diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 1b95d15..1191145 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ OBJ = ${SRC:.c=.o}
 BIN = ${OBJ:.o=}
 
 all: options ${BIN}
+	rm -f theme_{beg,end}.h
 
 options:
 	@echo tabbed build options:
@@ -19,11 +20,17 @@ options:
 	@echo CC $<
 	@${CC} -c ${CFLAGS} $<
 
-${OBJ}: config.h config.mk
+${OBJ}: config.h theme_beg.h config.mk
 
-config.h:
+theme.h:
+	./xtheme
+
+theme_beg.h:
+	./themesetup
+
+config.h: theme.h
 	@echo creating $@ from config.def.h
-	@cp config.def.h $@
+	@cp -n config.def.h $@
 
 .o:
 	@echo CC -o $@
@@ -31,7 +38,7 @@ config.h:
 
 clean:
 	@echo cleaning
-	@rm -f ${BIN} ${OBJ} tabbed-${VERSION}.tar.gz
+	@rm -f ${BIN} ${OBJ} theme_{beg,end}.h tabbed-${VERSION}.tar.gz
 
 dist: clean
 	@echo creating dist tarball
diff --git a/config.def.h b/config.def.h
index defa426..7c1126e 100644
--- a/config.def.h
+++ b/config.def.h
@@ -1,13 +1,17 @@
 /* See LICENSE file for copyright and license details. */
 
+/* theme management */
+# include "theme_beg.h" /* this is a compile-time generated header file */
+# include "theme.h"
+
 /* appearance */
-static const char font[]        = "monospace:size=9";
-static const char* normbgcolor  = "#222222";
-static const char* normfgcolor  = "#cccccc";
-static const char* selbgcolor   = "#555555";
-static const char* selfgcolor   = "#ffffff";
-static const char* urgbgcolor   = "#111111";
-static const char* urgfgcolor   = "#cc0000";
+static const char font[]        = TABBED_FONT;
+static const char* normbgcolor  = TABBED_BACKGROUND;
+static const char* normfgcolor  = TABBED_FOREGROUND;
+static const char* selbgcolor   = TABBED_SELBACKGROUND;
+static const char* selfgcolor   = TABBED_SELFOREGROUND;
+static const char* urgbgcolor   = TABBED_URGBACKGROUND;
+static const char* urgfgcolor   = TABBED_URGFOREGROUND;
 static const char before[]      = "<";
 static const char after[]       = ">";
 static const char titletrim[]   = "...";
@@ -23,6 +27,9 @@ static       Bool urgentswitch  = False;
 static int  newposition   = 0;
 static Bool npisrelative  = False;
 
+/* theme management */
+# include "theme_end.h" /* this is a compile-time generated header file */
+
 #define SETPROP(p) { \
         .v = (char *[]){ "/bin/sh", "-c", \
                 "prop=\"`xwininfo -children -id $1 | grep '^     0x' |" \
diff --git a/themesetup b/themesetup
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..e8710c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/themesetup
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+echo \# if $(cat theme.h | cut -d' ' -f3 | sed "s/^/defined /;s/$/ ||/" | tr "\n" " ") 0 > theme_beg.h
+echo -e "# error (conflicting macro names)\n# endif" >> theme_beg.h
+cat theme.h | cut -d' ' -f3 | sed "s/^/# undef /;" > theme_end.h
diff --git a/xtable.md b/xtable.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e05753a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xtable.md
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+|	TYPE    |	RESOURCE			|	DEFAULT VALUE			|	[ALTERNATIVE RESOURCE]	|
+|:---------:|:---------------------:|:-------------------------:|:-------------------------:|
+|	SA		|	font				|	monospace:size=9		|							|
+|	S		|	background			|	#222222					|							|
+|	S		|	foreground			|	#cccccc					|							|
+|	S		|	selbackground		|	#555555					|	foreground				|
+|	S		|	selforeground		|	#ffffff					|	background				|
+|	S		|	urgbackground		|	#111111					|							|
+|	S		|	urgforeground		|	#cc0000					|							|
diff --git a/xtheme b/xtheme
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..6396cdd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xtheme
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+prefix=tabbed
+themeout=theme.h
+xtable=xtable.md
+
+rm -f $themeout
+
+set_resource ()
+{
+	T=$1
+	M=$2
+	V=$3
+
+	case $T in
+		S)
+			V=\"$V\"
+			;;
+		SA)
+			V="{\"$(echo $V | sed 's/, /", "/g')\"}"
+	esac
+
+	[[ $V == '{""}' ]] && V="{}"
+
+	echo "# define $M $V" >> $themeout
+}
+
+cat "$xtable"											|
+	sed '1,2d;s/\t*|\t*/|/g;s/\(^|\)\|\(|$\)//g'		|
+	while IFS='|' read T R D A
+	do
+		m=$(echo "$prefix"'_'"$R" | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]')
+
+		l=''
+
+		for r in "$R" "$A"
+		do
+			[[ "$r" == '' ]] && continue
+
+			l=$(xgetres "$prefix.$r")
+
+			if [[ "$l" != '' ]]
+			then
+				set_resource $T $m "$l"
+				break
+			fi
+		done
+
+		[[ "$l" == '' ]] &&
+			set_resource $T $m "$D"
+	done