Changing IDE fonts

[ptillisch]

Hi @jhaine

@jhaine

I can open it and edit , I can't save back to the same folder.

You'll be glad to learn that Arduino IDE 1.x supports the installation of themes to the sketchbook folder.

You have two options for installing themes to the sketchbook, direct installation or installation as "ZIP" files.

I'll provide instructions for both options below;

---

Direct installation

This installation option is best if you are going to use a single custom theme.

1. Select File > Preferences from the Arduino IDE menus.
2. Take note of the path shown in the "Sketchbook location" field.
   This is the path to your "sketchbook folder".
3. Click the Cancel button.
4. Select File > Quit from the Arduino IDE menus.
5. Open the sketchbook folder in your file browser.
   If you are using Windows, this would be File Explorer.
6. Create a subfolder in your sketchbook folder named theme.
7. Put the theme directly into the theme folder you created.

The folder structure must look like this:

<sketchbook folder>
|_ theme
   |_ syntax
   |   |_ etc...
   |_ theme.txt
   |_ etc...

---

"ZIP" file installation

This installation option is best if you want to switch between multiple custom themes, or if you are using a pre-made theme that supports this installation method.
The second option is to put the theme in a "ZIP" file, then put that in the theme subfolder of the sketchbook folder.

1. Select File > Preferences from the Arduino IDE menus.
2. Take note of the path shown in the "Sketchbook location" field.
   This is the location of your "sketchbook folder".
3. Click the Cancel button.
4. Select File > Quit from the Arduino IDE menus.
5. Open the sketchbook folder in your file browser.
   If you are using Windows, this would be File Explorer.
6. Create a subfolder in your sketchbook folder named theme.
7. Put the theme "ZIP" file directly into the theme folder you created.
8. Start the Arduino IDE.
9. Select File > Preferences from the Arduino IDE menus.
10. Select the theme from the File > Preferences > Theme menu.
11. Select File > Quit from the Arduino IDE menus.
12. Start the Arduino IDE.
    The theme you selected from the menu will now be active.

The folder and "ZIP" file structure must look like this:

<sketchbook folder>
|_ theme
   |_ MyCoolTheme.zip
      |_ syntax
      |   |_ etc...
      |_ theme.txt
      |_ etc...

There is a sort of tricky thing about this installation option. The theme must be in the root of the "ZIP" file, NOT in a subfolder. Some "ZIP" utilities make that difficult or even impossible (especially the macOS one), but a Windows user won't have any difficulty:

1. Select all the files of the theme in Windows File Explorer.
2. Right click on the selected files.
3. Select Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder from the context menu.

The awesome thing about this option is it allows you to have multiple themes installed (each in its own "ZIP" file). You can chose which one you prefer via the "Theme" menu of the Arduino IDE's File > Preferences dialog. This menu will include the option to select the "Default theme", which is the one installed with the IDE.

Let's say you had two themes, one you wanted to show up in the Theme menu as "MyCoolTheme" and another you wanted to show up as "MyOtherCoolTheme", the folder structure should look like this:

<sketchbook folder>
|_ theme
   |_ MyCoolTheme.zip
   |  |_ syntax
   |  |   |_ etc...
   |  |_ theme.txt
   |  |_ etc...
   |_ MyOtherCoolTheme.zip
      |_ syntax
      |   |_ etc...
      |_ theme.txt
      |_ etc...

@jhaine

Is the latest IDO (2.0.x?) better in this respect?

For making bespoke modifications to the theme, no. Although it is possible to customize the theme (see this post for details), the Arduino IDE 2.x theme system requires you to install the custom theme to the Arduino IDE installation folder.

So if you are bound and determined to install the Arduino IDE to a location on your computer that has special security restrictions, even though doing that is completely optional since the IDE can be installed anywhere you like, then you won't find Arduino IDE 2.x to be friendly to customizing themes.

On the other hand, Arduino IDE comes with 5 different themes pre-installed, which can be selected from the File > Preferences menu. So if one of those happens to meet your needs out of the box, you would be in luck.

@jhaine

From what I've read it doesn't open the serial monitor in a separate window

That is correct:

Tear off serial monitor window (and maybe others)

The plans are to redesign the Serial Monitor to be a separate window, but for now it is an integrated part of the Arduino IDE 2.x window.