+2012-08-05 Chong Yidong <cyd@gnu.org>
+
+ * display.texi (Faces): Document frame-background-mode (Bug#7774).
+
+ * custom.texi (Face Customization): Move discussion of face
+ inheritance here, from Faces section.
+
2012-07-21 Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
* frames.texi (Mouse Commands): Fix the description of mouse-2.
specify any special value for the attribute. You can activate a
checkbox to specify or unspecify its attribute.
- Most faces only specify a few attributes (in the above example,
-@code{font-lock-comment-face} only specifies the foreground color).
-Emacs has a special face, @code{default}, whose attributes are all
-specified; it determines the attributes left unspecified by other
-faces.
+ A face does not have to specify every single attribute; in fact,
+most faces only specify a few attributes. In the above example,
+@code{font-lock-comment-face} only specifies the foreground color.
+Any unspecified attribute is taken from the special face named
+@code{default}, whose attributes are all specified. The
+@code{default} face is the face used to display any text that does not
+have an explicitly-assigned face; furthermore, its background color
+attribute serves as the background color of the frame.
The @samp{Hide Unused Attributes} button, at the end of the
attribute list, hides the unspecified attributes of the face. When
prompts for a regular expression, and displays only faces with names
matching that regular expression (@pxref{Regexps}).
+@vindex frame-background-mode
It's possible for a given face to look different in different
frames. For instance, some text terminals do not support all face
attributes, particularly font, height, and width, and some support a
-limited range of colors.
+limited range of colors. In addition, most Emacs faces are defined so
+that their attributes are different on light and dark frame
+backgrounds, for reasons of legibility. By default, Emacs
+automatically chooses which set of face attributes to display on each
+frame, based on the frame's current background color. However, you
+can override this by giving the variable @code{frame-background-mode}
+a non-@code{nil} value. A value of @code{dark} makes Emacs treat all
+frames as if they have a dark background, whereas a value of
+@code{light} makes it treat all frames as if they have a light
+background.
@cindex background color
@cindex default face
- You can customize a face to alter its appearance, and save those
-changes for future Emacs sessions. @xref{Face Customization}. A face
-does not have to specify every single attribute; often it inherits
-most attributes from another face. Any ultimately unspecified
-attribute is taken from the face named @code{default}.
+ You can customize a face to alter its attributes, and save those
+customizations for future Emacs sessions. @xref{Face Customization},
+for details.
The @code{default} face is the default for displaying text, and all
of its attributes are specified. Its background color is also used as
+2012-08-05 Chong Yidong <cyd@gnu.org>
+
+ * display.texi (Defining Faces): Move documentation of
+ frame-background-mode to the Emacs manual (Bug#7774).
+
2012-08-04 Chong Yidong <cyd@gnu.org>
* syntax.texi (Syntax Basics): Rearrange the text for clarity.
specify a face to use. In the vast majority of cases, this is not
necessary; it is preferable to simply use faces directly.
-@defopt frame-background-mode
-This option, if non-@code{nil}, specifies the background type to use for
-interpreting face definitions. If it is @code{dark}, then Emacs treats
-all frames as if they had a dark background, regardless of their actual
-background colors. If it is @code{light}, then Emacs treats all frames
-as if they had a light background.
-@end defopt
-
@node Face Attributes
@subsection Face Attributes
@cindex face attributes