Text Formatting
MustardOS understands a set of formatting codes that add colour and style to text, in a way that will feel familiar to anyone who has spent a few too many evenings in a popular block building game. Each code is the section sign § followed by a single character, and everything after the code takes on its style until the text says otherwise.
Where codes work
File and folder namesContent in Explore Content, Collections, History and Search shows its colours and styles. Long names still end in an ellipsis and scroll when highlighted.Content descriptionsCatalogue text files shown from Information use the full set of colours and styles.Pickles manualsCatalogue manuals in the Pickles manual viewer show colours, bold, italic, underline and strikethrough. Obfuscated text is not used there.Help and information boxesAny message shown in the information box, including translated help text.Toasts and notificationsShort messages that appear along the screen use the codes as well.Codes are hidden wherever they are understood, so a folder named §6Gold Classics appears in gold as Gold Classics. Names are still sorted by their visible text, and the title at the top of the screen shows the plain name.
Typing the section sign
| Where you are typing | How to type § |
|---|---|
| Windows | Hold Alt and type 0167 on the number pad |
| macOS | Press Option + 6 |
| Linux | Press Compose, then s and o |
| Web Dashboard | Use the formatting buttons when editing a manual in Catalogue |
| Anywhere else | Copy it from this page: § |
Colour codes
| Code | Colour | Swatch | Hex |
|---|---|---|---|
§0 | Black | #000000 | |
§1 | Dark Blue | #0000AA | |
§2 | Dark Green | #00AA00 | |
§3 | Dark Aqua | #00AAAA | |
§4 | Dark Red | #AA0000 | |
§5 | Dark Purple | #AA00AA | |
§6 | Gold | #FFAA00 | |
§7 | Grey | #AAAAAA | |
§8 | Dark Grey | #555555 | |
§9 | Blue | #5555FF | |
§a | Green | #55FF55 | |
§b | Aqua | #55FFFF | |
§c | Red | #FF5555 | |
§d | Light Purple | #FF55FF | |
§e | Yellow | #FFFF55 | |
§f | White | #FFFFFF |
Style codes
| Code | Style | Looks like | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
§l | Bold | Bold text | Fonts without a bold weight are thickened to match. |
§o | Italic | Italic text | Fonts without an italic style are slanted to match. |
§n | Underline | Underlined text | |
§m | Strikethrough | ||
§k | Obfuscated | Letters that keep changing | Each letter cycles through others of the same width. With Reduce Motion turned on, the scrambled letters stay still. |
§r | Reset | Back to normal | Clears every colour and style that came before it. |
§§ | Section sign | § | Shows a single section sign instead of starting a code. |
How codes combine
Codes stack, so §c§l§n gives red, bold, underlined text. A colour code changes only the colour, which means bold, italic and the other styles stay on when the colour changes. Use §r to return to the normal look before carrying on with plain text. Codes can be written in capitals as well, so §C and §c are the same red. A section sign followed by anything that is not a code is shown exactly as it was typed.
Examples
| You type | You see |
|---|---|
§6Gold Classics | Gold Classics, in gold |
§lBest of§r 1994 | Best of 1994 |
§a§lNew§r Arrivals | New in green, then Arrivals |
§oDirector's Cut§r Edition | Director’s Cut Edition |
Secret §kLevel§r Ahead | Secret, a word that keeps scrambling, then Ahead |
§9§nHighlights | Highlights, in blue |
On a computer or in a file manager the codes are not understood, so names show the section sign and its letter as they were typed. That is expected, and MustardOS reads them as formatting once the card is back in your device.
For translators and theme makers
Translated help text can use the same codes to pick out option names or important warnings, and the information box shows them as formatted text. Help text shown on this website, such as the Profile Builder tooltips, has its codes removed so it reads normally. Keep in mind that colours sit on top of whatever the active theme uses, so a coloured name can be harder to read against a highlighted row in some themes.