The Fonts and Colors page of the Options dialog box allows you to establish a custom font and color scheme for various user interface elements in the integrated development environment (IDE). You can access this dialog box by selecting Options from the Tools menu and choosing the Fonts and Colors page from the Environment folder.
Note Color scheme changes do not take effect during the session in which you make them. You can evaluate color changes by opening another instance of the IDE and producing the conditions under which you expect your changes to apply.
Show settings for
Lists all of the user interface elements for which you can change font and color schemes. After selecting an item from this list you can customize color settings for the item selected in Display items.
Note Changes to the text of Dialogs and Tool Windows items do not take effect during the session in which you make them. You can evaluate such changes by opening another instance of the IDE .
Use...
The Use Defaults button resets the selected Show settings for the list item's default font and color values. The Use button appears when other display schemes are available for selection.
Font (fixed width fonts are in bold)
Lists all the fonts installed on your system. When the drop-down menu first appears, the current font for the element selected in the Show settings for field is highlighted. Fixed fonts — which are easier to align in the editor — are displayed in bold.
Size
Lists available point sizes for the highlighted font. Changing the size of the font affects all Display items for the Show settings for selection.
Display items
Lists the items for which you can modify the foreground and background color.
Note Text is the default display item. As such, properties assigned to Text will be overridden by properties assigned to other display items. For example, if you assign the color blue to Text and the color green to Identifier, all identifiers will appear in in green. In this example, Identifier properties override Text properties.
Item foreground
Lists the available colors you can choose for the foreground of the item selected in Display items. Because some items are related, and should therefore maintain a consistent display scheme, changing the foreground color of text also changes the defaults for elements such as Keyword or Operator.
Item background
Provides a color palette from which you can choose a background color for the item selected in Display items. Because some items are related, and should therefore maintain a consistent display scheme, changing the foreground color of text also changes the defaults for elements such as Keyword or Operator.
Custom
Sets a custom color for the item selected in the Display items list. Displays the Color picker dialog box.
Note Depending on your computer's color display settings, your ability to define custom colors for Display items using the Custom button can be limited. For example, if your computer is set to display 256 colors and you select a custom color from the Color dialog box, the IDE defaults to the closest available Basic color and displays the color black in the Color preview box.
Bold
Select this option to display the text of selected Display items in bold text. Bold text is easier to identify in the editor.
Sample
Displays a sample of the font style, size, and color scheme for the Show settings for and Display items selected. You can use this box to preview the results as you experiment with different formatting options.