Customizing Vim: How to Change the Color Scheme for Better Readability

As a coder, readability is key to productivity. One simple yet powerful way to enhance your coding experience is by customizing the color scheme of your text editor. If you’re using Vim, a highly configurable text editor, you may have encountered situations where the default color scheme makes certain text difficult to read. In this blog, we’ll walk you through how to create and edit a .vimrc file to set a new color scheme and adjust other settings for an improved coding environment.

Why Customize Your Vim Color Scheme?

Low readability is a significant issue, especially for those who spend long hours coding. Poor contrast between text and background colors can cause eye strain, headaches, and reduce overall productivity.

For instance, in a dark terminal background, colors like red, dark blue, or purple might blend too much with the background, making it hard to distinguish strings, keywords, or comments. This not only affects your ability to quickly read and understand the code but also hampers debugging and code reviews.

Step-by-Step Guide to Customize Vim

1. Locate or Create Your .vimrc File

The .vimrc file is where you can set your Vim configurations. It’s typically located in your home directory. Open your terminal and check if the .vimrc file exists:

ls -a ~ | grep .vimrc

If this command doesn’t return any results, you need to create the .vimrc file.

2. Create the .vimrc File

To create or edit the .vimrc file, follow these steps:

1. Open your terminal.

2. Use Vim to create the .vimrc file:

    vim ~/.vimrc
   

3. Press i to enter insert mode in Vim.

4. Add the following configuration settings:

    " Enable syntax highlighting
    syntax on
   
    " Set color scheme
    colorscheme desert
   
    " Other custom settings
    set number              " Show line numbers
    set tabstop=4           " Set tab width to 4 spaces
    set expandtab           " Use spaces instead of tabs
    set shiftwidth=4        " Indent by 4 spaces when using '>>' or '<<'
    set autoindent          " Copy indent from current line when starting a new line
    set background=dark     " Use dark background
   

5. Press Esc to exit insert mode.

6. Type :wq and press Enter to save and exit.

3. Reload Vim Configuration

After creating and editing the .vimrc file, you can reload Vim to apply the new settings by closing and reopening Vim, or by typing the following command inside Vim:

:source ~/.vimrc

Understanding the Configuration

Let’s break down the configuration:

• syntax on: Enables syntax highlighting.

• colorscheme desert: Sets the color scheme to "desert". You can change "desert" to any other available color scheme.

• set number: Displays line numbers.

• set tabstop=4: Sets the width of a tab character to 4 spaces.

• set expandtab: Converts tabs to spaces.

• set shiftwidth=4: Sets the number of spaces to use for each step of (auto)indent.

• set autoindent: Automatically copies the indent from the current line when starting a new line.

• set background=dark: Optimizes colors for a dark background.

Exploring More Color Schemes

Vim comes with several built-in color schemes. You can list them by typing :colorscheme followed by pressing Tab to cycle through the available schemes. If you want more options, you can install additional color schemes from the internet.

Installing More Color Schemes

1. Download a collection of Vim color schemes:

    git clone https://github.com/flazz/vim-colorschemes.git
   

2. Move the color schemes to your Vim colors directory:

    mkdir -p ~/.vim/colors
    cp vim-colorschemes/colors/* ~/.vim/colors/
   

3. Update your .vimrc file to use one of the new color schemes:

    colorscheme solarized
   

   Conclusion

   Customizing your Vim environment can significantly enhance your coding experience. By adjusting the color scheme and other settings, you can create a more readable and comfortable workspace. Experiment with different configurations in your .vimrc file until you find what works best for you. Happy coding!