle to enable or disable the accenting of the selected window.

When enabled, it distinguishes the selected window with a special accent color.

Hooks

Two hooks are used to automatically update the window accents when the window configuration or state changes:

These are added when the selected-window-accent-mode is enabled and removed when disabled.

BUGS

The current version is pretty rough and probably definitely pre-alpha.

Fix these to get to a tagged Version 0.1.

In order of priority

ROADMAP

1. add to MELPA

2. define more custom variables:

3. define which theme face attribute to use as the main accent color

Currently the default is to use the highlight face

4. DOING implement accent styles

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