Index: src/display/canvas.cc
===================================================================
--- src/display/canvas.cc	(revision 719)
+++ src/display/canvas.cc	(working copy)
@@ -64,6 +64,20 @@
   noecho();
   nodelay(stdscr, TRUE);
   keypad(stdscr, TRUE);
+
+  if(has_colors()) {
+    start_color();
+
+    init_pair(COLOR_BLACK, COLOR_BLACK, COLOR_BLACK);
+    init_pair(COLOR_GREEN, COLOR_GREEN, COLOR_BLACK);
+    init_pair(COLOR_RED, COLOR_RED, COLOR_BLACK);
+    init_pair(COLOR_CYAN, COLOR_CYAN, COLOR_BLACK);
+    init_pair(COLOR_WHITE, COLOR_WHITE, COLOR_BLACK);
+    init_pair(COLOR_MAGENTA, COLOR_MAGENTA, COLOR_BLACK);
+    init_pair(COLOR_BLUE, COLOR_BLUE, COLOR_BLACK);
+    init_pair(COLOR_YELLOW, COLOR_YELLOW, COLOR_BLACK);
+  }
+
   curs_set(0);
 }
 
@@ -88,4 +102,81 @@
     return std::pair<int, int>(80, 24);
 }
 
+void
+Canvas::print(int x, int y, char *fmt, ...) {
+  va_list fmtargs;
+  // curses has no print funcion to handle move and 
+  // varargs at once, so do them separately
+  wmove(m_window, y, x);
+  va_start(fmtargs,fmt);
+  vw_printw(m_window, fmt, fmtargs);
+  va_end(fmtargs);
 }
+
+void
+Canvas::print_color(int x, int y, char *fmt, ...) {
+  // part 1, do printf formatting
+  va_list fmtargs;
+  char input[1024];
+  char entity[16];
+  unsigned int i = 0, o = 0, e = 0;
+
+  // will we ever want to print a string longer than
+  // ~200 chars? The terminal isn't that wide...
+  va_start(fmtargs,fmt);
+  vsnprintf(input, 1024, fmt, fmtargs);
+  va_end(fmtargs);
+
+
+  // part 2, do color formatting
+  // allow room for percent-sign doubling
+  int percs = 0;
+  for (i=0; i<strlen(input); i++)
+    if (input[i] == '%') 
+      percs++;
+  char output[strlen(input) + percs];
+
+  // read and interpret HTML-entity style (&foo;) escape codes
+  for (i=0; i<strlen(input); i++) {
+    // printf formatting has already been done once -- any
+    // remaining %'s are for display; double them up so they
+    // survive the second printf
+    if (input[i] == '%') {
+      output[o++] = '%';
+      output[o++] = '%';
+      output[o] = '\0';
+	}
+    else if (input[i] == '&') {
+      mvwprintw(m_window, y, x, output);
+      x += strlen(output);
+      o = 0;
+      output[o] = '\0';
+
+      i++;
+      for(e=0; (e<strlen(input+i+1)) && (e<16) && (input[i+e]!=';'); e++) {
+        entity[e] = input[i+e];
+      }
+      entity[e] = '\0';
+      i += e;
+
+           if (strcmp(entity, "amp") == 0) {output[o++] = '&'; output[o] = '\0';}
+      else if (strcmp(entity, "red") == 0) wattrset(m_window, COLOR_PAIR(COLOR_RED));
+      else if (strcmp(entity, "cyan") == 0) wattrset(m_window, COLOR_PAIR(COLOR_CYAN));
+      else if (strcmp(entity, "yellow") == 0) wattrset(m_window, COLOR_PAIR(COLOR_YELLOW));
+      else if (strcmp(entity, "green") == 0) wattrset(m_window, COLOR_PAIR(COLOR_GREEN));
+      else if (strcmp(entity, "bold") == 0) wattrset(m_window, A_BOLD);
+      else if (strcmp(entity, "clear") == 0) wattrset(m_window, A_NORMAL);
+    }
+    else {
+      output[o++] = input[i];
+      output[o] = '\0';
+    }
+  }
+
+  // flush remaining output
+  mvwprintw(m_window, y, x, output);
+
+  wattrset(m_window, A_NORMAL);
+}
+
+}
Index: src/display/canvas.h
===================================================================
--- src/display/canvas.h	(revision 719)
+++ src/display/canvas.h	(working copy)
@@ -75,42 +75,10 @@
 				   chtype tl, chtype tr,
 				   chtype bl, chtype br)                      { wborder(m_window, ls, rs, ts, bs, tl, tr, bl, br); }
 
-  // The format string is non-const, but that will not be a problem
-  // since the string shall always be a C string choosen at
-  // compiletime. Might cause extra copying of the string?
+  void                print(int x, int y, char* fmt, ...);
+  void                print_color(int x, int y, char* fmt, ...);
 
-  void                print(int x, int y, char* str)                          { mvwprintw(m_window, y, x, str); }
 
-  template <typename A1>
-  void                print(int x, int y, char* str, A1 a1)                   { mvwprintw(m_window, y, x, str, a1); }
-
-  template <typename A1, typename A2>
-  void                print(int x, int y, char* str, A1 a1, A2 a2)            { mvwprintw(m_window, y, x, str, a1, a2); }
-
-  template <typename A1, typename A2, typename A3>
-  void                print(int x, int y, char* str,
-	                    A1 a1, A2 a2, A3 a3)                              { mvwprintw(m_window, y, x, str, a1, a2, a3); }
-
-  template <typename A1, typename A2, typename A3, typename A4>
-  void                print(int x, int y, char* str,
-	                    A1 a1, A2 a2, A3 a3, A4 a4)                       { mvwprintw(m_window, y, x, str, a1, a2, a3, a4); }
-
-  template <typename A1, typename A2, typename A3, typename A4, typename A5>
-  void                print(int x, int y, char* str,
-        	            A1 a1, A2 a2, A3 a3, A4 a4, A5 a5)                { mvwprintw(m_window, y, x, str, a1, a2, a3, a4, a5); }
-
-  template <typename A1, typename A2, typename A3, typename A4, typename A5, typename A6>
-  void                print(int x, int y, char* str,
-			    A1 a1, A2 a2, A3 a3, A4 a4, A5 a5, A6 a6)         { mvwprintw(m_window, y, x, str, a1, a2, a3, a4, a5, a6); }
-
-  template <typename A1, typename A2, typename A3, typename A4, typename A5, typename A6, typename A7>
-  void                print(int x, int y, char* str,
-               	            A1 a1, A2 a2, A3 a3, A4 a4, A5 a5, A6 a6, A7 a7)  { mvwprintw(m_window, y, x, str, a1, a2, a3, a4, a5, a6, a7); }
-
-  template <typename A1, typename A2, typename A3, typename A4, typename A5, typename A6, typename A7, typename A8>
-  void                print(int x, int y, char* str,
-               	            A1 a1, A2 a2, A3 a3, A4 a4, A5 a5, A6 a6, A7 a7, A8 a8) { mvwprintw(m_window, y, x, str, a1, a2, a3, a4, a5, a6, a7, a8); }
-
   void                print_char(const chtype ch) { waddch(m_window, ch); }
 
   void                print_char(int x, int y, const chtype ch) { mvwaddch(m_window, y, x, ch); }