/vim-256noir

A dark 256-color colorscheme for vim

Primary LanguageVim Script

vim-256noir

A dark 256-color color scheme for vim.

Have you ever wondered why most syntax highlighting of source code is about as subtle and pretty as a candy shop explosion? A technical reason is the historical constraints imposed by 16 color terminals, but fortunately this limitation is easy to overcome.

Features

  • Minimal colors, to avoid distracting:
    • Shades of gray for most elements
    • Bright keywords to highlight structure.
    • Dark comments & strings to emphasize surrounding code.
    • Red for exceptional elements (constants & errors)
  • Works in vim and gvim. Rudimentary support for 16-color terminals.

Usage

  • Enable 256 colors in vim. Note that when using ssh, both client and server need to be properly configured.
  • Put 256_noir.vim in ~/.vim/colors/
  • Add the following to ~/.vimrc:
colorscheme 256_noir

" Change highlighting of cursor line when entering/leaving Insert Mode
set cursorline
highlight CursorLine cterm=NONE ctermfg=NONE ctermbg=233 guifg=NONE guibg=#121212
autocmd InsertEnter * highlight CursorLine cterm=NONE ctermfg=NONE ctermbg=234 guifg=NONE guibg=#1c1c1c
autocmd InsertLeave * highlight CursorLine cterm=NONE ctermfg=NONE ctermbg=233 guifg=NONE guibg=#121212

screenshot of vim with noir colorscheme

The font in the above screenshots is the default xterm bitmap font fixed at 6x13.

Bonus

  • mc, add the following to e.g. ~/.bashrc:

    export MC_SKIN=dark

  • mutt, add the following to ~/.muttrc:

    color normal      white default
color status      black white
color indicator   white red
color hdrdefault  yellow default
color signature   yellow default
color attachment  brightyellow default
color markers     brightred default
color quoted      green default
color tilde       blue default
color tree        red default

Other recommended terminal apps with dark colors by default: