From: "M. Edward (Ed) Borasky" Date: 2006-09-03T02:47:39+09:00 Subject: Re: A better syntax highlighting color scheme for Ruby code on Vim? Michal Suchanek wrote: > On 9/2/06, Paul Lutus wrote: >> Alder Green wrote: >> >> > Here's an example of what I'm looking for: >> > >> > http://www.users.on.net/~markwoodward/vim/linVim/ftplugin/ruby_cols.vim >> > >> > I can't use this particular one as it is aimed at people who use black >> > text over white bg, whereas I use white on black. >> >> Yipes. Oh well, to each his own. I gave up on white text on black >> background >> years ago when I discovered it caused me eyestrain and headaches during >> all-day programming sessions. > > I guess white on black used to be very useful on the old screens that > had low contrast and refresh rate. Any background other than black > causes more flickering, any foreground other than white causes the > text to be harder to read because it is too dim. > > But I find it much better to use dark background with lighter text. > Black is not good, I think it causes me to lose focus because there is > virtually nothing visible on most of the screen (such state also did > not exist on old screens). > >> >> It should be pointed out that nearly all modern text colors presume a >> white >> background, now that that is the norm. > > I suspect this came from word processing where black on white > resembles paper. But for screens that actually emit light I like dark > backgrounds better. I wonder how reflective screens will change this. > > Thanks > > Michal > > I've found the typical "xterm/konsole" window on Linux systems is often unreadable with a white background and the typical Linux text color scheme. The pastel backgrounds are quite a bit better than white, but it really works best for me on a black background, so that's what I use. One thing I do find myself changing often is when I'm editing a (Gentoo) config file in Vim. The comments tend to be user instructions on how to set the parameters. On a black background, Vim colors the comments a dark-ish blue that's almost unreadable, so I go ":syn off" to read them. Actually, as long as I've been programming, I never found language syntax coloring all that useful. It's certainly not necessary.