I posted on the list, but thought I'd post here too..
Here's a Pd mod that I've been using. You can use color themes like in Pd-extended. There are also different inlets/outlets and cords for audio or messages.

I also put initbang and closebang back in
Unfortunately only tested/bundled on OS X
https://github.com/sebshader/pdnext/releases

I also updated tclpd which works with this bundle now
https://github.com/sebshader/tclpd/releases/tag/v0.4

here's an example theme
colors-plugin.tcl

I'd love me some bezier patch chords Is it possible with vanilla (0.51.4)? If not, what's the steps I need to take to try it out? I'm on linux if that matters...

@a773 they look kinda ugly tbh. For linux you need to compile yourself, because of the variety of distros. (clone the pdnext repo, then follow the normal steps to make & install pd, hopefully just with "./configure" and then "make install" in the directory on the command line.)

After all of that, you can either use the menu item in the preferences submenu to turn the bezier curves on, or put the line set ::curve_cords 1 in some .tcl file in the pd path before starting pd if you want it saved.

to make the cords change when the menu item is selected (rather than when the window is opened) put the code with the "redraw_cords" proc above in some .tcl file in the pd path.

Thanks, that worked great!

Could you explain what pdnext is? I'm not sure if this is your fork with unofficial mods or the official repo or something completely different....

@a773 the first, basically it's my fork with features that haven't been accepted into vanilla yet.
The main one being the ability to set colors for everything. (but the bezier cables are there too)
It's fully compatible with pd-vanilla. (all patches for vanilla will work, and visa-versa. Nothing is changed except aesthetics)

@seb-harmonik.ar

Was actually thinking about this yesterday, why it is not enrolled into the Vanilla release.

It has been talked about many times in the Facebook group and also here, I guess

After running the mod a few days here are a few observations

1. selecting a chord seems to be a bit off, almost like you need to click where the “old” straight chord would have been.
2. setting curved lines in menu and save all prefs should save curves as well (shouldn’t be defined in tcl).
3. it doesn’t scale with ctrl+, I expected the curves to be twice as big, but they are the same, except obviously connecting to points further apart.

I have no idea how hard it would be to change any of the above, or if that’s the reason it’s not accepted in vanilla (or even if it’s been discussed/proposed).

@a773

1. Yes I know selecting the cord is off. The reason is that pd handles all mouse/geometry logic in c, in the main "pd" thread, rather than the tcl/tk process. This is not ideal at all, ideally all audio processes would happen in one thread and gui logic would be on another thread entirely (which is what Purr-Data and now Pd-l2ork have done. It should be done for vanilla as well, that's a big project that has been on the horizon for a while).
   Anyways, the result of that is that the "selection" logic is still using straight line geometry, and it would take further substantial modifications for pd to know if bezier curves are being drawn, and for it to know if they're being clicked on. (in terms of geometry math/logic). And, even if it were done doing so would further slow down the same thread that the audio is running on since bezier curve equations are more complex than linear ones.

2. I declined to add the cables to the preferences because I want full compatibility with vanilla and would have to change the preference file. (Like if you save preferences in vanilla and then open Next up the preference would be unset again. Having it set in a .tcl file avoids that). If it were accepted into vanilla perhaps the preference could be added.

3. I'll look into this and see if something can be done.. I hardly ever use zoom myself.

@a773 what system are you on? on osx the line width change from zooming is the same as with straight cables

I totally understand your approach, and agree that as a mod it's implemented quite elegantly. Sounds like esp 1) is what's keeping it out of mainstream vanilla.

I'm on linux...

Here are screenshots of "small" zoom, "big" zoom and then the "small" zoom manually made 2x as big in gimp. Except for the blur (obviously), I'd expect the path of the curves in the "big" zoom to look like the manually enlarged one. For instance notice how the curve goes into the metro on the small one, but doesn't on the zoomed in one.