Join the Dark Side

For months now I’ve been using a dark theme for my Visual Studio, and I’m loving it. To someone who spends days and days in front of a computer, a dark-grey “canvas” definitely puts less strain on the eyes.

I don’t remember where I found the original color scheme, but I modified it a bit for my liking. Ever since I started using Consolas, I just can’t use any other font in Visual Studio.

Feel free to grab my Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 theme. Here’s how you install it:

1. Copy the .vssettings file in My Documents. Visual Studio does some weird things if it can’t find the settings file later, so keep it in My Docs.
2. In Visual Studio go to Tools | Import and Export Settings…
3. Choose “Import selected environment settings”. Click Next.
4. Decide if you want to back up your settings (you probably should, in case you want to go back if you don’t like the new syntax coloring) and click Next.
5. Click Browse and find the .vssettings file from step #1. Click Next.
6. Click Finish.

Oh, and if you haven’t configured your Windows box to use ClearType, you’re missing out a lot!

Enjoy!