Emacs: Set Color Theme
emacs support color themes since Emacs 24 (released 2012-06)
set a theme
Alt+x load-theme
, then press Tab to show a list of available themes.
Alternatively, Alt+x customize-themes
to set a color theme.

clear theme
To clear theme, Alt+x disable-theme
. Press Tab for completion.
To find enabled themes,
Alt+x describe-variable
then type custom-enabled-themes
Set a Theme in Init
put this in your Emacs Init File:
(load-theme 'tango t)
Theme Gallery
list of builtin themes
Here's list of Emacs 28 (Released 2022-04) themes (as of 2022-05-23).
- adwaita
- deeper-blue
- dichromacy
- leuven
- light-blue
- manoj-dark
- misterioso
- modus-operandi
- modus-vivendi
- tango-dark
- tango
- tsdh-dark
- tsdh-light
- wheatgrass
- whiteboard
- wombat
2012-10-11
Thanks to
• Gabriel Saldaña
[[2018-11-01 https://twitter.com/gabrielsaldana ]]
• Torsten Wagner
[https://plus.google.com/b/113859563190964307534/102520135125330850042/posts]
• Steve Purcell
[[2014-01-18 https://github.com/purcell ]]
for tips.
Just Set of Background Color
Sometimes a color theme is too much. All you need is a mild background color.
To set background color, Alt+x set-background-color
then type “honeydew”.
Alt+x list-colors-display
to see color names.
put this in your Emacs Init File:
(if (display-graphic-p) (setq initial-frame-alist '( (tool-bar-lines . 0) (width . 106) (height . 60) (background-color . "honeydew") (left . 50) (top . 50))) (setq initial-frame-alist '( (tool-bar-lines . 0)))) (setq default-frame-alist initial-frame-alist)
Frame Parameters (ELISP Manual)
[see Emacs: Set Default Window Size]
[see Emacs: Font Setup]
Simple Reverse Video

emacs --reverse-video
In terminal, emacs --reverse-video
will start emacs with white text on black background. This is useful under bright sunlight.