gVim colorscheme: bclear

Borosai · 2009-06-06 05:25:18

I recently decided to put together a light colorscheme for gVim, and here is the result. It uses a white background and fairly strong colors (with a few exceptions for background highlights). If you like dark backgrounds and/or low-contrast colors, you probably won't be fond of this one. However, if you're looking for a bright and clear scheme, consider giving this a spin.

I started off with black, white, shades of gray, and the Arch logo blue. The rest of the colors followed, but I tried to choose colors that were pleasing, that worked well on a white backdrop, and that made sense in their role. I also removed most of the styles (bold, italic, etc.) -- just my preference. I'm not a programmer, so I kept the assignments quite simple (no language-specific settings). Honestly, I made this for myself, and I'm happy with where it's at. I probably won't change anything at this point, but if you feel something can be improved, please let me know anyway.

Update: I removed all the old links and images in order to avoid any confusion. The updated link to the file is right below, and new screenshots are in post #22.

bclear.vim (2009-06-12):
http://omploader.org/vMXR6aQ/bclear.vim

Last edited by Borosai (2009-06-14 22:10:00)

HashBox · 2009-06-06 06:58:50

I'm not really a fan of light colorschemes myself, but the colors in this one do look nice. Just a tip, I see that you're not a programmer, but if you could take a screenshot of your colorscheme while showing some C code for example, that will go a long way

Borosai · 2009-06-06 20:59:27

Makes sense. :)

Last edited by Borosai (2009-06-14 21:27:26)

bernarcher · 2009-06-06 21:37:17

Great work, Borosai!

Only thing is that I would prefer some more contrast in the Constant colors. Currently it tends to hurt the eye because contrasts do not match with the statements displayed nearby.

Personally I would prefer another color in Search and IncSearch display. I'd like it not too closely match other colors yet stand out prominently.

Borosai · 2009-06-06 22:13:44

bernarcher wrote:

Great work, Borosai!
Only thing is that I would prefer some more contrast in the Constant colors. Currently it tends to hurt the eye because contrasts do not match with the statements displayed nearby.
Personally I would prefer another color in Search and IncSearch display. I'd like it not too closely match other colors yet stand out prominently.

Thanks for your feedback. I understand the Search/IncSearch issue. I can see how reusing the same blue in different areas can affect clarity. I did test it out, and I don't believe it would cause any confusion, but I do agree that another color would be clearer and less redundant. I will try out a few options (I'm thinking orange).

As far as the first part of your message, I'm not sure what you mean. Are you referring to the Constant color (cyan) only, or others as well? And do you mean that they are too light next to the darker colors nearby? Maybe too light for a white background? I did have trouble choosing the colors because of the white background: if they are too light, they are unreadable, and if they are too dark, they start looking like the darker versions, and the dark colors start looking blackish. It was a pain.

HashBox · 2009-06-07 00:11:38

Thanks for taking those extra shots Borosai, as I said before light colorschemes aren't really my thing but this is by far the best I've seen
I think I might even end up using it too, those extra shots really help

Borosai · 2009-06-07 01:45:40

No problem, and I'm glad you like it.

Borosai · 2009-06-07 03:52:56

Update: After a few attempts to find a suitable shade of orange, I finally settled on replacement colors for the searches. Those are the only changes I've made at this point, but they should help a bit.

Last edited by Borosai (2009-06-14 21:27:43)

bernarcher · 2009-06-07 07:56:08

Well, I like these orange search color schemes. Although for the IncSearch I am not quite certain whether the white in orange should be slightly optimized. I'd tend to make the orange slightly darker for better contrast but this might be a matter of personal taste.

Borosai wrote:

As far as the first part of your message, I'm not sure what you mean. Are you referring to the Constant color (cyan) only, or others as well? And do you mean that they are too light next to the darker colors nearby? Maybe too light for a white background? I did have trouble choosing the colors because of the white background: if they are too light, they are unreadable, and if they are too dark, they start looking like the darker versions, and the dark colors start looking blackish. It was a pain.

It is mainly the Constant color although it affects Identifier as well. They are slightly too light next to the darker colors and for a light background as well. I propose to make them gradually darker in small steps until they harmonize. There is a certain optimum which is only found by experiment. It also helps to vary the individual RGB components slightly.

I have designed several colorschemes for my own needs and know of the frustrations trying to optimize the overall look and feel. But this was fun as well and at some point the design stabilizes. Your bclear scheme truly would be worth the effort.

Last edited by bernarcher (2009-06-07 08:02:57)

Borosai · 2009-06-07 15:46:50

I understand exactly what you mean. The orange will be tough because after a certain point, it starts turning brown (and that's a color I don't care for). The other colors will be more difficult to change (I may have to replace one or two), but I will give it a shot later today. Thanks again.

finferflu · 2009-06-07 16:37:59

Thanks for your work
This is what I consider the light alternative to Zenburn, and Zenburn is currently my theme of choice. I will use your theme during the day, and Zenburn during the night

ArchArael · 2009-06-07 18:01:29

Nice...did you ever thought about making a dark theme? I mostly use oceanblack because I prefer dark themes. Nice work though.

Last edited by ArchArael (2009-06-07 18:05:31)

Borosai · 2009-06-07 20:39:07

@finferflu: I'm glad you like it.

@ArchArael: Yes, I am thinking about making a dark colorscheme, but after staring at so many colors, a break is good. I will definitely work on a dark one in the next few days.

Update: I did quite a bit of toning down this time. The changes aren't dramatic, but most bright colors have been refined, some more than others (especially noticeable in the bg highlights). As far as the light text colors, I darkened the cyans, the green, the light blue, and the reds. Working on a white background is a challenge. If I darken the light cyan, I'll have to darken the dark cyan, which will cease to be cyan (or at least distinguishable). Same goes for the blues, and I want to keep two shades of each. If I darken the green, its "greeness" is lost, and becomes too dull. It's rather tricky. After posting this theme here, I took a look at the syntax highlighting in popular IDEs, and I feel confident in this colorscheme (maybe it's just me ).

Last edited by Borosai (2009-06-14 21:28:01)

bernarcher · 2009-06-07 21:24:26

Almost perfect now!
I really like it.

Yet, some tiny nitpicking (I am a perfectionist): PreProc could be more distinguishable from Statement ...

Last edited by bernarcher (2009-06-07 21:29:42)

Borosai · 2009-06-07 22:37:42

Yeah, I see what you mean (it's almost the same with the cyans). At this point, I think different colors would be needed, instead of shades of the same color. There are other options as well (gray background, use bold characters), but I'm going to stick with the original idea. I will try out some other variations later.

Has anybody tried it out while coding? How does it feel?

Borosai · 2009-06-08 18:21:10

Update: I ended up swapping out the dark cyan and dark blue for orange and purple, respectively. So, there are more colors (which can be good and bad), but they do make it easier to read/scan the text. Since I used orange for syntax highlighting, I changed the searches back to blue, but not using the same Visual blue. I find that the darker Search works well in this case (it is the only dark highlight used in the editing area), making the results very easy to spot. There are a few more changes, but nothing major.

Last edited by Borosai (2009-06-14 21:28:38)

Borosai · 2009-06-09 00:13:14

Update: Swapped the search colors since the cursor was hardly visible when cycling through the search results (on the dark blue).

Last edited by Borosai (2009-06-14 21:28:49)

bernarcher · 2009-06-09 00:57:59

Almost there!

Looking at the syntax examples, normal text does stand out very prominently, though. Perhaps some (very) dark grey would be more optimal.

I'll try bclear on some coding examples of my own during the weekend. And I am positive it would feel mostly right.

Borosai · 2009-06-09 03:28:59

It seems like it's never there: we can tweak forever.

However, I've spent a good amount of time these past few days analyzing, and re-analyzing these colors, making changes, studying the colors used in other themes, and in other editors, and so on and so on. In the end, I was reminded that the reason I decided to make this one is because I didn't like what others were doing. So I've reverted some of the settings to reflect my original idea while still keeping a number of the changes I've made along the way (orange search, toning down the lighter colors, etc.). I'm going to spend a few days using it to make sure it's done, and then I'll post the final version.

It's definitely better now than when I first posted it.

bernarcher · 2009-06-09 12:06:42

Borosai wrote:

It seems like it's never there: we can tweak forever.

It will eventually settle. Believe me, I've done several of these.

Most important however, the design has to fit your own needs. If it does, nothing more needs to be done. All I've done is some little feedback, just to my own likings -- need not be yours at all.

But, after all, I really like bclear as it is. Did you consider to upload it to the Vim scripts repository?

Borosai · 2009-06-09 17:00:13

Hey, I appreciate your feedback: it made me re-think things, and has led to some positive changes. It's easy to get lost in colors, to the point that one loses sight of the original purpose (purple was not a good idea for me ).

If I'm truly satisfied with the final result after testing out different languages, I will upload it. I'm sure someone, somewhere, at some point will have a need for something like this.

Borosai · 2009-06-14 22:06:13

Okay, I'm satisfied. After a number of days of adjusting and testing, it's time to cut this colorscheme loose. OCD anyone?

About bclear (again?): White and bright. It's not a colorscheme for every occasion, but it can come in handy at times. Somewhat logical color assignments. Colorful without being too vivid (I hope). Easy to read/scan (unless you are blinded by the whiteness). Basically, if you need a white colorscheme and like colors, try it out.

@bernarcher: Seriously, thanks again for your tips. They were very helpful, especially the idea of using a dark gray instead of black for Normal. When I first started working on bclear, the first thing I did was try a dark gray. However, I decided to go with more saturated colors and stuck with black. If you hadn't mentioned it, I don't think I would have considered it again. By doing so, it allowed me to adjust the colors a bit (lighter) while still keeping the contrast from getting out-of-hand. It's subtle, but it does make a difference and works well with the lighter colors (blue, green, etc.).

I decided to remove all the older file/image links just to avoid confusion. This should be the final update (2009-06-12), so here are the current screenshots and the updated file. Enjoy.

Highlight test (ClearType)

Highlight test (Standard)

Visual selection; spell check; search results:

Cursor line:

Some green:

Diff:

bclear.vim 2009-06-12:
http://omploader.org/vMXR6aQ/bclear.vim

bernarcher · 2009-06-15 10:06:48

Congratulations! This is it.

Now, how about submitting it to the vim scripts stack?

Last edited by bernarcher (2009-06-15 10:07:26)

Borosai · 2009-06-16 07:46:36

bernarcher wrote:

Congratulations! This is it.
Now, how about submitting it to the vim scripts stack?

Definitely. I just have to register first, but it will be there one of these days.

WhiteMagic · 2009-06-16 08:18:37

Just wanted to say thanks for the nice colorscheme. I tend to use dark ones but on some occasions, e.g. on train rides or when outside I prefer to use brighter schemes. Up until now I mostly used mod_tcsoft for that but now I used bclear for some time and I think I'll stick with it if I need a bright theme.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-06-06 05:25:18

gVim colorscheme: bclear

#2 2009-06-06 06:58:50

Re: gVim colorscheme: bclear

#3 2009-06-06 20:59:27

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#4 2009-06-06 21:37:17

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#5 2009-06-06 22:13:44

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#6 2009-06-07 00:11:38

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#7 2009-06-07 01:45:40

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