Intellij IDEA's default color scheme is ok, but I've never been a fan of white backgrounds for code editors. I find the glare to be too bright after a whole day cutting code. Instead, I prefer a deep blue background with light colors for text and keywords.
A friend from work came up with a scheme similar to the style I like (he has a black background though). Jon Eaves coined the term "Angry Fruit Salad" for its look. I like it so much I felt compelled to share it with you.
Java code looks a bit like this:
XML looks a bit like this:
Like it? If you want to use it, feel free to download Angry Fruit Salad. Just drop it into the "colors" directory under you IntelliJ IDEA installation and you're away...
Comments
geez marty, you reckon *white* is hard on the eyes?
Posted by: scot | May 25, 2004 09:45 PM
This L&F has a fairly venerable history; I know that Borland TurboPascal looked like this (and it's modern day descendants, Delphi and JBuilder, both have this as a theme option). It probably goes back even further.
Personally, I'm fond of a light-gray background; soft enough not to be harsh, similar enough to white to not require extensive tweaking to the rest of the colours.
Posted by: Robert Watkins | May 25, 2004 09:46 PM
The term "Angry Fruit Salad" has been around for *years*: http://www.faqs.org/docs/jargon/A/angry-fruit-salad.html
Posted by: Simon Brunning | May 26, 2004 01:09 AM
So no credit to Jon for coming up with the name then... Robert - you are indeed correct. This is based on the original Borland stuff.
Dunno where I read it, but I do remember seeing some scientific report claiming that white text on a deep blue background was the easiest to read on a computer monitor.
Posted by: Marty Andrews | May 26, 2004 09:34 AM
I'd be willing to bet that what's easiest on the eyes probably various. For example, the AngryFruitSalad scheme probably isn't very good at all for people with colour blidness, due to lack of contrast between the secondary colours.
This, however, emphasises why it's necessary for people to be able to customise their themes. :) I prefer, however, to do it through the windowing system; it means that everything has the right look&feel, and you can cast scorn on all the webpages which force a white background... like this one. ;)
Posted by: Robert Watkins | May 26, 2004 06:40 PM
One of the presenters at No Fluff Just Stuff plugged this color scheme, but the link to the XML file appears to be broken. Is it still available and could you post an updated link?
Thanks
Posted by: David Archer | August 15, 2006 02:25 AM
I found a copy at http://www.wrytradesman.com/resources/AngryFruitSalad.xml.
Posted by: David Archer | August 15, 2006 03:15 AM
My bad. I've updated the links to work again.
Posted by: Marty Andrews | September 1, 2006 12:28 PM