Solarized

A precision colorscheme for machines and people. Available in formats for:

• Vim
• Adobe Photoshop Palette
• GIMP Palette
• Apple Color Picker Palette
• iTerm2
• OS X Terminal.app
• Mutt mail reader colorscheme
• Xresources / Xdefaults

What

Solarized is a 16 color palette with several unique properties. It has been designed with both precise L*A*B lightness relationships and a refined set of hues based on fixed color wheel relationships. It has been tested extensively in real world use on color calibrated displays and in a variety of lighting conditions.

Features

1. Selective contrast

   Solarized reduces brightness based contrast in general. Our display devices today are capable of blasting off your retina with brightness and I found my eyes growing tired using high contrast colorschemes. Solarized reduces brightness contrast but, unlike many low contrast colorschemes, retains contrasting hues (based on colorwheel relations) for syntax highlighting readability.

2. Dual mode: Dark/Light

   I switch between dark and light modes when editing text even when editing different types of files. Solarized retains the same selective contrast relationships and overall feel when switching between the light and dark background modes. A lot of thought, planning and testing has gone into making both modes feel like part of a unified colorscheme.

3. 16/5 Palette modes

   Solarized works as a sixteen color palette for compatibility with comment terminal based applications / emulators. It has been designed to scale down to a variety of five color palettes (four base monotones and one accent color) for use in design work, such as web development.

Why

How