Jan Vroonhof <vroonhof(a)math.ethz.ch&gt; writes: Hi Jan, thanks for the reply. I see. All right, lessee ... I take font-lock-comment-face. It should be set to its default value, blue4. (face-foreground 'font-lock-comment-face) #<color-specifier global=<unspecified> fallback=#<color-specifier #global=<unspecified> fallback=(((mswindows) . "black")) 0x194> #0x4b16> M-x customize-face RET font-lock-comment-face RET Font Lock Comment Face: (sample) * [State]: this face is unchanged from its standard setting. Font Lock mode face used to highlight comments. Attributes: * Foreground: blue4 (sample) * Background: (sample) [...] which looks ok. Also the Foreground:'s line (sample) is blue4. Correct. The (sample) in the Font Lock Comment Face: line is black, though. Nothing changes, if I change the default settings and thus create an entry in the custom-set-faces section of my customisation file or .emacs. The only faces that are displayed correctly are the one I've explicitly defined and setq'ed. Do you need more information? L8er, norbert.