NetBeans Twilight Theme!

on May 28th 2009 with 137 comments

Those of you who follow us on Twitter might be aware that I’ve recently become smitten with Netbeans. Personally, when coding, I prefer to use a dark theme. It’s less harsh on my eyes. Unfortunately, there simply aren’t many available for Netbeans. After an hour or so of searching, I was able to find exactly one theme — which was mostly specific to Ruby. So, I took it upon myself to convert the popular Twilight theme to Netbeans/PHP!


Netbeans Twilight Theme!

Installation Instructions

To add this theme, simply open “Preferences” (“Options” on PC) and click “Import” at the bottom. Then browse for your zip file — do not unzip — and click “okay!” That’s it.

Example

* Note – At this point in time, I’ve only coded for HTML, PHP, and JavaScript. As I’m still “debugging”, so to speak, I’ll continue to update the downloadable source code. If you notice any quirks/inconsistencies in the coloring, please feel free to let me know, via the comments. … And if you like this theme, please send a link to your NetBeans buddies!


 
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I'm the editor of Nettuts+, and love making the process of building for the web as easy as possible. Also, I'm finishing up my latest book on Laravel Testing! If you want be friends, say hi on Twitter.  

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  • http://d3.lt/blog Zy

    Awesome!
    I like that textmate-ish style!

  • Scott

    Awesome thank you! NetBeans is fantastic.

  • RevellNL

    Looks really nice! Couldn’t find an “import” option on PC though.. Just moved the content of the zip file to “C:\Documents and Settings\_USER_\.netbeans\6.5\” and it worked. Thanks for the theme!

    • http://spoonfedproject.com Blaine

      For a PC, it’s under Tools > Options > Import

    • http://bingu.net Bingu

      Thanks, I use 6.5 too. I unzip the zip file to the dir It worked now

  • http://d3.lt/blog Zy

    Yarrr.. by the way, which version do you use? Because I’m unable to find theme import option.

    And how did you achieved that solid look’n'feel of the GUI? Mine is somewhat “OMG it’s full of gradients!”…

    • http://www.jeff-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      I’m using the latest nightly build. They’ve updated the UI quite a bit.
      http://bits.netbeans.org/download/trunk/nightly/latest/

      • http://d3.lt/blog Zy

        Thanks Jeff.

      • Meshach

        Ah, thanks Jeff I was wondering why I didn’t see any import option.

        Downloading 6.7 now.

  • mr.jinx

    what version of netbeans are you using? 6.5 doesn’t have any “import” button…

    • http://www.jeff-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      Sorry guys. I’m new to NetBeans and am using the 6.7 dev build. I just assumed that all versions had the import option.

      If you’re using an older version, just do what @RevellNL mentioned.

      • http://www.jeff-way.com Jeffrey Way
        Author

        Or better yet – download 6.7 beta. :)

      • mr.jinx

        thanks for the answer, i’ll do what @RevellNL suggested :)

  • Ryan

    Which directory if using a Mac?

  • http://www.gilbertpellegrom.co.uk Gilbert

    I’ve been using the PHP version of Netbeans for a few days now (probably spurred on by your mentions on twitter) and I’ve been impressed enough to take it on as my new IDE for PHP.

    So I might have a pop at this theme. Thanks.

  • thrstn

    For linux users that don’t have the import button just unzip the theme into ~/.netbeans/*YOUR_VERSION*/

  • http://danbowles.com Dan

    Holy awesomeness!

  • http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net Kevin van Zonneveld

    Definitely going to give this one shot, looking good… Thanks a lot!

  • Raducu

    Thanks! Already using the theme with some modifications:

    - Changed the tag color to blue (a little contrast – rgb(102,153,255))
    - Highlight color changed to red background and white foreground.

    You should try the blue. It looks better.
    One question though: What’s with the line in the center of the screen ?

    • http://danbowles.com Dan

      I think that may be a guide showing him where the 80-character mark is for each line

    • Raducu

      Can I disable it? (or at least change the color to match the background)
      I don’t find the line useful right now

    • Anonymous

      That’s the 80 column line. Tools > Options > Editor > Formatting > Right Margin in 6.5

      • Anonymous

        Forgot can be changed by Tools > Options > Fonts & Colors > Highlighting > Text Limit Line

    • http://spoonfedproject.com Blaine

      It has to do with the right margin setting. To modify this, go to

      Tools > Options > Editor > Formatting > Right Margin

      • http://spoonfedproject.com Blaine

        …on a PC

      • Raducu

        Thanks Blaine

        Finally Dreamweaver can rest in peace.
        I tried Notepad++, Aptana, Zend Studio, e Text Editor and other programs but I think NetBeans is perfect for me.

  • Alex Weber

    Awesome thanks! I’ve been looking for this exactly! :)

  • EllisGL

    Had to change the font to Monospaced. Looks good.

  • dev3k

    for linux users with netbeans 6.5 put files into /home/YOUR USER/.netbeans/6.5

    • Andrew

      Yes, I dropped the “Editors” directory into the conf directory and then select “tools”> “Options” >”Font & Colors” and in the profile section, select Netbeans_Twilight then “ok”

      You should see a preview at the bottom of the screen.

  • Marko Randjelovic

    Thank you! :)

  • http://www.yorickpeterse.com/ Yorick Peterse

    NetBeans is a horrible application in my opinion, mainly because it’s performance is so damn horrible compared to other clients, such as Aptana. If you are on a mac looking for an IDE, I suggest using Komodo IDE. There’s a Ruby like template for it as well :)

    • http://www.jeff-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      I 100% haven’t noticed these performance issues that you speak of.

    • Alex Weber

      My notebook isn’t the fastest thing in the world but I actually switched from Aptana to NetBeans partly because of the performance…. and haven’t looked back.

    • http://linux-web-py.blogspot.com/ Gilberto Ramos

      actually netbeans is one of the best IDE for all the supported languages it has!! I don’t even think the reference you are taking to have that opinion!

    • Tubal Martin

      Aptana (Eclipse) is waaaay slower than Netbeans….

    • G.L.

      Netbeans is more responsive as compared to Eclipse and Aptana for me.

    • http://dustinlakin.com Dustin Lakin

      I love Netbeans, never seen any performance problems. Plus works great as my JAVA IDE as well. Would be happy to never see eclipse again.

    • Steve Flee

      Are you kidding? Aptana and Eclipse are slow as mollasses – and I’m running on a pretty new MacBook Pro. I switched to netbeans last week, and have been evangalistic about it in our engineering dept!

  • Donna

    How does netbeans compare with Eclipse? I’ve used eclipse for java development but I can’t get the debugger working for php, so I’m looking for a new IDE. Maybe netbeans is it! I’m on windows.

  • http://creativebytes.co.za/ Geoff

    If Netbeans was a person, it’d be my hero! Been using it since 6.1, when the PHP plugin had a hard-coded light yellow background. Ugh! Nice to see what you’ve managed to rustle up with it. Looking forward to trying this out.

  • http://www.sirupsen.dk Sirupsen

    For some odd reason I seem to not beeing able to get this working? I download the file, and imports it as .zip. But it doesn’t work. Anyone having the same problem?

    • http://www.sirupsen.dk Sirupsen

      Ow, fail! I just had to change it in the Editor menu.

  • Joe

    I don’t like NetBeans for PHP. It has some good features, but not too many of them. I would go with Zend Studio if you have the money, or with PDT if you’re an open source, free product guy. Zend Studio was the only product along the way who gave me all the features i need with constant development on new ones. That my opinion though…

  • http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net Kevin van Zonneveld

    PS

    Looking good combined with the Inconsolata Font as well, did a little write up on that here: http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net/techblog/article/install_the_best_coding_font/

  • Ringo

    Does anyone know where I can find similiar “color themes” for Eclipse?

  • Meshach

    Here are my settings I sort of tweaked Jeffrey’s theme.

  • http://www.twilightdisorder.com twilight fansite

    awesome theme design my friend

  • http://www.parkerituk.com Parker

    I use APTANA, NETBEANS,DREAMWEAVER .now guys i love aptana for frontend development,especially javascript.when it comes to php ,i would say NETBEANS is more powerful,because you can just right click a function name and it takes you to the file where it was declared
    so to be honest is good to be flexible with more than just one IDE

  • j2eehunter

    This Theme is looks good for only php and html development.

    This is not at all Good for java/j2ee/j2me developer…

    • Annoymous

      He did say that he converted this to PHP :p

  • puur

    VERY NICE Theme thankx Jeff.
    But i have one problem, why is there no highlighting for the open / close bracket ? have you an idea where i can fix this ?

    (For Example in the theme city lights it works)

    • puur

      ou sorry… it was my mistake.. it was a open/close bracket in one line so the linecolor (highlight current line).. is same as the highlight color for open/close brackets…

      Sorry.

  • http://www.joet3ch.com Joe Nicosia

    Thanks for taking the time to build this … I just switched from TextMate into NetBeans for my primary PHP IDE and it is a pleasure to use my favorite theme!

  • oscar

    Hey, i imported the zip file and restart netbeans 6.7 but nothig changed :(

    • er

      same here… I am using NetBeans 6.8. I have tried both method. first i try to import, nothing happen. then I try to unzip to the folder mention by RevellNL (C:\Documents and Settings\_USER_\.netbeans\6.8\ ) , nothing happen :(. I so… want to use this theme. Can some one help ? :) Thanks in advance

      • Oscar_S

        just the same quetion I don’t know how to do it in Netbeans 6.8

        Anybody has the clue?

  • pete in melbourne

    Nice theme…I thought I was the only one who didn’t like the garish white coding screen. Dark is nice, almost contemplative. Your zip file is good help for those wanting to make their own themes (like me!) as the NetBeans doco can be a bit difficult.

  • Jack Perry

    Is it possible to has this converted to a Notepad++ style? It’s absolutely gorgeous.

  • Damian Dawber

    Fantastic! I’m really liking my little NetBeans set up now :)

    I made some changes to the JavaScript theme and have published it to my blog because, well, I guess I should…

    http://www.damiandawber.co.uk/2009/09/netbeans-twilight-js-theme/

    I noticed the ruby theme some time ago and was a bit gutted I found no equivalent for PHP.. alas, you’re a gem :)

  • David Rodriguez

    This is sweet!!!!! Just what I was looking for.

    Thanks

  • http://www.planetadeleste.com/ LeChuck

    Excellent theme. Great job!!!
    There is a way to change the tags colors for Smarty Plugin, I don’t find how.
    Of course, I try changing in Options > Fonts & Colors panel but always show tags on blue and with black background is very difficult to see something.

    Any Help?
    thanks

  • http://www.wallpaperocks.com wallpaperocks

    what twilight is that? is it twilight saga?

  • http://geekpreneur.blogspot.com napi

    Nice theme.. I like this themes

  • http://chip.lt Anatolij

    The best theme ever seen, Green Chaud from Aptana is also cool, but this is for me better ;) thanks

  • http://spartaonrails.com/ Gabriel Sobrinho

    Nice job!

    But are buggy for ruby in NB 6.8. Can you fix this or tell me how I can fix?

    Cheers

  • Arttie_br

    Great for PHP development!
    However, under PC/Ubuntu, changing font back for standard “monospaced” and darkening a bit the highlighted selected (current) line background works a bit better.

    Thanks for the theme and regards!

  • er

    anyone able go get this theme to work on NetBean 6.8?

  • Kevin Groenendaal

    I always do ( on a mac ) ctrl + option + cmd + 8 whenever I code. Turns your mac into negative colors. I get used to it!

    Thanks for the theme!

    • http://www.khalidalomar.com Khalid Alomar

      Perfect! I just know that!

  • mrded

    no support cyrillic

  • Michael

    looks very cool! thanx a lot.

  • http://www.khalidalomar.com Khalid Alomar

    dude you did a good work on that! now I can code with nonstop :D

  • Oscar_S

    anyone able go get this theme to work on NetBean 6.8?

    I really want to use the theme

    • Topher

      Got it working in NetBeans 6.8. After importing the the theme, you have to select the Netbeans_twilight profile from the Font & Colors Tab.

  • Oscar

    I don’t know how to do it in Netbeans 6.8

    Anybody has the clue?

  • http://droope.wordpress.com droope

    I’d like it, too :)

    Cheers!
    Droope

  • http://liriktube.blogspot.com/ lirik

    nice theme,

  • Seb

    Hi, i’m a bit of a newbie to all of this. Does NetBeans do HTML? When I went to go and download it, there was no mention of HTML..

  • http://www.tillmann.hu tillmannr

    I made a modified version of this, so it looks more like the one in Textmate.

    You can download it here:
    http://tillmann.hu/netbeans-twilight-theme

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