@item face
@cindex face codes of text
@kindex face @r{(text property)}
-The @code{face} property controls the appearance of the character,
-such as its font and color. @xref{Faces}. The value of the property
-can be the following:
+The @code{face} property controls the appearance of the character
+(@pxref{Faces}). The value of the property can be the following:
@itemize @bullet
@item
A face name (a symbol or string).
@item
-A property list of face attributes. This has the form (@var{keyword}
-@var{value} @dots{}), where each @var{keyword} is a face attribute
-name and @var{value} is a meaningful value for that attribute. With
-this feature, you do not need to create a face each time you want to
-specify a particular attribute for certain text.
+An anonymous face: a property list of the form @code{(@var{keyword}
+@var{value} @dots{})}, where each @var{keyword} is a face attribute
+name and @var{value} is a value for that attribute.
@item
-A list of faces. This specifies a face which is an aggregate of the
+A list of faces. Each list element should be either a face name or an
+anonymous face. This specifies a face which is an aggregate of the
attributes of each of the listed faces. Faces occurring earlier in
-the list have higher priority. Each list element must have one of the
-two above forms (i.e., either a face name or a property list of face
-attributes).
+the list have higher priority.
+
+@item
+A cons cell of the form @code{(foreground-color . @var{color-name})}
+or @code{(background-color . @var{color-name})}. This specifies the
+foreground or background color, similar to @code{(:foreground
+@var{color-name})} or @code{(:background @var{color-name})}. This
+form is supported for backward compatibility only, and should be
+avoided.
@end itemize
Font Lock mode (@pxref{Font Lock Mode}) works in most buffers by