Maximus BBS

Documentation for Maximus BBS — Next Generation

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Theme Colors

Semantic color theming system for Maximus BBS

Maximus NG uses a semantic color system — instead of hard-coding numeric pipe colors (|14, |12) throughout your display files and language strings, you use named theme codes (|pr for prompt, |er for error, |hd for heading). All 25 slots are defined in a single file, colors.toml, and changing a slot there changes it everywhere.

How It Works

  1. You write display files and language strings using theme codes:

    |pr Enter your name: |in
|er ERROR: |tx File not found.
|hd=== Message Areas ===|cd

  2. At runtime, Maximus looks up each theme code in the loaded color configuration and substitutes the actual pipe color string. For example, |pr might resolve to |14 (yellow) and |er to |12 (light red).

  3. The substituted codes flow through normal color processing — ANSI escape sequences are sent to the terminal.

This means you can retheme your entire BBS by editing one file.

Configuration: colors.toml

Theme colors are defined in config/general/colors.toml under the [theme.colors] section:

[theme.colors]
text         = "|07"
highlight    = "|15"
prompt       = "|14"
input        = "|15"
heading      = "|11"
lightbar_fg  = "|15"
lightbar_bg  = "|17"
error        = "|12"
warning      = "|06"
success      = "|10"
dim          = "|08"
file_info    = "|03"
sysop        = "|13"
quote        = "|09"
border       = "|01"
hotkey       = "|14"
accent       = "|11"
disabled     = "|08"
info         = "|10"
notice       = "|13"
divider      = "|05"
label        = "|03"
default      = "|16|07"
textbox_fg   = "|15"
textbox_bg   = "|17"

Values can be any valid pipe color string, including compound codes for foreground + background:

lightbar_fg = "|15|17"   # White text on blue background

Slot Reference

Every slot has a two-letter code, a descriptive name, and a default value. See also Color Codes for the same table in the Display Codes context.

Code Name Default Purpose
\|tx text \|07 Normal body text
\|hi highlight \|15 Emphasized text
\|pr prompt \|14 User-facing prompts
\|in input \|15 Input fields
\|tf textbox_fg \|15 Textbox foreground
\|tb textbox_bg \|17 Textbox background
\|hd heading \|11 Section headings
\|lf lightbar_fg \|15 Lightbar foreground
\|lb lightbar_bg \|17 Lightbar background
\|er error \|12 Error messages
\|wn warning \|06 Warnings
\|ok success \|10 Success confirmations
\|dm dim \|08 De-emphasized text
\|fi file_info \|03 File metadata
\|sy sysop \|13 Sysop-only indicators
\|qt quote \|09 Quoted text
\|br border \|01 Borders and frames
\|hk hotkey \|14 Hotkey letters
\|ac accent \|11 Accent color
\|ds disabled \|08 Disabled/unavailable items
\|nf info \|10 Informational notices
\|nt notice \|13 System notices
\|dv divider \|05 Divider lines
\|la label \|03 Labels
\|cd default \|16\|07 Reset to theme default (use at end of strings)

Editing in MaxCFG

Theme colors can be edited interactively in maxcfg under Setup → Global → Default Colors → Theme Colors. The editor shows a live preview of each slot with its current pipe color value.

The |cd Reset Convention

Themed language strings should end with |cd to reset the color back to the theme’s default, preventing color bleed into the next output. Exceptions:

Theme Codes in Display Files

Theme codes work everywhere display codes work:

Using theme codes instead of numeric colors means your ANSI art and display files automatically adapt when the theme changes.

See Also