After the restart, the plugin will be enabled, then you can do the trick I’ve shown you last time - Navigate > Search Everywhere > type “dracula” and toggle it.
Just download the plugin and restart PhpStorm. My go-to dark theme, at the moment of writing, is Dracula + Material Theme UI.
If you want to find more on how to set it up, I advise you to check Christoph’s video on it. I won’t be talking too much about the popular Material Theme UI that probably you’ve seen more than once.
I find it easier to write code on a dark background when it’s dark around me (personal preference). If you are still not convinced about trying a light theme, I got you! I do use dark themes as well, especially when I’m working late on a dim light. You might have seen it already on some of Freek’s streams or his feed when posting a screenshot of a snippet. Light Lite is again made by Brent and it’s based on the colours of Google’s logo. I often find myself switching between those two. If you are not a fan of the colours of the previous colour scheme, you can check Light Lite.
So it goes without saying, having them match is better looking than having a huge contrast, though, you are free to experiment! The scheme is considered to be the syntax highlighting, while the theme is simply the colour of the dialogs, panels etc. This is intuitive, however, I’ll still mention it. Now, there is a difference between a scheme and a theme in PhpStorm. If you are switching from a dark scheme to a light one, or the other way around, PhpStorm will ask whether you want the theme to also be changed. Then, restart PhpStorm, open your preferences dialog ( macOS: PhpStorm > Preferences... or Windows, Linux: File > Settings ), from there Editor > Color Scheme and select the Photon - Light scheme. icls files in the /colors folder (if you don’t have it, just create it). Inside the directory, you’ll need to place your.
For version 2020.1 and above (I assume you are on the latest one), you can do this (where is PhpStorm): The location depends on the OS and the version of PhpStorm. icls files from the repository and place them inside your PhpStorm preferences directory. If you prefer to do all of this manually, download the. The easiest way to import the colour scheme is by opening your preferences dialog ( macOS: PhpStorm > Preferences... or Windows, Linux: File > Settings ), then Editor > Color Scheme > Import Scheme…. It is a high contrast scheme based on the colour palette of Firefox’s dev tools. Introducing to you, Photon colour scheme for PhpStorm by none other than Brent himself. Many studies have shown that having dark text on a light background is much easier to read than having the opposite (especially for prolonged periods). Brightness is what hurts your eyes, not the contrast of the theme. Many people prefer dark themes invoking the reason that light themes hurt their eyes. I’ll summerise some of the information related to the themes. He explains the difference between contrast and brightness, colours, visual patterns and much more. You can check Brent Roose’s video on this topic.
Now, leaving jokes aside, there are many benefits for using a light theme and there are some misunderstandings about it. Lastly, I’ll finish off with a suggestion for a theme that is in between dark and light. Then, the same procedure for a dark theme. I’ll first give you few suggestions for a light theme and the reasons behind using one. Note: This is a controversial topic, all of the information given here is just suggestions that you might or might not follow.
When switching from dark to light, or the other way around, it takes some getting used to, however, always consider it as a fresh start which might even motivate you to write more code! If you are working late and it’s dark, you might prefer a dark theme. For example, if you are in a bright environment, you need a light theme that will help you relax your eyes. However, it’s not only for you to look fancy in front of colleagues, but you also need a theme that will suit your environment and a font that is easy to read. You’ll be staring many hours at that exact screen, so you need to take your time and make it look appealing. As I mentioned in the last email, having a good theme and font is essential. Today, we’ll explore one of the most interesting topics for me - making the IDE look good. In the emails, I’m sharing thoughts, news and more about PhpStorm, so make sure you’re not missing anything by signing up for the newsletter!
This is an archive of the second email from the series - “PhpStorm, But Better!”.