ds_amber
devShakib Amber — the amber phosphor monitor, as a VS Code theme.
devshakib.jumyn.com · github.com/devShakib015
The idea
Before green won, plenty of terminals glowed amber, and people chose them for long sessions because the warm light was easier on the eyes. This theme keeps that: the ground is warm black, and amber carries the frequent tokens — functions, properties, ordinary identifiers — so the screen reads orange at a glance.
The sparks stay warm too, with one deliberate exception: types are teal, the complement of amber, so a type is never mistaken for a call. There is no blue anywhere near the text, which makes this the one to leave on late at night.
| role |
colour |
contrast |
keyword, storage, this |
#FF7B4A |
7.7:1 · italic |
| function, method |
#FFB23F |
11.0:1 |
| type, class, interface |
#6FD6C8 |
11.4:1 |
| string |
#D9E57F |
14.5:1 |
| number, constant |
#FF94B0 |
9.5:1 |
| property |
#FFC97A |
13.1:1 |
| annotation, decorator |
#C7A5F2 |
9.5:1 · italic |
| variable |
#FFDDAA |
15.2:1 |
| parameter |
#E8B77A |
10.8:1 · italic |
| comment |
#A4815B |
5.5:1 · italic |
Italics are structural rather than decorative: comments, keywords, storage,
this, parameters, annotations and attributes are the things you skim past or
read as scaffolding, so slanting them separates them without spending a colour.
Contrast
Measured at build time, not judged by eye. tool/build_themes.py refuses to
write the theme if any syntax colour, UI label or terminal colour falls below
4.5:1 on its own background, or if two roles a reader must tell apart sit
too close together. The lowest here is the comment
colour at 5.52:1.
Font
A theme cannot set your font — editor.fontFamily is a user setting. The
italics are designed around Victor Mono, whose italic is cursive, but any
monospace face with a real italic works.
"editor.fontFamily": "Victor Mono, JetBrains Mono, monospace",
"editor.fontSize": 15,
"editor.lineHeight": 1.7
The family
| theme |
|
| ds_retro |
green CRT with colour sparks |
| ds_amber |
amber phosphor, warm and blue-free |
| ds_synthwave |
neon on deep indigo |
| ds_paper |
ink on warm paper — the light one |
| ds_blueprint |
chalk lines on a navy drawing sheet |
| ds_noir |
silver greys, one red, one gold |
Building
python3 tool/build_themes.py # the theme JSON, refused if a check fails
python3 tool/make_icon.py # icon.png and icon-512.png
python3 tool/shots.py # preview.png, drawn from the theme JSON
npx @vscode/vsce package # the .vsix
The palette is tool/palette.py. Never hand-edit the theme JSON.
By
devShakib — devshakib.jumyn.com ·
github.com/devShakib015 ·
pub.dev/publishers/jumyn.com
Licence
MIT.
