docs(readme): show the bar as a screenshot and write icons as escape sequences

commit: 5b114e947ea27124106d2a5bf5d31737f53a1d15
author: brice · 17d ago · 2026-10-05 15:04 UTC
parent: 1753172
signature: GPG VerifiedCD88F9E564E0102646FB6077A1A07C7C7C3E349D · arch-gpg Verified for the committer email

2 files · +6 -6

M README.md +6 -6


@@ -4,9 +4,7 @@ A dead simple status bar for Wayland: **one line of terminal text, nothing else.
4	4
5	5		Each part of the bar is a script. A script prints text, and neferbar shows it. If you can write `echo`, you can write a module.
6	6
7		-	```
8		-	workspace 2 firefox 14:32:07 cpu 12% vol 40% bat 88%
9		-	```
	7	+	![neferbar showing a workspace number, an app name, a clock and system stats, with Nerd Font icons](docs/img/bar.png)
10	8
11	9		- Text only. ASCII, Unicode and Nerd Font icons. No images, no widgets, no clicks.
12	10		- Exactly one character high. The bar is as tall as a terminal row, and it follows your monitor's scale.

@@ -117,13 +115,15 @@ Italic, bold and bold italic use the font's own files when it has them.
117	115
118	116		### Icons
119	117
120		-	Nerd Font icons are ordinary characters. Print them from a script with their UTF-8 bytes:
	118	+	Nerd Font icons are ordinary characters, but GitHub cannot draw them in a code block, so the examples here write them as escape sequences. Give `printf` the icon's code point:
121	119
122	120		```sh
123		-	printf '\357\200\227 %s\n' "$(date +%H:%M)" # clock icon
	121	+	printf '\Uf017 %s\n' "$(date +%H:%M)" # clock icon (U+F017)
124	122		```
125	123
126		-	Find icon codes at <https://www.nerdfonts.com/cheat-sheet>.
	124	+	`\U` works in bash. Some minimal shells do not support it; the UTF-8 bytes work everywhere: `printf '\357\200\227 %s\n' "$(date +%H:%M)"`.
	125	+
	126	+	Find icon names and code points at <https://www.nerdfonts.com/cheat-sheet>. In an editor with a Nerd Font you can also paste the icon itself into the script.
127	127
128	128		### Animation
129	129

 Each part of the bar is a script. A script prints text, and neferbar shows it. If you can write `echo`, you can write a module.
-```
+![neferbar showing a workspace number, an app name, a clock and system stats, with Nerd Font icons](docs/img/bar.png)
- workspace 2   firefox                     14:32:07                     cpu 12%  vol 40%  bat 88%
-```
 - **Text only.** ASCII, Unicode and Nerd Font icons. No images, no widgets, no clicks.
 - **Exactly one character high.** The bar is as tall as a terminal row, and it follows your monitor's scale.
 ### Icons
-Nerd Font icons are ordinary characters. Print them from a script with their UTF-8 bytes:
+Nerd Font icons are ordinary characters, but GitHub cannot draw them in a code block, so the examples here write them as escape sequences. Give `printf` the icon's code point:
 ```sh
-printf '\357\200\227 %s\n' "$(date +%H:%M)"     # clock icon
+printf '\Uf017 %s\n' "$(date +%H:%M)"      # clock icon (U+F017)
 ```
-Find icon codes at <https://www.nerdfonts.com/cheat-sheet>.
+`\U` works in bash. Some minimal shells do not support it; the UTF-8 bytes work everywhere: `printf '\357\200\227 %s\n' "$(date +%H:%M)"`.
+Find icon names and code points at <https://www.nerdfonts.com/cheat-sheet>. In an editor with a Nerd Font you can also paste the icon itself into the script.
 ### Animation

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