RE: Background Colors in The Format Menu
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg42866] RE: [mg42821] Background Colors in The Format Menu
- From: John Fultz <jfultz at wolfram.com>
- Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003 01:47:53 -0400 (EDT)
- Reply-to: jfultz at wolfram.com
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
I believe the AddMenuCommands is documented in Glynn and Gray's Beginner's Guide to Mathematica. I know that the book documents a number of front end features which didn't make it into the official Mathematica documentation (warning: many of these things didn't make it in because they may change in a backwards-incompatible way in future versions). The GraphicsColor directory could have been named anything; the important thing is that the directory exist under some name, that it have a subdirectory called "FrontEnd", and that you put the init.m into the FrontEnd subdirectory. Sincerely, John Fultz jfultz at wolfram.com User Interface Group Wolfram Research, Inc. On Wed, 30 Jul 2003 14:39:06 -0400, David Park wrote: >Thanks John, > >I like the second method because then I don't have to update the >MenuSetup.tr file with each Mathematica update. Also it is much nicer not >to >change system files. > >Now, where do we find things like AddMenuCommands documented? And was the >GraphicsColors folder just a convenient pigeon hole, or is it a >neccessity? > >David Park >djmp at earthlink.net >http://home.earthlink.net/~djmp/ > >-----Original Message----- >From: John Fultz [mailto:jfultz at wolfram.com] To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net >Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 11:50 AM >To: djmp at earthlink.net; mathgroup at smc.vnet.net >Subject: [mg42866] Re: [mg42821] Background Colors in The Format Menu > > >Nice suggestion. If I may expand upon it...here's another way of doing >this that doesn't involve editing your MenuSetup.tr. Evaluate the >following command: > >LinkWrite[$ParentLink, >AddMenuCommands[ >"BackgroundDialog", {Delimiter, >Item["L&inen", Background -> RGBColor[0.980, 0.941, 0.902]], >Item["A&liceBlue", Background -> RGBColor[0.941, 0.973, 1.0]], >Item["Min&tCream", Background -> RGBColor[0.961, 1.0, 0.980]], >Item["Lig&htYellow", Background -> RGBColor[1.0, 1.0, 0.878]], >Item["Smok&e", Background -> RGBColor[0.961, 0.961, 0.961]], >Item["Mi&styRose", Background -> RGBColor[1.0, 0.894, 0.882]]}]] > > >Or another way... > >In the AddOns Autoload directory (either $TopDirectory/AddOns/Autoload or >$AddOnsDirectory/Autoload) create the subdirectory >GraphicsColors/FrontEnd. In that subdirectory, create the file init.m >which contains the following: > >AddMenuCommands["BackgroundDialog", {Delimiter, >Item["L&inen", Background -> RGBColor[0.980, 0.941, 0.902]], >Item["A&liceBlue", Background -> RGBColor[0.941, 0.973, 1.0]], >Item["Min&tCream", Background -> RGBColor[0.961, 1.0, 0.980]], >Item["Lig&htYellow", Background -> RGBColor[1.0, 1.0, 0.878]], >Item["Smok&e", Background -> RGBColor[0.961, 0.961, 0.961]], >Item["Mi&styRose", Background -> RGBColor[1.0, 0.894, 0.882]]}] > >and restart Mathematica. > >Additionally, I would suggest that if you're not running Windows, you >remove the ampersands (&) from the above menu items. > >Sincerely, > >John Fultz >jfultz at wolfram.com >User Interface Group >Wolfram Research, Inc. > > >On Wed, 30 Jul 2003 04:07:56 -0400 (EDT), David Park wrote: >>Dear MathGroup, >> >>I have always disliked the choice of background colors in the Format >>menu. I think they are generally too dark, too saturated, or too dull. >>While it is possible to choose Other and then use the color selector to >>set the color, I observe that most people stay with the main choices. If >>you would like some pastel colors to use as cell backgrounds, paste the >>following code in the >> >>SystemFiles\FrontEnd\TextResources\Windows\MenuSetup.tr file. >> >>(I suppose it is in some other place on other operating systems.) >> >>First copy and save the MenuSetup.tr under a different name so that you >>can recover if necessary. >> >>Then open MenuSetup.tr, scroll down and replace the Menu["Back&ground >>Color",...] section with the following code. > >>Menu["Back&ground Color", >>{ >>Item["&Cell Gray Box", "ToggleGrayBox"], >>Delimiter, >>Item["&None", Background->None], >>Item["Inherite&d", Background->Inherited], >>Delimiter, >>Item["L&inen", Background->RGBColor[0.980,0.941,0.902]], >>Item["A&liceBlue", Background->RGBColor[0.941,0.973,1.0]], >>Item["Min&tCream", Background->RGBColor[0.961,1.0,0.980]], >>Item["Lig&htYellow", Background->RGBColor[1.0,1.0,0.878]], >>Item["Smok&e", Background->RGBColor[0.961,0.961,0.961]], >>Item["Mi&styRose", Background->RGBColor[1.0,0.894,0.882]], >>Delimiter, >>Item["Blac&k", Background->GrayLevel[0]], >>Item["&White", Background->GrayLevel[1]], >>Item["&10% Gray", Background->GrayLevel[0.1]], >>Item["&33% Gray", Background->GrayLevel[0.3333333]], >>Item["&50% Gray", Background->GrayLevel[0.5]], >>Item["&66% Gray", Background->GrayLevel[0.6666666]], >>Item["&90% Gray", Background->GrayLevel[0.9]], >>Item["&Red", Background->RGBColor[1, 0, 0]], >>Item["&Green", Background->RGBColor[0, 1, 0]], >>Item["&Blue", Background->RGBColor[0, 0, 1]], >>Item["C&yan", Background->RGBColor[0, 1, 1]], >>Item["&Magenta", Background->RGBColor[1, 0, 1]], >>Item["Yello&w", Background->RGBColor[1, 1, 0]], >>Delimiter, >>Item["&Other...", "BackgroundDialog"] >>}] >> >>Then when you restart Mathematica you will have a better choice of >>background colors. >> >>David Park >>djmp at earthlink.net >>http://home.earthlink.net/~djmp/