Colours and words

A palette from one colour

Tui::new(name, version, accent) derives every style the header, footer, list and hourglass draw with from the accent. Palette also takes each token by hand: base, ink, strong, muted, accent, selected, good, warn, bad, rule, line, glass, shimmer, title, inactive, focus and small, each a ratatui Style.

fn palette(accent: Color) -> Palette {
    Palette::new(accent)
        .bar(Some(Bar::LINE))
        .count(Some(Count::new("–", " of ").group(",")))
}

Tui::new("demo", VERSION, accent).palette(palette(accent))

bar and count hold the app’s scrollbar and range count (“11,998–12,002 of 20,000”) once, for every list the shell draws and for any list a screen draws through Palette::view(&mut list, &columns).

Switch it while the app runs

Cx::palette(..) swaps the palette at once, and the hourglass follows. The demo’s p asks which accent with a pick and applies the answer:

fn picked(&mut self, choice: Option<usize>, cx: &mut Cx<'_, Msg>) {
    if let Some(accent) = choice {
        cx.palette(palette(ACCENTS[accent]));
    }
}

Named roles, one per mode

Tui::role(name, style) names a colour role, and Cx::role(Some(name)) makes it active: the title and the hourglass take it, until Cx::role(None). The demo turns its title green in workspace two this way.

Monochrome

Palette::mono() lets reverse, bold and dim stand in for colour. Tui::run uses it when NO_COLOR is set, and Tui::monochrome(true) forces it. Headless runs stay as built, so a capture doesn’t depend on the environment. The demo’s --mono flag shows it.

Tones

Tone (Ink, Strong, Muted, Accent, Good, Warn, Bad) names a style for toasts and modal status lines; Palette::tone(tone) turns it into the palette’s style.

The shell’s words

The shell has no words of its own. Every word it draws comes from Words, and an empty word is simply not drawn:

Words::new()
    .help("? help")
    .again("ctrl+c again to quit")
    .busy(|running| format!("{running} still running. Quit anyway?"))
    .yes("Yes")
    .no("No")
    .choose("y/n choose · enter accept · esc cancel")
    .leave("y quit · n stay")
    .too_small("Make the window at least 40 × 12")
    .waiting("esc stops waiting")

Word	Where it shows
help	the header’s help word while the hints are hidden (?)
again	the footer while the quit guard is armed
busy	the quit question while work runs
yes, no	the confirm’s answers
choose	the confirm’s hint line
leave	the quit question’s hint line (falls back to choose)
too_small	the message when the window is under min_size (40 × 12 by default)
waiting	the hint under the hourglass

Cx::words(..) swaps them while the app runs, a language change, say. The activity band and screen take theirs from Activities (Show running work).

Next: Ask the user: confirm, pick and modals.