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Developer · No. 12

Terminal

Black glass and phosphor green. A 1980s CRT terminal, with amber for warnings.

dark retrohackerhigh-contrast
Get the tokens
The idea

Monochrome phosphor on black, the look of the first computer screens. Everything is green except amber, which is kept for the rare moment something needs real attention. JetBrains Mono everywhere, with no exceptions.

Mode
Dark
Family
Developer
Good for
dev blog, personal, experiments
Fonts
JetBrains Mono
Colours

Eleven roles

Click any swatch to copy its hex code.

Accessibility

Contrast check

Worked out when the site is built, using the WCAG 2 formula.

Body text on background#33FF66 on #0A0A0A
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
14.74:1
AAA
Headings on background#66FF8C on #0A0A0A
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
15.32:1
AAA
Muted text on background#22B04A on #0A0A0A
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
6.95:1
AA
Links on background#66FF8C on #0A0A0A
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
15.32:1
AAA
Text on raised cards#33FF66 on #111311
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
13.90:1
AAA
Button label on accent#0A0A0A on #33FF66
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
14.74:1
AAA
Accent shapes on background#33FF66 on #0A0A0A
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
14.74:1
AAA

AAA ≥ 7:1 and AA ≥ 4.5:1 for normal text. AA Large ≥ 3:1 is enough for large headings, icons and button shapes.

Typography

The font pairing

Every font is self-hosted, so pages load without calling a third-party font service.

Aa
Headings
JetBrains Mono

Small rooms full of light

Aa
Body
JetBrains Mono

Good body type disappears: you stop noticing letters and start reading the story they carry.

{}
Code
JetBrains Mono

const palette = "terminal"; // 0O 1lI =>

In use

A page in Terminal

Headings, links, quotes, code, buttons and cards together.

Terminal Journal EssaysNotesAbout
retro · 6 min read

What a colour remembers

14 October 2026 · by the editors

Colour is never just decoration. A background sets the temperature of a room before a single word is read, and an accent tells the eye where to go next. Choose them together and a site starts to feel like a place.

A palette is a promise about how a page will feel.
// apply the palette
const root = document.querySelector("html");
root.dataset.lbTheme = "terminal";
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Use it

Copy the tokens

Paste into your own project. The font names match the files listed on the Credits page.

/* Terminal: Black glass and phosphor green. A 1980s CRT terminal, with amber for warnings. */
:root {
  --color-bg:          #0A0A0A;
  --color-bg-alt:      #111311;
  --color-surface:     #050505;
  --color-text:        #33FF66;
  --color-heading:     #66FF8C;
  --color-muted:       #22B04A;
  --color-accent:      #33FF66;
  --color-accent-2:    #FFB000;
  --color-link:        #66FF8C;
  --color-border:      #1F5C30;
  --color-on-accent:   #0A0A0A;

  --font-heading: 'JetBrains Mono', ui-monospace, Consolas, monospace;
  --font-body:    'JetBrains Mono', ui-monospace, Consolas, monospace;
  --font-mono:    'JetBrains Mono', ui-monospace, Consolas, monospace;
}