Template issues with letter spacing, indentation, caret width, colors (Version 2.3)

Hello kind people of Task Paper Forum

I’m having some issues editing my Taskpaper Theme. What I did is simply duplicate the standard theme and make some adjustments following a rather noobish try+error strategy. I use version 2.3 and I don’t have much experience in code.

Here are a few things I can’t achieve. Not sure that any of this is doable:

  • Decreased letter spacing, ideally around 90%
  • A way to enter hex-values for colors.
  • Have all lines be indented by some 40px
  • A thinner ‹strike-through› line
  • A slightly raised ‹strike-through› line
  • Project Style in a different weight and size
  • A different caret width, height and color

Any help would be much appreciated
All the best
Lenny

<theme>
<!-- Window Style -->
<color id="foreground" red="0" green="0" blue="0" alpha="1.0" />
<color id="background" red="0.94" green="0.94" blue="0.94" alpha="1.0" />
<window foregroundColorID="foreground" backgroundColorID="background" shouldUseHUDScrollers="no" />

<!-- Text View Style -->
<color id="tag" red="0.5" green="0.5" blue="0.5" alpha="1.0" />
<color id="handle" extendsColorID="foreground" />
<color id="insertionPoint" extendsColorID="foreground" />
<color id="selection" color="0.7" green="0.8" blue="0.9" alpha="1.0" />
<font id="base" name="Times" size="20" letter-spacing="10" />
<characterStyle id="base" fontID="base" foregroundColorID="foreground" />
<paragraphStyle id="base" paragraphSpacingBefore="0" paragraphSpacing="0" lineSpacing="0" lineHeightMultiple="1.2" alignment="NSLeftTextAlignment" />
<textView
	shouldAntialiasText="yes"
	shouldShowNoteHandles="no"
	shouldShowProjectHandles="yes"
	defaultCharacterStyleID="base"
	insertionPointColorID="insertionPoint"
	selectionColorID="selection"
	handleColorID="handle"
	tagColorID="tag"
/>

<!-- Task style. This section defines the styles that are applied to task lines. -->
<color id="task" extendsColorID="foreground" />
<font id="task" extendsFontID="base" />
<characterStyle id="task" fontID="task" foregroundColorID="task" />
<entryRule matchesQuery="type = task" lineCharacterStyleID="task" paragraphStyleID="base" />

<!-- Project style. This section defines the styles that are applied to project lines. -->
<color id="project" extendsColorID="foreground" />
<font id="project" extendsFontID="base" fontTraitMask="NSBoldFontMask" />
<characterStyle id="project" fontID="project" foregroundColorID="project" />
<paragraphStyle id="project" extendsParagraphStyleID="base" paragraphSpacingBefore="5" paragraphSpacing="5" />
<entryRule matchesQuery="type = &quot;project&quot;" lineCharacterStyleID="project" paragraphStyleID="project" />

<!-- Note style. This section defines the styles that are applied to note lines. -->
<color id="note" red="0.5" green="0.5" blue="0.5" alpha="1.0" />
<font id="note" extendsFontID="base" />
<characterStyle id="note" fontID="note" foregroundColorID="note" />
<entryRule matchesQuery="type = note" lineCharacterStyleID="note" paragraphStyleID="base" />

<!-- GroupHeader style. This section defines the styles that are applied to groupHeader lines. (top level projects) -->
<color id="groupHeader" extendsColorID="foreground" />
<font id="groupHeader" extendsFontID="base" fontTraitMask="NSBoldFontMask" size="16" />
<characterStyle id="groupHeader" fontID="groupHeader" foregroundColorID="groupHeader" />
<paragraphStyle id="groupHeader" extendsParagraphStyleID="base" paragraphSpacingBefore="10" paragraphSpacing="10" />
<entryRule matchesQuery="type = &quot;project&quot; and level = 0" paragraphStyleID="groupHeader" lineCharacterStyleID="groupHeader" />

<!-- @done style. This section defines the styles that are applied to lines tagged with @done. -->
<characterStyle id="done" strikethroughStyle="NSUnderlineStyleSingle" />
<entryRule matchesQuery="@done" contentCharacterStyleID="done" />

I can’t help you with a whole lot, but at least based on what you’ve copied/pasted, I think you might be using the wrong template. The visual style is controlled by the stylesheet, which uses CSS.

To change the weight & size of the project style, you’ll want to tweak this code:

item[data-type="project"] { font-weight: bold; font-size: 15px; color: mix(@header-color, @background-color, 70%); }

I’m not sure how/if it’s possible to make the other changes — that’s probably a question for @jessegrosjean .

Hope this helps!

Is there a reason you are still using 2.3? Most everyone here is using some version of 3.x now, and it uses a different theming system.

Hi Jesse, Hi Esotaria,
Thank you for getting back at me. To be honest, I didn’t realize there was a new version – the app store never suggested an update. Is it a paid update for existing users?
Thank you for your great product!
Best, Lenny

It’s a paid upgrade, but the Mac App Store doesn’t offer a way to do paid upgrades, so I needed to post TaskPaper 3 as a new app in the app store. I offer a 50% off coupon for upgrading, email me (jesse@hogbaysoftware.com) to take advantage of that.

You can try out a 1 week trial of TaskPaper 3 at www.taskpaper.com

I see. Don’t worry about the coupon – happy to support a good piece of software.
Out of curiosity, is there a plan for an iOS mobile version in the future?

Nothing concrete or soon. There are some other apps (by other developers) that support TaskPaper’s format (some on iOS):

Jesse