diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 794a2a4..6c899e8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 # Informative git prompt for bash and fish
 
-This prompt is a port of the "Informative git prompt for zsh" which you can find [here](https://github.com/olivierverdier/zsh-git-prompt)
+This prompt is a port of the "Informative git prompt for zsh" which you can
+find [here](https://github.com/olivierverdier/zsh-git-prompt)
 
 A ``bash`` prompt that displays information about the current git repository.
-In particular the branch name, difference with remote branch, number of files staged, changed, etc.
+In particular the branch name, difference with remote branch, number of files
+staged, changed, etc.
 
 (an original idea from this [blog post][]).
 
@@ -55,13 +57,19 @@ The symbols are as follows:
 ## Configuration
 
 1. You can use ``GIT_PROMPT_START`` and ``GIT_PROMPT_END`` to tweak your prompt
-2. If you want to tweak the colors, currently you have to tweak it in the
-   ``gitprompt.sh``.  See the definitions of ``GIT_PROMPT_xxx1``, which include
-   various colors names.
+
+2. The default colors are defined within ``gitprompt.sh``, but may be
+   overridden by copying ``git-prompt-colors.sh`` to your home directory at
+   ``~/.git-prompt-colors.sh``.  This file may also be found in the same
+   directory as ``gitprompt.sh``, but without the leading ``.``.
+
 3. The current git repo information is obtained by the script `gitstatus.sh` or
    `gitstatus.py`.  Both scripts do the same thing, but the bash script is a
-   tad bit more quick, and is used by default.
-4. You can define ``prompt_callback`` function to tweak your prompt dynamicaly
+   tad more quick, and is used by default.  If you prefer the python script
+   (possibly because you have enhanced it), simply delete or change the name of
+   ``gitstatus.sh``.
+
+4. You can define ``prompt_callback`` function to tweak your prompt dynamically.
 
 ```sh
 function prompt_callback {
@@ -71,6 +79,9 @@ function prompt_callback {
 }
 ```
 
+5.  You can get help on the git prompt with the function ``git_prompt_help``.
+    Examples are available with ``git_prompt_examples``.
+
 **Enjoy!**
 
 [blog post]: http://sebastiancelis.com/2009/nov/16/zsh-prompt-git-users/
diff --git a/git-prompt-colors.sh b/git-prompt-colors.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..686804c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/git-prompt-colors.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+  # These are the color definitions used by gitprompt.sh
+  GIT_PROMPT_PREFIX="["                 # start of the git info string
+  GIT_PROMPT_SUFFIX="]"                 # the end of the git info string
+  GIT_PROMPT_SEPARATOR="|"              # separates each item
+
+  GIT_PROMPT_BRANCH="${Magenta}"        # the git branch that is active in the current directory
+  GIT_PROMPT_STAGED="${Red}●"           # the number of staged files/directories
+  GIT_PROMPT_CONFLICTS="${Red}✖"        # the number of files in conflict
+  GIT_PROMPT_CHANGED="${Blue}✚"         # the number of changed files
+  GIT_PROMPT_REMOTE=" "                 # the remote branch name (if any)
+  GIT_PROMPT_UNTRACKED="${Cyan}…"       # the number of untracked files/dirs
+  GIT_PROMPT_STASHED="${BoldBlue}⚑"     # the number of stashed files/dir
+  GIT_PROMPT_CLEAN="${BoldGreen}✔"      # a colored flag indicating a "clean" repo
diff --git a/git-prompt-help.sh b/git-prompt-help.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b9c699b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/git-prompt-help.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#  git-prompt-help -- show useful info to help new users with the information
+# being displayed.
+
+git_prompt_help() {
+  cat <<EOF 1>&2 
+The git prompt format is [<BRANCH><TRACKING>|<LOCALSTATUS>]
+
+BRANCH is a branch name, such as "master" or "stage", a tag name, or commit
+hash prefixed with ':'.
+
+TRACKING indicates how the local branch differs from the
+remote branch.  It can be empty, or one of:
+
+    ↑N   - ahead of remote by N commits
+    ↓N   - behind remote by N commits
+    ↓M↑N - branches diverged, other by M commits, yours by N commits
+
+LOCALSTATUS is one of the following:
+
+    ✔   - repository clean
+    ●N  - N staged files
+    ✖N  - N unmerged files
+    ✚N  - N changed but *unstaged* files
+    …N  - N untracked files
+    ⚑N  - N stash entries
+
+See "git_prompt_examples" for examples.
+EOF
+}
+help_git_prompt() { git_prompt_help ; }
+
+git_prompt_examples() {
+  cat <<EOF 1>&2
+These are examples of the git prompt:
+
+  (master↑3|✚1)   - on branch "master", ahead of remote by 3 commits, 1
+                    file changed but not staged
+
+  (status|●2)     - on branch "status", 2 files staged
+
+  (master|✚7…)    - on branch "master", 7 files changed, some files untracked
+
+  (master|✖2✚3)   - on branch "master", 2 conflicts, 3 files changed
+
+  (master|⚑2)     - on branch "master", 2 stash entries
+
+  (experimental↓2↑3|✔)  -  on branch "experimental"; your branch has diverged
+                           by 3 commits, remote by 2 commits; the repository is
+                           otherwise clean
+
+  (:70c2952|✔)    - not on any branch; parent commit has hash "70c2952"; the
+                    repository is otherwise clean
+EOF
+}
+
diff --git a/gitprompt.sh b/gitprompt.sh
index de6fa98..fc21851 100755
--- a/gitprompt.sh
+++ b/gitprompt.sh
@@ -44,18 +44,40 @@ function git_prompt_config()
   local Blue="\[\033[0;34m\]"
   local Cyan="\[\033[0;36m\]"
 
-  # Default values for the appearance of the prompt. Configure at will.
-  GIT_PROMPT_PREFIX="["
-  GIT_PROMPT_SUFFIX="]"
-  GIT_PROMPT_SEPARATOR="|"
-  GIT_PROMPT_BRANCH="${Magenta}"
-  GIT_PROMPT_STAGED="${Red}● "
-  GIT_PROMPT_CONFLICTS="${Red}✖ "
-  GIT_PROMPT_CHANGED="${Blue}✚ "
-  GIT_PROMPT_REMOTE=" "
-  GIT_PROMPT_UNTRACKED="${Cyan}…"
-  GIT_PROMPT_STASHED="${BoldBlue}⚑ "
-  GIT_PROMPT_CLEAN="${BoldGreen}✔"
+  # source the user's ~/.git-prompt-colors.sh file, or the one that should be
+  # sitting in the same directory as this script
+
+  if [[ -z "$__GIT_PROMPT_COLORS_FILE" ]]; then
+    local pfx file dir
+    for dir in "$HOME" "$__GIT_PROMPT_DIR" ; do
+      for pfx in '.' '' ; do
+        file="$dir/${pfx}git-prompt-colors.sh"
+        if [[ -f "$file" ]]; then
+          __GIT_PROMPT_COLORS_FILE="$file"
+          break 2
+        fi
+      done
+    done
+  fi
+  # if the envar is defined, source the file for custom colors
+  if [[ -n "$__GIT_PROMPT_COLORS_FILE" && -f "$__GIT_PROMPT_COLORS_FILE" ]]; then
+    source "$__GIT_PROMPT_COLORS_FILE"
+  else
+    # Default values for the appearance of the prompt.  Do not change these
+    # below.  Instead, copy these to `~/.git-prompt-colors.sh` and change them
+    # there.
+    GIT_PROMPT_PREFIX="["
+    GIT_PROMPT_SUFFIX="]"
+    GIT_PROMPT_SEPARATOR="|"
+    GIT_PROMPT_BRANCH="${Magenta}"
+    GIT_PROMPT_STAGED="${Red}●"
+    GIT_PROMPT_CONFLICTS="${Red}✖"
+    GIT_PROMPT_CHANGED="${Blue}✚"
+    GIT_PROMPT_REMOTE=" "
+    GIT_PROMPT_UNTRACKED="${Cyan}…"
+    GIT_PROMPT_STASHED="${BoldBlue}⚑"
+    GIT_PROMPT_CLEAN="${BoldGreen}✔"
+  fi
 
   # Various variables you might want for your PS1 prompt instead
   local Time12a="\$(date +%H:%M)"
@@ -91,8 +113,6 @@ function git_prompt_config()
         break
       fi
     done
-    # The old way
-    #__GIT_STATUS_CMD="${__GIT_PROMPT_DIR}/gitstatus.py"
   fi
 }
 
diff --git a/gitstatus.sh b/gitstatus.sh
index 4b199ef..1feeb8a 100755
--- a/gitstatus.sh
+++ b/gitstatus.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#/bin/bash
+#!/bin/bash
 # -*- coding: UTF-8 -*-
 # gitstatus.sh -- produce the current git repo status on STDOUT
 # Functionally equivalent to 'gitstatus.py', but written in bash (not python).