-color number, and the background color number. The value of the first argument
-must be between \fB1\fR and \fBCOLOR_PAIRS-1\fR. The value of the second and
-third arguments must be between 0 and \fBCOLORS\fR (the 0 color pair is wired
-to white on black and cannot be changed). If the color-pair was previously
-initialized, the screen is refreshed and all occurrences of that color-pair is
-changed to the new definition.
-
+color number, and the background color number.
+For portable applications:
+.bP
+The value of the first argument
+must be between \fB1\fR and \fBCOLOR_PAIRS\-1\fR,
+except that if default colors are used (see \fBuse_default_colors\fP)
+the upper limit is adjusted to allow for extra pairs which use
+a default color in foreground and/or background.
+.bP
+The value of the second and
+third arguments must be between 0 and \fBCOLORS\fR.
+Color pair 0 is assumed to be white on black,
+but is actually whatever the terminal implements before color is initialized.
+It cannot be modified by the application.
+.PP
+If the color-pair was previously
+initialized, the screen is refreshed and all occurrences of that color-pair
+are changed to the new definition.
+.PP
+As an extension, ncurses allows you to set color pair 0 via
+the \fBassume_default_colors\fR routine, or to specify the use of
+default colors (color number \fB\-1\fR) if you first invoke the
+\fBuse_default_colors\fR routine.
+.PP