Maximus BBS

Documentation for Maximus BBS — Next Generation

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Color Codes

Pipe color codes and semantic theme color codes

Color codes change text and background colors using the pipe character followed by a two-digit number or two lowercase letters.

Foreground Colors (|00 – |15)

These set the text (foreground) color without changing the background.

Code Color
\|00 Black
\|01 Blue
\|02 Green
\|03 Cyan
\|04 Red
\|05 Magenta
\|06 Brown
\|07 Light Gray
\|08 Dark Gray
\|09 Light Blue
\|10 Light Green
\|11 Light Cyan
\|12 Light Red
\|13 Light Magenta
\|14 Yellow
\|15 White

Background Colors (|16 – |23)

These set the background color without changing the foreground.

Code Background
\|16 Black
\|17 Blue
\|18 Green
\|19 Cyan
\|20 Red
\|21 Magenta
\|22 Brown
\|23 Light Gray

Blink + Background (|24 – |31)

These set the background color and enable the blink attribute. On terminals that support ICE colors instead of blinking, these produce bright backgrounds.

Code Background + Blink
\|24 Black + blink
\|25 Blue + blink
\|26 Green + blink
\|27 Cyan + blink
\|28 Red + blink
\|29 Magenta + blink
\|30 Brown + blink
\|31 Light Gray + blink

Examples

|14Hello, |15|17World|16!

Produces: yellow “Hello, “ followed by white on blue “World” then returns to a black background for “!”.

Literal Pipe

To display a literal | character, use ||:

Type || to see a pipe symbol.

Displays: Type | to see a pipe symbol.

Theme Color Codes (|xx)

Theme color codes are two lowercase letters that refer to a named semantic color slot defined in colors.toml. Instead of hard-coding numeric color values throughout your display files and prompts, you can use theme codes and change the entire BBS color scheme from one file.

When Maximus encounters a theme code like |pr, it looks up the slot in the loaded theme and substitutes the configured pipe color string (e.g., |14 for yellow, or |15|17 for white on blue). The substituted codes then flow through normal color processing.

Slot Reference

Code Slot Name Purpose Default
\|tx text Normal body text \|07
\|hi highlight Emphasized / important text \|15
\|pr prompt User-facing prompts \|14
\|in input User keystroke echo \|15
\|tf textbox_fg Text input field foreground \|15
\|tb textbox_bg Text input field background \|17
\|hd heading Section headings \|11
\|lf lightbar_fg Lightbar selected item foreground \|15
\|lb lightbar_bg Lightbar selected item background \|17
\|er error Error messages \|12
\|wn warning Warning messages \|06
\|ok success Confirmations / success messages \|10
\|dm dim De-emphasized text, help text \|08
\|fi file_info File area descriptions \|03
\|sy sysop SysOp-only text \|13
\|qt quote Quoted message text \|09
\|br border Box borders, dividers \|01
\|hk hotkey Hotkey characters \|14
\|ac accent Accent / decorative elements \|11
\|ds disabled Disabled or unavailable items \|08
\|nf info Informational notices \|10
\|nt notice System notices \|13
\|dv divider Horizontal rules, separators \|05
\|la label Field labels \|03
\|cd default Reset to the theme’s default color \|16\|07

For full details on configuring slots, creating custom themes, and editing colors interactively, see Theme Colors.

Examples

|pr Enter your name: |in

Displays the prompt in the theme’s prompt color, then switches to the input color for the user’s typed response.

|hd=== Message Area List ===|tx

Displays the heading in the heading color, then returns to normal text color.

|er ERROR: |tx File not found.

Displays “ERROR:” in the error color, then the description in normal text.

See Also