@menu
* Faces:: How to change the display style using faces.
+* Standard Faces:: Emacs' predefined faces.
* Font Lock:: Minor mode for syntactic highlighting using faces.
* Highlight Changes:: Using colors to show where you changed the buffer.
* Highlight Interactively:: Tell Emacs what text to highlight.
support colors. Character terminals generally do not support changing
the height and width or the font family.
+ The easiest way to use faces is to turn on Font Lock mode.
+@xref{Font Lock}, for more information about Font Lock mode and
+syntactic highlighting. You can print out the buffer with the
+highlighting that appears on your screen using the command
+@code{ps-print-buffer-with-faces}. @xref{PostScript}.
+
Features which rely on text in multiple faces (such as Font Lock mode)
will also work on non-windowed terminals that can display more than one
face, whether by colors or underlining and emboldening. This includes
lines too long or too short. We plan to address these issues in
future Emacs versions.
+@node Standard Faces
+@section Standard Faces
+
@findex list-faces-display
- To see what faces are currently defined, and what they look like, type
-@kbd{M-x list-faces-display}. It's possible for a given face to look
-different in different frames; this command shows the appearance in the
-frame in which you type it. Here's a list of the standard defined
-faces:
+ To see what faces are currently defined, and what they look like,
+type @kbd{M-x list-faces-display}. It's possible for a given face to
+look different in different frames; this command shows the appearance
+in the frame in which you type it. Here are the standard faces
+for specifying text appearance:
@table @code
@item default
This face is used for ordinary text that doesn't specify any other face.
+@item bold
+This face uses a bold variant of the default font, if it has one.
+@item italic
+This face uses an italic variant of the default font, if it has one.
+@item bold-italic
+This face uses a bold italic variant of the default font, if it has one.
+@item underline
+This face underlines text.
+@item fixed-pitch
+The basic fixed-pitch face.
+@item variable-pitch
+The basic variable-pitch face.
+@end table
+
+ Here's an incomplete list of faces used to highlight parts of the
+text temporarily for specific purposes. (Many other modes define
+their own faces for this purpose.)
+
+@table @code
+@item highlight
+This face is used for highlighting portions of text, in various modes.
+For example, mouse-sensitive text is highlighted using this face.
+@item mode-line-highlight
+Like @code{highlight}, but used for portions of text on mode lines.
+@item isearch
+This face is used for highlighting Isearch matches.
+@item lazy-highlight
+This face is used for lazy highlighting of Isearch and Query Replace
+matches other than the current one.
+@item region
+This face is used for displaying a selected region (when Transient Mark
+mode is enabled---see below).
+@item secondary-selection
+This face is used for displaying a secondary X selection (@pxref{Secondary
+Selection}).
+@item trailing-whitespace
+The face for highlighting trailing whitespace when
+@code{show-trailing-whitespace} is non-@code{nil}; see @ref{Useless
+Whitespace}.
+@item nobreak-space
+The face for displaying the character ``nobreak space''.
+@item escape-glyph
+The face for highlighting the @samp{\} or @samp{^} that indicates
+a control character. It's also used when @samp{\} indicates a
+nobreak space or nobreak (soft) hyphen.
+@item shadow
+The basic face for making the text less noticeable than the surrounding
+ordinary text. Usually this is achieved by using shades of grey in
+contrast with either black or white default foreground color.
+@end table
+
+@cindex @code{region} face
+ When Transient Mark mode is enabled, the text of the region is
+highlighted when the mark is active. This uses the face named
+@code{region}; you can control the style of highlighting by changing the
+style of this face (@pxref{Face Customization}). @xref{Transient Mark},
+for more information about Transient Mark mode and activation and
+deactivation of the mark.
+
+ These faces control the appearance of parts of the Emacs frame.
+They exist as faces to provide a consistent way to customize the
+appearance of these parts of the frame.
+
+@table @code
@item mode-line
This face is used for the mode line of the currently selected window.
By default, it's drawn with shadows for a ``raised'' effect on window
systems, and drawn as the inverse of the default face on non-windowed
-terminals. @xref{Display Custom}.
+terminals.
@item mode-line-inactive
Like @code{mode-line}, but used for mode lines of the windows other
than the selected one (if @code{mode-line-in-non-selected-windows} is
@code{mode-line-inactive} face.
@item minibuffer-prompt
This face is used for the prompt strings displayed in the minibuffer.
-@item highlight
-This face is used for highlighting portions of text, in various modes.
-For example, mouse-sensitive text is highlighted using this face.
-@item mode-line-highlight
-Like @code{highlight}, but used for portions of text on mode lines.
-@item isearch
-This face is used for highlighting Isearch matches.
-@item lazy-highlight
-This face is used for lazy highlighting of Isearch and Query Replace
-matches other than the current one.
-@item region
-This face is used for displaying a selected region (when Transient Mark
-mode is enabled---see below).
-@item secondary-selection
-This face is used for displaying a secondary X selection (@pxref{Secondary
-Selection}).
-@item bold
-This face uses a bold variant of the default font, if it has one.
-@item italic
-This face uses an italic variant of the default font, if it has one.
-@item bold-italic
-This face uses a bold italic variant of the default font, if it has one.
-@item underline
-This face underlines text.
-@item fixed-pitch
-The basic fixed-pitch face.
@item fringe
@cindex fringe
The face for the fringes to the left and right of windows on graphic
displays. (The fringes are the narrow portions of the Emacs frame
between the text area and the window's right and left borders.)
+@xref{Fringes}.
@item scroll-bar
This face determines the visual appearance of the scroll bar.
+@xref{Scroll Bars}.
@item border
This face determines the color of the frame border.
@item cursor
This face determines the color of the mouse pointer.
@item tool-bar
This is the basic tool-bar face. No text appears in the tool bar, but the
-colors of this face affect the appearance of tool bar icons.
+colors of this face affect the appearance of tool bar icons. @xref{Tool Bars}.
@item tooltip
-This face is used for tooltips.
+This face is used for tooltips. @xref{Tooltips}.
@item menu
This face determines the colors and font of Emacs's menus. Setting the
font of LessTif/Motif menus is currently not supported; attempts to set
-the font are ignored in this case.
-@item trailing-whitespace
-The face for highlighting trailing whitespace when
-@code{show-trailing-whitespace} is non-@code{nil}; see @ref{Useless
-Whitespace}.
-@item variable-pitch
-The basic variable-pitch face.
-@item shadow
-The basic face for making the text less noticeable than the surrounding
-ordinary text. Usually this is achieved by using shades of grey in
-contrast with either black or white default foreground color.
+the font are ignored in this case. @xref{Menu Bars}.
@end table
-@cindex @code{region} face
- When Transient Mark mode is enabled, the text of the region is
-highlighted when the mark is active. This uses the face named
-@code{region}; you can control the style of highlighting by changing the
-style of this face (@pxref{Face Customization}). @xref{Transient Mark},
-for more information about Transient Mark mode and activation and
-deactivation of the mark.
-
- One easy way to use faces is to turn on Font Lock mode. @xref{Font
-Lock}, for more information about Font Lock mode and syntactic
-highlighting.
-
- You can print out the buffer with the highlighting that appears
-on your screen using the command @code{ps-print-buffer-with-faces}.
-@xref{PostScript}.
-
@node Font Lock
@section Font Lock mode
@cindex Font Lock mode