### 4.1 Customizing The Bar ¶

The bar’s appearance and behavior can be modified with the following functions and variables. See Colors for an explanation of how to set these color variables.

Function: set-fg-color color ¶

  Set the foreground color for the message bar and input bar. color can be any color recognized by X.

Function: set-bg-color color ¶

  Set the background color for the message bar and input bar. color can be any color recognized by X.

Function: set-border-color color ¶

  Set the border color for the message bar and input bar. color can be any color recognized by X.

Function: set-msg-border-width width ¶

  Set the border width for the message bar, input bar and frame indicator.

Function: set-font font ¶

  Set the font(s) for the message bar and input bar.

Variable: *message-window-padding* ¶

  The number of pixels that pad the text in the message window.

Variable: *message-window-y-padding* ¶

  The number of pixels that pad the text in the message window vertically.

Variable: *message-window-margin* ¶

  The number of pixels (i.e. the gap) between the message window and the horizontal edges of the head. The margin is disregarded if it takes more space than is available.

Variable: *message-window-y-margin* ¶

  The number of pixels (i.e. the gap) between the message window and the vertical edges of the head. The margin is disregarded if it takes more space than is available.

Variable: *message-window-gravity* ¶

  This variable controls where the message window appears. The following are valid values.

  :top-left
  :top-right
  :bottom-left
  :bottom-right
  :center
  :top
  :left
  :right
  :bottom

Variable: *message-window-input-gravity* ¶

  This variable controls where the message window appears when the input window is being displayed. The following are valid values.

  :top-left
  :top-right
  :bottom-left
  :bottom-right
  :center
  :top
  :left
  :right
  :bottom

Variable: *message-window-timer* ¶

  Keep track of the timer that hides the message window.

Variable: *timeout-wait* ¶

  Specifies, in seconds, how long a message will appear for. This must be an integer.

Variable: *timeout-wait-multiline* ¶

  Specifies, in seconds, how long a message will more than one line will appear for. This must be an integer. If falsy, default to *timeout-wait*.

Variable: *input-window-gravity* ¶

  This variable controls where the input window appears. The following are valid values.

  :top-left
  :top-right
  :bottom-left
  :bottom-right
  :center
  :top
  :left
  :right
  :bottom