First step of a Solarized color theme for Emacs (http://ethanschoonover.com/solarized)

color-theme-solarized.el

(eval-when-compile
  (require 'color-theme))

(defun color-theme-solarized (mode)
  "Color theme by Ethan Schoonover, created 2011-03-24.
Ported to Emacs by Greg Pfeil, http://ethanschoonover.com/solarized."
  (interactive "Slight or dark? ")
  (let ((base03  "#002b36")
        (base02  "#073642")
        (base01  "#586e75")
        (base00  "#657b83")
        (base0   "#839496")
        (base1   "#93a1a1")
        (base2   "#eee8d5")
        (base3   "#fdf6e3")
        (yellow  "#b58900")
        (orange  "#cb4b16")
        (red     "#d30102")
        (magenta "#d33682")
        (violet  "#6c71c4")
        (blue    "#268bd2")
        (cyan    "#2aa198")
        (green   "#859900"))
    (when (eq 'light mode)
      (rotatef base03 base3)
      (rotatef base02 base2)
      (rotatef base01 base1)
      (rotatef base00 base0))
    (color-theme-install
     `(color-theme-solarized
       ((foreground-color . ,base0)
        (background-color . ,base03)
        (background-mode . ,mode))
       ;; basic faces
       (default ((t (:foreground ,base0))))
       (cursor ((t (:foreground ,base0 :background ,base03 :inverse-video t))))
       (escape-glyph-face ((t (:foreground ,red))))
       (fringe ((t (:foreground ,base01 :background ,base02))))
       (header-line ((t (:foreground ,base0 :background ,base2))))
       (highlight ((t (:background ,base02))))
       (isearch ((t (:foreground ,yellow :inverse-video t))))
       (menu ((t (:foreground ,base0 :background ,base02))))
       (minibuffer-prompt ((t (:foreground ,blue))))
       (mode-line
        ((t (:foreground ,base1 :background ,base02
                         :box (:line-width 1 :color ,base1)))))
       (mode-line-buffer-id ((t (:foreground ,base1))))
       (mode-line-inactive
        ((t (:foreground ,base0  :background ,base02
                         :box (:line-width 1 :color ,base02)))))
       (region ((t (:background ,base01))))
       (secondary-selection ((t (:background ,base02))))
       (trailing-whitespace ((t (:foreground ,red :inverse-video t))))
       (vertical-border ((t (:foreground ,base0))))
       ;; customize faces
       (custom-button
        ((t (:background ,base02 :box (:line-width 2 :style released-button)))))
       (custom-button-mouse ((t (:inherit custom-button :foreground ,base1))))
       (custom-button-pressed
        ((t (:inherit custom-button-mouse
                      :box (:line-width 2 :style pressed-button)))))
       (custom-comment-tag ((t (:background ,base02))))
       (custom-comment-tag ((t (:background ,base02))))
       (custom-documentation ((t (:inherit default))))
       (custom-group-tag ((t (:foreground ,orange :bold t))))
       (custom-link ((t (:foreground ,violet))))
       (custom-variable-tag ((t (:foreground ,orange :bold t))))
       ;; diff faces
       (diff-added ((t (:foreground ,green :inverse-video t))))
       (diff-changed ((t (:foreground ,yellow :inverse-video t))))
       (diff-removed ((t (:foreground ,red :inverse-video t))))
       ;; font-lock faces
       (font-lock-builtin-face ((t (:foreground ,green))))
       (font-lock-comment-face ((t (:foreground ,base01 :italic t))))
       (font-lock-constant-face ((t (:foreground ,cyan))))
       (font-lock-function-name-face ((t (:foreground ,blue))))
       (font-lock-keyword-face ((t (:foreground ,green))))
       (font-lock-string-face ((t (:foreground ,cyan))))
       (font-lock-type-face ((t (:foregound ,yellow))))
       (font-lock-variable-name-face ((t (:foregound ,blue))))
       (font-lock-warning-face ((t (:foreground ,red :bold t))))))))

(defun color-theme-solarized-dark () (color-theme-solarized 'dark))
(defun color-theme-solarized-light () (color-theme-solarized 'light))

was it your intention that the cursor vanish? I am actually using this with the cursor face commented out. thanks!

Check out https://github.com/sellout/solarized for a better version. I think the cursor should be fixed there.

I checked out the theme from other repository. I still have the cursor invisible when starting Emacs. However, if I re-apply the theme (even if it's the same one used in .emacs), the cursor appears. Commenting out line 36 (cursor ... ), does the trick, but switching :foreground and :background colors also works. (I'm using Emacs 24.0.50 fyi).

Bottom line, it's not a huge issue, theme works great otherwise, so thanks for your work!