There are lots of minimalist Atom themes out there. Pure takes these themes and extrapolates them to their inevitable conclusion, and it's not messing around.

Pure is a radical new take on the editor theme. It embodies an ultra-minimalist, ultra-customisable approach unlike anything you've seen before.

Pure is ready for prime-time, but there's bound to be issues that need addressing, and I definitely wouldn't call it finished. If you spot something wrong or you have ideas, feel free to create an issue on GitHub.

Install Pure in Atom's settings or run apm i pure-ui.

The run-down

• 👀 Ultra-minimalist. Like, really ultra-minimalist — Pure completely strips Atom back to reveal its elegant, gorgeous heart. It's just you and your code. This in Atom in its purest form.
• ⚡ Ultra-customisable — Pure re-engineers Atom to be user-customisable like never before, letting you define the entire look and feel of the editor, and letting the editor intelligently adapt to your changes.
• 🏞️🌄🌆 Introducing background images — For the first time, Pure is a gorgeous image theme for everyone, with powerful and elegant features unlike anything you've seen before. This is not a gimmick; it's the real deal. This is the ultimate image theme you never knew you wanted. If you're reading this and you're thinking "wait, what?", see the corresponding section.
• ⚫⚪🌈 The ultimate dark or light theme, or anything in between — Pure isn't just images; it's also a killer dark theme. It's also a killer light theme. In fact, you can make it literally any colour you want. Of course, with great power comes great responsibility (please don't make Atom hot pink).
• 💪 Customisation, now with superpowers — Pure can completely customise itself on-the-fly without reloading itself like other themes do, allowing it to intelligently adapt to changes as you make them with zero latency and incredible elegance. It needs to be seen to be believed.
• 🎨 BYO syntax theme — Bring your favourite syntax theme, and Pure will seamlessly integrate it with the rest of the editor.

More screenshots

Wait, what?

I know, right? I thought background images were crazy at first too.

The march towards minimalism, in my view, has often resulted in interfaces that feel cold; inhuman; Brutalist, even. This is particularly bad for our editors, which are places that we spend extended periods of time in, and which we often use for difficult or stressful tasks. I wanted to make my editor feel warm, inviting, and like it was truly made for humans. I wanted to want to spend time in it, and I wanted to truly enjoy using it. Background images in Pure humanise the text editor in a way that I could not have imagined.

But why are we not all writing code with background images already? I see a few reasons.

• Background images don't make sense without an interface fundamentally designed for them.
• If you're going to have a background image, it doesn't just need to be an awesome image; it needs to not distract you; it needs to not get in the way. It needs to complement and enhance your work, without obstructing it.
• What if you just don't like the background image of your theme very much? What if you want to change it?

Traditional image themes feel rough and often don't succeed in any of these areas, but Pure is different. It's the theme that I wanted to use every day; it didn't exist, so I made it myself. I made it for me, and I have gone to great lengths to get this right.

• The theme's extreme minimalism is a perfect match for background images, allowing them to envelop the editor, and to truly define it's appearance like they were always meant to.
• The theme provides a set of default images built-in to the theme that have been meticulously curated to look beautiful without distracting you or obstructing your work.
• The theme provides powerful features for customising the background image, including an elegant interface for selecting the image and for adding your own images.

You don't have to have a background image if you don't want to; Pure is also a great dark theme, or light theme, or hot pink theme. In fact, I never intended to have background images when I first started developing the theme, but at some point I was curious to see what it would look like with a background image, and I can never go back. In some ways, I see background images as the ultimate evolution of the minimalist text editor.

Customising Pure

Pure lets you customise the font, font size, and scrollbar width. The theme has two background modes: image and solid colour.

Image backgrounds

Pure's background image selection interface can be accessed through "Pure: Background images" in the command palette, or through Packages > Pure > Background images.

Pure provides a curated set of default images, and you can easily add your own. It also provides a slideshow-type feature that can be customised in the settings.

By default, the theme imposes a translucent black overlay on top of the background. How translucent it is can be customised in the settings, and you may wish to make it more or less translucent depending on preference or the background image you're using.

When using a background image, the theme uses a translucent accent colour throughout the interface. The colour and its translucency can be customised in the settings.

Solid colour backgrounds

When using a solid colour background, you can set a simple but elegant dichromatic colour scheme. By default, the theme will adapt the accent colour to the background colour that you select.

More screenshots

Credits

Pure was built with all the love in the world by @matthewlucock.