DonationCoder.com forum
 
Read-only archive. This is a static copy of the DonationCoder.com forum. Reading and searching work as before; logging in, posting and private messages do not.
Archive of 2026-10-21 · About this archive · Main site

Author Topic: NANY 2018 Release: Solarized Minimal for Visual Studio Code  (Read 18,830 times)

Jibz

  • Cold Warrior
  • Developer
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,187
    • Programming School - Stage 1 Medal
    • Coding Snacks
    • Participated in NANY Challenge Four Times
NANY 2018 Release: Solarized Minimal for Visual Studio Code
« on: December 29, 2017, 01:18 PM »
solarized_yin_yang.png

Solarized is a popular color theme available in many text editors. The palette contains only 16 colors, which are used both in a dark (pleasant at night) and light (easy to read in bright daylight) version. The magic is that the accent colors are chosen so they appear the same in both versions.

solmin-sample.png

I have been using it for over five years now, and a while back I created my own version for Sublime Text. You might wonder why add another version of a theme that is already present by default? Mostly because I feel many versions of Solarized are too complex -- they try to assign colors to everything in every language. So I set out to try to make a minimal version, one that attempts to assign styles primarily to the root groups described in the TextMate documentation (which is where the file format for color themes used in many editors comes from).

The last year I have been using VS Code as my primary text editor, so I created a version of Solarized Minimal for my own use. Now that new year is ominously close (and I haven't finished a NANY project :-[), I cleaned up and packaged the theme.

For now, only the colors of the editing window are changed, while the surrounding areas (tabs, info line, dialogs) are kept in the default UI colors. I've been debating with myself if it looks better to also change them (like the default Solarized theme does), but I feel it becomes a little too much.

You can install it from within VS Code by going to the extension tab and searching for Solarized Minimal. Then select either version using File->Preferences->Color Theme.

Website: https://jibsen.github.io/solarized-minimal/

On GitHub: https://github.com/jibsen/vscode-solarized-minimal
On VS Code Marketplace: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=jibsen.theme-solarized-minimal
Atom.io: https://atom.io/users/jibsen
"A problem, properly stated, is a problem on it's way to being solved" -Buckminster Fuller
"Multithreading is just one damn thing after, before, or simultaneous with another" -Andrei Alexandrescu
« Last Edit: January 11, 2018, 03:23 PM by Jibz »

Jibz

  • Cold Warrior
  • Developer
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,187
    • Programming School - Stage 1 Medal
    • Coding Snacks
    • Participated in NANY Challenge Four Times
Re: NANY 2018 Release: Solarized Minimal for Visual Studio Code
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2017, 05:03 PM »
I tried making a version of Solarized Minimal for Atom as well, it should be available from the internal package manager :Thmbsup:.

https://atom.io/themes/solarized-minimal-dark-syntax
https://atom.io/themes/solarized-minimal-light-syntax
"A problem, properly stated, is a problem on it's way to being solved" -Buckminster Fuller
"Multithreading is just one damn thing after, before, or simultaneous with another" -Andrei Alexandrescu
« Last Edit: January 09, 2018, 07:06 AM by Jibz »

Deozaan

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • ***
  • Posts: 9,827
    • Participated in NANY Challenge Eight Times
    • Cody Award
Re: NANY 2018 Release: Solarized Minimal for Visual Studio Code
« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2017, 09:07 AM »
Looks nice. :Thmbsup:

Jibz

  • Cold Warrior
  • Developer
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,187
    • Programming School - Stage 1 Medal
    • Coding Snacks
    • Participated in NANY Challenge Four Times
Re: NANY 2018 Release: Solarized Minimal for Visual Studio Code
« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2018, 03:56 PM »
I've made a simple homepage for the theme with some instruction on how to use it:

https://jibsen.github.io/solarized-minimal/
"A problem, properly stated, is a problem on it's way to being solved" -Buckminster Fuller
"Multithreading is just one damn thing after, before, or simultaneous with another" -Andrei Alexandrescu

tomos

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • ***
  • Posts: 11,970
    • Gathering Badge
    • Participated in NANY Challenge Once
Re: NANY 2018 Release: Solarized Minimal for Visual Studio Code
« Reply #4 on: January 04, 2018, 09:40 PM »
I've made a simple homepage for the theme with some instruction on how to use it:

https://jibsen.github.io/solarized-minimal/

site looks great :up:

if I were a coder I would use it (planning to download atom + theme for the rare occasions I try to edit something)
Tom

Jibz

  • Cold Warrior
  • Developer
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,187
    • Programming School - Stage 1 Medal
    • Coding Snacks
    • Participated in NANY Challenge Four Times
Re: NANY 2018 Release: Solarized Minimal for Visual Studio Code
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2018, 08:31 PM »
Thanks  :-*.

I made a minor update to the VS Code version, adding colors for the overview ruler (bar next to scrollbar), peek view (when you right-click a symbol and peek), and the git markers in the gutter.

Fiddling with the Atom version atm, but the docs are a bit less clear on what you can do.
"A problem, properly stated, is a problem on it's way to being solved" -Buckminster Fuller
"Multithreading is just one damn thing after, before, or simultaneous with another" -Andrei Alexandrescu

Jibz

  • Cold Warrior
  • Developer
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,187
    • Programming School - Stage 1 Medal
    • Coding Snacks
    • Participated in NANY Challenge Four Times
Re: NANY 2018 Release: Solarized Minimal for Visual Studio Code
« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2018, 07:08 AM »
Updated Atom and VS Code themes out, and a more recent screenshot in the original post.
"A problem, properly stated, is a problem on it's way to being solved" -Buckminster Fuller
"Multithreading is just one damn thing after, before, or simultaneous with another" -Andrei Alexandrescu

Original address: https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=44839.0