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Stack OverflowDark color scheme for Eclipse
[+425] [19] Bartosz Radaczyński
[2008-09-23 12:21:44]
[ eclipse ]
[ https://stackoverflow.com/questions/120621/dark-color-scheme-for-eclipse ]

Is Eclipse at all theme-able? I would like to install a dark color scheme for it, since I much prefer white text on dark background than the other way around.

no, I am not. I am running linux - Bartosz Radaczyński
(1) yes, that lack is really frustrating about Eclipse - Serg
does anyone know of an dark theme for galileo? - clamp
Yes, there is a way to do it, look here: stackoverflow.com/questions/96981/color-themes-for-eclipse/… - worbel
That's the one advantage of OS X - you can just change the whole screen to high contrast and back with a keypress. Doesn't work the same way in Win XP, unfortunately :( - Uri
@user31273: that is great, but the problem with eclipse is that you have to define the colors for each editor separately. This sucks! I am using pydev and java perspectives, and I would like to have the colors set up once and for all (the same way it's done in netbeans). This will probably not happen anytime soon, though... - Bartosz Radaczyński
(24) This is one of quite a long list of basic omissions that make it hard to take Eclipse seriously. - Draemon
(11) There is now an easy way to do it: marketplace.eclipse.org/content/eclipse-color-theme - tfnico
(14) @ThomasFerrisNicolaisen: This plugin only changes the source window, NOT the other windows, which still blind you with their white backgrounds. - SMBiggs
(4) @Uri: This solution on the macintosh also inverts the colors of the icons, which can be very confusing (like changing "debug - STOP" to the color green and "debug - GO" to red). Also, it can make debugging impossible if you're doing any graphics work as all that stuff is reversed as well. Lastly, there's simply NO WAY to change the default windows color on a mac. Guess the Eclipse dev team must be mac nuts, as they follow that idiotic lead. - SMBiggs
(5) A fully dark theme is now available with Eclipse 4.2 (Juno)! See github.com/eclipse-color-theme/eclipse-color-theme and stackoverflow.com/questions/5053834/… - ignis
(2) Moonrise theme: guari.github.io/eclipse-ui-theme - SPRBRN
I use NegativeScreen to turn on night mode for my entire desktop - see: stackoverflow.com/a/49370326/913223 - Daniel Sokolowski
[+288] [2011-01-12 02:17:25] fhd [ACCEPTED]

As posted to a few related questions already, I'm working on a plugin for easy, cross-editor color theme management:

http://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/eclipse-color-theme

It is still work in progress, but already supports many editors and a few dark color themes.


BTW, pixeldude and I work together on the plugin and eclipsecolorthemes.org mentioned in another answer. It's fully compatible. - fhd
+1. I have referenced your work in stackoverflow.com/questions/5053834/… - VonC
(17) Is there any way of changing the color of the other views (such as projekt explorer, console, problems, etc.), too? - Bruiser
(88) The problem with this is obvious - while you can turn editor theme to "dark", the rest of Eclipse shines white incredibly bright, so it's even worse :( - Ivan G.
Just downloaded this, fantastic and works great. It'd definitely be nice if it were possibly to skin the rest of Eclipse as well, but that's likely a lot more difficult. Fantastic work solving a problem that didn't have a good solution before, though! - Ryan M
We are interested in theming all of Eclipse, as many people request it, but it's not trivial with Eclipse 3.x. I don't know when Eclipse 4 is going to arrive, but it will have theming and we will see if we can make our plugin work with that. - fhd
Very nice except for the fact that it only affects one window (the one with code). - Peter Ajtai
(1) This works (apparently) in MyEclipse 6.6 (don't ask, I was forced I don't like it one bit) will do further testing and post back in case anything breaks. - Luis Robles
For anyone with failing eyesight, this is a godsend. Thank you so much for developing this. - Philip Sheard
(2) I can't stand the lack of themeable windows in Eclipse. Aptana, which is basically a clone of Eclipse, themes EVERYTHING. This is why I use it for everything not Android SDK related...even as my word processor (but that's not recommended.) - o_O
(1) For Linux users, make Eclipse look beautiful in a dark theme by following my tips in Q&A here: stackoverflow.com/questions/12238773/… - KomodoDave
This works great if you use full screen editor window. You can popup other side windows only when you need it. Saves my eyes - gerrytan
(1) @aloneguid Change "Preferences -> General -> Appearance -> Theme" to "Dark". - mstuercke
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[+88] [2010-07-01 11:06:15] Roger Dudler

I've created my own dark color scheme (based on Oblivion from gedit [1]), which I think is very nice to work with.

Preview & details at: http://www.rogerdudler.com/?p=362

We're happy to announce the beta of eclipsecolorthemes.org [2], a new website to download, create and maintain Eclipse color themes / schemes. The theme editor allows you to copy an existing theme and edit the colors with a live preview of your changes on specific editors. The downloadable themes support a lot of editors (PHP, Java, SQL, Ant, text, HTML, CSS, and more to follow)

There's a growing list of themes already available on the site:

Screenshot of eclipsecolorthemes.org

You can read more about the launch here [7].

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gedit
[2] http://www.eclipsecolorthemes.org
[3] http://www.eclipsecolorthemes.org/?view=theme&id=2
[4] http://www.eclipsecolorthemes.org/?view=theme&id=1
[5] http://www.eclipsecolorthemes.org/?view=theme&id=4
[6] http://www.eclipsecolorthemes.org/?view=theme&id=3
[7] http://www.rogerdudler.com/?p=509

(2) I love Oblivion in gedit, and your instructions were just what I wanted. A+ - defrex
wow, that was easy to set up and it worked instantly, thx ;) - kulpae
(1) These are awesome, but when I try to compare changes, the changes are highlighted in a dark color so I can't see them. I usually end up having to change colorthemes just to compare changes in files. - User1
(2) Don't work on all the other windows, which now BLAST with their white backgrounds by comparison. - SMBiggs
eclipsecolorthemes.org <-- really nice, really easy: thanks! - Jeffrey Knight
Good Work! I'm using this page to change Eclipse preferences now :D - Ricardo
(2) pixeldude: Your sites are down now. - Xdg
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[+51] [2008-09-23 12:24:04] devinmoore

Here's a guy that posted his Eclipse preferences for changing the colors like a theme:

http://blog.codefront.net/2006/09/28/vibrant-ink-textmate-theme-for-eclipse/

screenshot

And here's more about how to set the colors in the Ganymede Eclipse version [1] (v. 3.4, mid 2008):

http://help.eclipse.org/ganymede/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.user/concepts/accessibility/fontsandcolors.htm

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_%28software%29#Releases

(4) I posted up blog.codefront.net/2006/09/28/… way back in 2006 and while some people have had success with it, I think it doesn't quite work for recent versions of Eclipse (some readers have emailed me). YMMV! - Chu Yeow
I did this but used Consolas - very nice, thanks! - HaveAGuess
Mark Occurences can be reenabled if you are missing it (as I was) by going to Prefs -> General -> Editors -> Text Editors -> Annotations -> Occurrences and enabling "Text as Highlighted" - HaveAGuess
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[+21] [2010-05-06 12:48:20] skrat

For Linux users, assuming you run a compositing window manager [1] ( Compiz [2]), you can just turn the window negative. I use Eclipse like this all the time, the normal (whitie) looks is blowing my eyes off.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compositing_window_manager
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiz

nice one. I actually tuned eclipse pretty well by now using all the links in the answers. But I also use a dark colorscheme in KDE... - Bartosz Radaczyński
found it, "Negative" plugin, I must say it looks much better on my dark linux theme - Ivan G.
thanks but still the completion window is white and each time that it is shown it hits my eyes. - Kamran Bigdely
(1) very nice idea, simple and effective, thanks! enable it though compizconfig-settings-manager (ccsm), note that rules ran be set (type=Eclipse) there to automatically apply the 'negative' effect. it should also be possible to set a rule for the completion window, use the grab-button from the config dialog and aim for it ;) - antiplex
Eclipse uses SWT, which uses native widgets; in the case of Linux this is typically gtk. If you pick a dark theme for gtk, all the non-editor Eclipse panes will pick that up. For an example dark gtk theme, see OMG Suite - srparish
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[+10] [2011-11-24 13:41:06] matko.kvesic

These are the pleasing colors for my eyes during coding. Jazz music not included in theme.

Screenshot of LukinaJama3

Eclipse Color Themes Plugin file: LukinaJama3.xml on depositfiles [1]

[1] http://goo.gl/2jr3w

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[+9] [2011-02-05 18:57:43] Tudisco

This is the best place for Eclipse color themes:

http://www.eclipsecolorthemes.org/


(3) These are nice, but it only changes the code view and not all the windows. - Peter Ajtai
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[+8] [2009-02-06 17:38:46] helifreak

I have to say, this is one area where Eclipse is really weak. Specifically, the import/export of preferences applies to ALL preferences. There is no way to import say just the fonts/color preferences (like you can with Visual Studio) without mucking up my key binding preferences.

Also, I have tried several of these preference files referenced above, and they completely break my Eclipse install.


(4) you can import/export only the color prefs. But you have to edit the preferences file manually and delete everything besides the color-related entries - Bartosz Radaczyński
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[+6] [2009-07-15 21:23:46] Dwight Holman

I've created several color themes, and a script to extract a new one from someone's color preferences. I'm currently using one I still have yet to post on the site, but I should eventually get to it.

http://eclipsecolorthemes.jottit.com


Excellent. It would be nice if each of those themes had a screenshot! - Cal
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[+6] [2011-01-19 03:19:37] user580853

Easiest way: change the Windows Display Properties main window background color. I went to Appearance tab, changed to Silver scheme, clicked Advanced, clicked on "Active Window" and changed Color 1 to a light gray. All Eclipse views softened.

Since Luna (4.4) [1] there seems to be a full Dark them in

Window -> Preferences -> General -> Appearance -> Theme -> Dark

enter image description here

[1] http://help.eclipse.org/luna/index.jsp?topic=%2Forg.eclipse.platform.doc.user%2FwhatsNew%2Fplatform_whatsnew.html

No Advanced option in Juno under any selected Theme - bobtheowl2
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[+5] [2010-10-28 17:23:15] Dean J

For the quick hack, on Linux running GNOME with a Windows keyboard, Windows-Key-M will inverse-color all windows, and Windows-Key-N will inverse color a single window. It's an awesome feature, in my book.


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[+3] [2009-01-27 12:01:59] Wijnand Warren

As I replied to " Is there a simple, consistent way to change the color scheme of Eclipse editors? [1]":

I've been looking for this too and after a bit of research found a workable solution. This is based on the FDT editor for Eclipse, but I'm sure you could apply the same logic to other editors.

My blog post: Howto create a color-scheme for FDT [2]

Hope this helps!

[1] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/481035/is-there-a-simple-consistent-way-to-change-the-color-scheme-of-eclipse-editors#482828
[2] http://blog.ansuz.nl/index.php/2009/01/26/howto-create-a-color-scheme-for-fdt/

(2) It is not a real colorscheme... In netbeans you switch the colors once, and it works for all the languages at once. Eclipse has separate settings for every editor, and what's worse the annotations settings are common to all of them. - Bartosz Radaczyński
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[+3] [2011-05-02 19:41:13] cidermonkey

The best solution I've found is to leave Eclipse in normal bright mode, and use an OS level screen inverter.

On OS X you can do Command + Option + Ctrl + 8, inverts the whole screen.

On Linux with Compiz, it's even better, you can do Windows + N to darken windows selectively (or Windows + M to do the whole screen).

On Windows, the only decent solution I've found is powerstrip, but it's only free for one year... then it's like $30 or something...

Then you can invert the screen, adjust the syntax-level colours to your liking, and you're off to the races, with cool shades on.


I'm trying to use this on OS X, Eclipse looks good, some other programs look bit unusual. Correct keyboard combo seems to be ctrl+alt+cmd+8 (at least on version 10.6.8). - Arnost Valicek
(1) Also changes inverts the colors of the icons, which can be VERY misleading (eg: red for "go", green for "stop"). - SMBiggs
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[+2] [2010-06-08 15:16:22] Ryan Alberts

If you use Aptana then you can download a dark color theme! I have been looking for one recently and found the Aptana one. Thought others might be interested!

Check out: http://www.nightlion.net/themes/2009/aptana-dark-color-theme/


What is this Aptana you speak of? - Peter Mortensen
@PeterMortensen Here is the link: aptana.com Enjoy! - Ryan Alberts
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[+1] [2009-07-16 21:04:33] Bartosz Radaczyński

I have finally found exactly what I have been looking for, i.e. a dark theme for PyDev [1] (although I still feel like Eclipse is missing out on this).

[1] http://www.scimatic.com/node/263

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[+1] [2009-08-16 11:34:56] prabir

This is another dark Eclipse theme: http://blog.prabir.me/post/Dark-Eclipse-Theme.aspx.

I have the Visual Studio equivalent of the theme.


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[+1] [2010-07-05 05:48:02] moleculezz

Checkout this color scheme [1] I created for Eclipse PDT. It is based on the Vim Zenburn color scheme developed by slinky [2]

[1] http://github.com/moleculezz/eclipse-zenburn
[2] http://slinky.imukuppi.org/zenburnpage/

To import the file use File|Import|General|Preferences - johnk
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[+1] [2011-08-24 17:53:47] David

Some people posted options for Linux and Mac, and the Windows (free) equivalent is, if you can deal with it globally:

Set Windows desktop appearance theme window background color. You can keep current/desired theme, just modify the background color of windows. By default, it is set to white. I change it to a shade of grey. I tried dark grey and black before, but then you have to change text font colors globally, and all that's painful.

But a simple shade of grey as background does the trick globally, works with any color text font as long as the shade of grey is not too dark.

It's not the best solution for all editors/IDEs, as I prefer black, but it's the next best free & global workaround on Windows.


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[0] [2009-07-10 13:45:06] Kelly S. French

I played with customizing the colors. I went with the yellow text/blue background I've liked from Turbo Pascal. The problem I ran into was it let you set the colors of the editors but then the other views like Package Explorer or Navigator stayed with the default black-on-white colors. I'm sure you could do it programatically but there are waaaay to many settings for my patience.


Most of the other views are controlled by the colors specified by the operating system. For example, on Windows you can head to the Advanced Appearance settings and change the Window item with your desired colors. Of course, this means all your applications change across the entire operating system, which may be good or bad depending on your taste. - cowgod
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[0] [2010-08-27 19:30:24] TEHEK

In response to this comment [1] I made a filter for Color Filter plugin for Compiz.

Here's what I got:

Howto:

  1. Go to /usr/share/compiz/filters/
  2. Create new file "negative-low-contrast" (as root)
  3. Insert the attached code into it.
  4. Go to System->Preferences->CompizConfig ...
  5. Enter Color Filter Plugin
  6. Enable it and add newly created filter to the list Profeet!!

Filter code:

!!ARBfp1.0
TEMP temp, neg;

# Dunno what's this... but every other filter starts with this :) ;
TEX temp, fragment.texcoord[0], texture[0], RECT;

# Applying negative filter ;
RCP neg.a, temp.a;
MAD temp.rgb, -neg.a, temp, 1.0;
MUL temp.rgb, temp.a, temp;
MUL temp, fragment.color, temp;

# Lowering contrast and shifting brightness ;
MUL temp.rgb, temp, 0.8;
ADD temp.rgb, temp, 0.25;

MOV result.color, temp;
END

You also can play with the filter. May be you will get something more facinating :) Feel free to share!

[1] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/120621/dark-color-scheme-for-eclipse/2781179#27811791.1.2.

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