# Themes and layout

Six themes, two chat layouts, two surface treatments, seven wallpaper patterns and eighteen notification sounds. All of it lives under Settings › Appearance, except the sound, which is under Messaging & Display.

## Themes

![The Appearance settings section, with a Light/Auto/Dark switch, app language, theme picker and chat view options.](https://nymchat.app/images/docs/settings-appearance.webp)

*Appearance settings.*

Light, Auto or Dark sits at the top; Auto follows your system preference. Under it, six themes, each of which works in both light and dark:

| Theme |  |
| --- | --- |
| **Bitchat (Multicolor)** | The default. Nyms are colored individually, so who is speaking is legible at a glance. |
| **Matrix Green** | Green on black, terminal-style. |
| **Amber Terminal** | The amber CRT. |
| **Cyberpunk** | Neon magenta and cyan. |
| **Hacker Blue** | Cool blue monochrome. |
| **Ghost (B&W)** | Black and white, no accent color at all. |

![The Bitchat Multicolor theme, with each nym in its own color.](https://nymchat.app/images/docs/theme-bitchat.webp)

*Bitchat (Multicolor)*

![The Matrix Green theme, green text on black.](https://nymchat.app/images/docs/theme-matrix.webp)

*Matrix Green*

![The Amber Terminal theme, amber text on black.](https://nymchat.app/images/docs/theme-amber.webp)

*Amber Terminal*

![The Cyberpunk theme, in neon magenta and cyan.](https://nymchat.app/images/docs/theme-cyber.webp)

*Cyberpunk*

![The Hacker Blue theme, in cool blue monochrome.](https://nymchat.app/images/docs/theme-hacker.webp)

*Hacker Blue*

![The Ghost theme, black and white with no accent color.](https://nymchat.app/images/docs/theme-ghost.webp)

*Ghost (B&W)*

Each of them also has a light variant, which is what the Light setting — or a system preference, on Auto — switches to.

![Nymchat in light mode, showing the Matrix Green theme on a light background.](https://nymchat.app/images/docs/theme-light.webp)

*Light mode, on the Matrix Green theme.*

**Visual Transparency** switches every surface — messages, modals, sidebars — between *Solid* and a translucent *Glass* look. Solid is the default and is the easier of the two to read over a busy wallpaper.

## Chat layout and text size

Three independent choices:

| Setting | Options | Default |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Chat View | Single Chat, or Column View | Single Chat |
| Message Threads | Enabled, or Disabled (classic flat view) | Enabled |
| Message Layout | Bubbles, or IRC Style | Bubbles |
| Text Size | 12–28 px, on a slider | 15 px |

**Column View** puts channels, private messages and group chats side by side in scrollable columns you can add, remove and drag to reorder, rather than looking at one conversation at a time. A *Reset columns to defaults* button undoes an arrangement you have got lost in.

**Message Threads** groups replies under the message they answer, opened in place from any message — covered in full under [Messages](https://nymchat.app/docs/messaging/#threads). Disabling it shows every reply inline, the classic flat view.

**IRC Style** drops the bubbles for one dense line per message, which fits far more history on a screen.

![A Nymchat channel with the Bubbles message layout.](https://nymchat.app/images/docs/layout-bubbles.webp)

*Bubbles: one rounded card per message.*

![The same Nymchat channel with the IRC Style message layout: one dense timestamped line per message.](https://nymchat.app/images/docs/layout-irc.webp)

*IRC Style: the same conversation, one line each.*

![Nymchat in Column View, with several conversations open side by side.](https://nymchat.app/images/docs/layout-columns.webp)

*Column View: several conversations at once.*

Text Size scales *all* text in the app, not just messages.

## Wallpapers

**Chat Wallpaper** sits behind the message area. Seven built-in patterns — Geometric, Circuit, Dots, Waves, Topography, Hexagons and Diamonds — plus None, or Upload your own image (at least 1920×1080).

In Column View there is a second, narrower choice: **Column Message Wallpaper** decides whether the wallpaper shows through each column's message area or each column gets a solid background instead.

## Notification sounds

*Notification Sound*, under Settings › Messaging & Display, is Classic Beep by default. The rest are, in order: Low Tone, High Ping, ICQ Uh-Oh, MSN Alert, MSN Nudge, Nokia SMS, Nokia Tune, Dial-Up Modem, Mario Coin, Mario 1-Up, Mario Power-Up, Zelda Secret, Game Boy Boot, Tetris, Pokémon Heal, Communicator Chirp, F1 Radio — and Silent.

The tones are synthesized in the app rather than played from audio files, which is why they cost nothing to download and sound identical on every platform.