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Ask HN: Do you program in black or white?

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Ask HN: Do you program in black or white?

#1

Post by Jakob »

I just switched from Eclipse to TextMate a month ago. With that change I also wanted to try out coloured text on black background.

Interestingly it’s a huge improvement for me. I seem to be much more focussed. It’s also really pleasing to look at code now.

Did you have similar experiences? In which colours do you program?

Re: Ask HN: Do you program in black or white?

#3

Post by Laurentvw »

I recently switched from a black & white scheme to a colored scheme. As of now I'm enjoying a black-greyish background with some nifty colors.

IMO, colored code makes the process much more fun. I'm not sure if it makes me more productive though, but I wouldn't rule it out.

Small screenshot: http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2102/219/106/34...

Re: Ask HN: Do you program in black or white?

#4

Post by jballanc »

I've been using dark/black backgrounds for literally years. The question that most interests me now is warm vs cool colors for syntax highlighting. Without realizing it, I had been using primarily warm tones for a long time. Then, I installed MacVim and started using the default dark bg theme, which uses cool tones... I kinda like it!

Re: Ask HN: Do you program in black or white?

#5

Post by hbien »

I started out with dark backgrounds because of vim + Linux. The default terminal was black. Now I use the dark background w/ color text for all my editors/IDEs.

I tried switching to the white background for a week, but it really hurt my eyes. I had to switch back after a few days.

Re: Ask HN: Do you program in black or white?

#6

Post by MrRage »

I've got to put a vote in for white backgrounds. I find dark background terribly hard to read, especially with colored text. White backgrounds have a higher contrast with the text. I also turn the brightness down on my monitors, so I don't feel it's too blinding.

I also can't stand it if the syntax highlighting is too colorful. I like some coloring for reserved words, type names, comments, and string literals. Other than that black on white.

What I find more important that color schemes is having a nice font. If you're on Windows, and not using Consolas, you're missing out big time. Consolas is actually designed to look good with sub-pixel rendering. If you can't use Consolas, Bitstream Vera Sans Mono is a nice second.

Re: Ask HN: Do you program in black or white?

#7

Post by PieSquared »

hbien wrote: post #5

I started out with dark backgrounds because of vim + Linux. The default terminal was black. Now I use the dark background w/ color text for all my editors/IDEs. I tried switching to the white background for a week, but it really hurt my eyes. I had to switch back after a few days.

Same experience here. I start having difficulty coding when the background is too bright, or even when the text is too bright on a black background (I had the text be a light gray for nearly a year, and I never really realized it wasn't white. Then when I looked at white on black code, it looked very bright and unpleasant to read.)

Re: Ask HN: Do you program in black or white?

#8

Post by invisible »

hbien wrote: post #5

I started out with dark backgrounds because of vim + Linux. The default terminal was black. Now I use the dark background w/ color text for all my editors/IDEs. I tried switching to the white background for a week, but it really hurt my eyes. I had to switch back after a few days.

Besides the "easy on the eyes" feel of a dark background, I also love (in Textmate) using a tinge of transparency (opacity at 96%). It's really handy when you're trying to reference things in other windows and aren't sure if you formatted it exactly right. I think with a white background that would really look bad and easily distract.
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