diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b3ef9b5..777aa06 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ there's already [powerline][b], why yet another statusline?
 *  it looks good with regular fonts, and provides configuration points so you can use unicode or powerline symbols.
 *  it's fast to load, taking roughly 1ms.  by comparison, powerline needs 60ms on the same machine.
 *  it's fully customizable; if you know a little `statusline` syntax you can tweak it to your needs.
-*  it is trivial to write colorschemes; for a minimal theme you need to edit 9 lines of colors.
+*  it is trivial to write colorschemes; for a minimal theme you need to edit 9 lines of colors. (please send pull requests if you create new themes!)
 
 what about [old powerline][a]?
 
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ this plugin follows the standard runtime path structure, and as such it can be i
   *  you can grab prepatched fonts at [powerline-fonts][c], or you can manually set the relevant `g:` variables
 *  there is a pause when leaving insert mode
   *  you need to set `ttimeoutlen` to a low number; 50 is recommended
+*  you don't see any colors
+  *  the value of `t_Co` is likely misconfigured.  please see this [article][n].
 *  you get the error `Unknown function: fugitive#head`
   *  you are probably using version 1.2, which is very old...download v2 from the [project page][d].
 *  airline doesn't appear until i create a new split
@@ -100,3 +102,4 @@ contributions and pull requests are welcome.  please follow the existing coding
 [k]: https://github.com/tpope/vim-pathogen
 [l]: https://github.com/Shougo/neobundle.vim
 [m]: https://github.com/gmarik/vundle
+[n]: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/256_colors_in_vim
diff --git a/doc/airline.txt b/doc/airline.txt
index 5030e43..c281be5 100644
--- a/doc/airline.txt
+++ b/doc/airline.txt
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ values):
   let g:airline_right_sep='<'
 <
 
-
 * enable/disable fugitive integration
 >
   let g:airline_enable_fugitive=1
@@ -77,6 +76,7 @@ values):
 >
   let g:airline_exclude_filetypes = [] " see source for current list
 <
+
 ==============================================================================
 CUSTOMIZATION                                        *airline-customization*
 
@@ -99,9 +99,9 @@ well as the powerline font glyths
 
   " powerline symbols
   let g:airline_left_sep = ''
-  let g:airline_left_sep = ''
+  let g:airline_left_alt_sep = ''
   let g:airline_right_sep = ''
-  let g:airline_right_sep = ''
+  let g:airline_right_alt_sep = ''
   let g:airline_fugitive_prefix = ' '
   let g:airline_readonly_symbol = ''
   let g:airline_linecolumn_prefix = ' '
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ for more intricate customizations, you can replace the predefined sections
 with the usual statusline syntax.
 
 >
+  " here are the the default values
   let g:airline_section_a (the mode indicator)
   let g:airline_section_b (the fugitive branch indicator)
   let g:airline_section_c (bufferline or filename)