console prompt color

[Jagdpanther]

I just compiled  SageMath 7.0.  Both the console and notebook interface seem to work well.  I use a dark gray background in my xterm (uxterm) window where I run sage (console)  and the dark blue "sage:" prompt is hard to see.  How do I change the color of the console "sage:" prompt?

[Michael Orlitzky]

Rather annoying isn't it =)

The default should be NoColor, since whatever color scheme we choose is
going to be awful for a large number of users. To change it once, run

sage: %colors NoColor

To change it permanently, add that command to your init.sage file:

$ echo '%colors NoColor' >> ~/.sage/init.sage

If it works for you, you may prefer the color scheme designed for
light-on-dark terminals, obtained with "%colors Linux".

[Volker Braun]

On Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at 12:16:01 PM UTC-5, Michael Orlitzky wrote:

The default should be NoColor, since whatever color scheme we choose is
going to be awful for a large number of users.

I disagree, the default should be good on white background. Every reasonable terminal uses that by default as UX research time again proved that this is the most readable color scheme. 

People are of course free to customize their terminal but then they can also customize their applications.

[Michael Orlitzky]

On 01/26/2016 03:30 PM, Volker Braun wrote:
> On Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at 12:16:01 PM UTC-5, Michael Orlitzky wrote:
>
> The default should be NoColor, since whatever color scheme we choose is
> going to be awful for a large number of users.
>
>
> I disagree, the default should be good on white background. Every
> reasonable terminal uses that by default as UX research time again
> proved that this is the most readable color scheme.
>

You're just using "reasonable" to mean "has the color scheme I like."
We're not talking about a major improvement for the people who use a
light background. It's eye candy, at the cost of catastrophic failure on
terminals with dark backgrounds. Most people who start sage and see
dark-blue-on-black aren't going to go find a mailing list, sign up, and
ask for the secret commands to make it work the way it should already.

[Volker Braun]

On Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at 5:09:52 PM UTC-5, Michael Orlitzky wrote:

You're just using "reasonable" to mean "has the color scheme I like."

That black text on white background is the most legible color scheme is an empirical fact.

Also, IPython alone also defaults to using colors. Changing colors is also exacly the same as in plain IPython.

[Michael Orlitzky]

On 01/26/2016 10:17 PM, Volker Braun wrote:
> On Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at 5:09:52 PM UTC-5, Michael Orlitzky wrote:
>
> You're just using "reasonable" to mean "has the color scheme I like."
>
>
> That black text on white background is the most legible color scheme is
> an empirical fact.

It's not an empirical fact but I'm almost certain you know that. The
thing you actually observe from experiment is that more people find
light-on-dark a little bit more legible than dark-on-light. It is an
empirical fact that some people prefer dark-on-light. And the whole
thing is irrelevant when the user can choose which one he prefers.

The suggestion that we should only support more-legible-on-average
terminals is also bizarre. You wouldn't manufacture gloves that only
work with an average number of fingers, especially if you had an
alternative that worked for everybody (like we do). That definition of
"reasonable" doesn't hold up to reality. The UNIX terminal -- the thing
that terminal emulators emulate -- is light-on-dark, and many terminal
emulators look just like it until you configure them otherwise.
Distributions are shipping terminals with light-on-dark themes. People
constantly ask how to change the sage color scheme. You can only throw
out so much "bad" evidence before you have to question the definition.

Every time one of these people with unreasonable taste tries sage and
can't read what it says -- if he finds the mailing lists page, and
figures out that sage-support is the right one, and manages to sign up,
and verifies his email address, and then posts to the list, and then
waits a day or two for me to check my email and respond -- I'll let him
know how to make sage display text in his terminal, and he can finally
get started.

[Volker Braun]

On Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at 11:53:51 AM UTC-5, Michael Orlitzky wrote:

It's not an empirical fact but I'm almost certain you know that. The
thing you actually observe from experiment is that more people find
light-on-dark a little bit more legible than dark-on-light.

Reading speed and accuracy is better. That is an empirical fact, and not some subjective point of view.