Bug #50277 Be able to change the editor font color and background colors
Submitted: 12 Jan 2010 14:54 Modified: 13 Jan 2010 4:37
Reporter: Michael Burns Email Updates:
Status: Verified Impact on me:
None 
Category:MySQL Workbench Severity:S4 (Feature request)
Version: OS:Any
Assigned to: CPU Architecture:Any
Tags: font color, preferences, sql editor

[12 Jan 2010 14:54] Michael Burns
Description:
After 30 years staring at a screen, it would be nice to change the font colors and background colors of the editor....the orange on white is very difficult to read on these old eyes....i work in several IDE's and applications all of which i set to the same color scheme for.... Examples would be  Text, Symbols, Reserved words, numbers, etc...

Thanks 

How to repeat:
This is an enhancement.

Suggested fix:
Add the options under the preference menu item/Editor.
[13 Jan 2010 4:34] Valeriy Kravchuk
Thank you for the feature request.
[30 Apr 2011 18:58] Craig Beiersdorff
I have low-vision and I find it very difficult to use the Workbench. I use many other IDEs and even those from Microsoft allow me to change their UI colors.
[9 Dec 2012 19:26] Ted Yates
I would like to cast a vote for the ability to change colors in the SQL editor to something with more contrast.
[24 Dec 2012 15:47] Nate Jensen
I also would very much like to be able to customize Editor properties such as:

- font size
- font color of various things like keywords, comments, etc
- window background color (or just let it inherit from windows bgcolor!)

Thanks.
[14 Jan 2013 12:36] Willian Veiga
I do need this feature too.
Thank you.
[24 Jul 2014 23:12] Joel Bondurant
Example of Windows 95 UI design quality.

Attachment: mysqlworkbench.png (image/png, text), 75.60 KiB.

[21 Mar 2015 14:20] Nate Jensen
I have been eagerly awaiting a feature like this for years. IMO it's not a trivial thing to be brushed aside in favor of "important" items. It's fundamental to the enjoyment and productivity of using the software to be able to have fine-grain control over font colors and background colors. Some of the default colors are ok, but some are awful such as light gray comments. Please let the dev team take half a day and implement this simple feature. Thank you.
[21 Mar 2015 22:53] Nate Jensen
I found a way to change MySQL Workbench editor font colors, but you have to hack a text file. To change font colors for things like keywords and comments, go here:

C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Workbench 6.2 CE\data

edit "code_editor.xml"

change colors as needed - I only needed to change a few hex codes in the top section:

<style id="0" fore-color="#000000" /> <!-- SCE_MYSQL_DEFAULT -->

    
<style id="1" fore-color="#008000" /> <!-- SCE_MYSQL_COMMENT -->
    
<style id="2" fore-color="#008000" /> <!-- SCE_MYSQL_COMMENTLINE -->
    
<style id="21" fore-color="#F77B09" back-color="#F0F0F0" /> <!-- SCE_MYSQL_HIDDENCOMMAND -->

    
<style id="3" fore-color="#A58E37" /> <!-- SCE_MYSQL_VARIABLE -->
    
<style id="4" fore-color="#A58E37" /> <!-- SCE_MYSQL_SYSTEMVARIABLE -->
    
<style id="5" fore-color="#A58E37" /> <!-- SCE_MYSQL_KNOWNSYSTEMVARIABLE -->

    
<style id="6" fore-color="#000000" /> <!-- SCE_MYSQL_NUMBER -->
    
<style id="12" fore-color="#FF0000" /> <!-- SCE_MYSQL_SQSTRING -->
    
<style id="13" fore-color="#FF0000" /> <!-- SCE_MYSQL_DQSTRING -->

    
<style id="7" fore-color="#0000FF" bold="Yes" /> <!-- SCE_MYSQL_MAJORKEYWORD -->
    
<style id="8" fore-color="#0000FF" bold="Yes"/> <!-- SCE_MYSQL_KEYWORD -->
    
<style id="15" fore-color="#C040C0" /> <!-- SCE_MYSQL_FUNCTION -->
    
<style id="10" fore-color="#C04000" bold="Yes" /> <!-- SCE_MYSQL_PROCEDUREKEYWORD -->
    
<style id="14" bold="Yes" /> <!-- SCE_MYSQL_OPERATOR -->

I couldn't find a way to change the editor window background color from white.
[17 Aug 2015 16:13] Gaston Martinez
Here's how to change MySQL Workbench's colors (INCLUDING THE BACKGROUND COLOR)
Open the XML file called code_editor.xml located in the data folder of the MySQL Workbench's installation directory (Usually [C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Workbench 6.3 CE\data])
Here you'll find a lot of styling for different code elements, but there are some missing.
MySQL Workbench uses scintilla as the code editor, and scintilla defines a few more styles that you can use in the code_editor.xml file:

The one that is used for the background color is style id 32.

Here's the complete list for MySQL (scintilla has thousands of styles for many languages) with my configuration:

<style id= "0" fore-color="#DDDDDD" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_DEFAULT					-->
<style id= "1" fore-color="#999999" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_COMMENT					-->
<style id= "2" fore-color="#999999" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_COMMENTLINE				-->
<style id= "3" fore-color="#DDDDDD" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_VARIABLE					-->
<style id= "4" fore-color="#9B859D" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_SYSTEMVARIABLE			-->
<style id= "5" fore-color="#9B859D" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_KNOWNSYSTEMVARIABLE		-->
<style id= "6" fore-color="#FF8080" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_NUMBER					-->
<style id= "7" fore-color="#7AAAD7" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_MAJORKEYWORD				-->
<style id= "8" fore-color="#7AAAD7" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_KEYWORD					-->
<style id= "9" fore-color="#9B859D" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_DATABASEOBJECT			-->
<style id="10" fore-color="#DDDDDD" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_PROCEDUREKEYWORD			-->
<style id="11" fore-color="#B9CB89" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_STRING					-->
<style id="12" fore-color="#B9CB89" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_SQSTRING					-->
<style id="13" fore-color="#B9CB89" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_DQSTRING					-->
<style id="14" fore-color="#FFBB80" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_OPERATOR					-->
<style id="15" fore-color="#9B859D" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_FUNCTION					-->
<style id="16" fore-color="#DDDDDD" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_IDENTIFIER				-->
<style id="17" fore-color="#B9CB89" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_QUOTEDIDENTIFIER			-->
<style id="18" fore-color="#B9CB89" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_USER1					-->
<style id="19" fore-color="#B9CB89" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_USER2					-->
<style id="20" fore-color="#B9CB89" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_USER3					-->
<style id="21" fore-color="#FFBB80" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_HIDDENCOMMAND			-->
<style id="22" fore-color="#909090" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_PLACEHOLDER				-->

<!-- These two are for scintilla globally. -->
<style id="32" fore-color="#DDDDDD" back-color="#2A2A2A" bold="No" />	<!-- STYLE_DEFAULT						THIS IS THE ONE FOR THE BACKGROUND!!!!! -->
<style id="33" fore-color="#2A2A2A" back-color="#DDDDDD" bold="No" />	<!-- STYLE_LINENUMBER					-->

<!-- All styles again in their variant in a hidden command (with a 0x40 offset). -->
<style id="65" fore-color="#999999" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_COMMENT					-->
<style id="66" fore-color="#999999" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_COMMENTLINE				-->
<style id="67" fore-color="#DDDDDD" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_VARIABLE					-->
<style id="68" fore-color="#9B859D" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_SYSTEMVARIABLE			-->
<style id="69" fore-color="#9B859D" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_KNOWNSYSTEMVARIABLE		-->
<style id="70" fore-color="#FF8080" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_NUMBER					-->
<style id="71" fore-color="#7AAAD7" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_MAJORKEYWORD				-->
<style id="72" fore-color="#7AAAD7" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_KEYWORD					-->
<style id="73" fore-color="#9B859D" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_DATABASEOBJECT			-->
<style id="74" fore-color="#DDDDDD" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_PROCEDUREKEYWORD			-->
<style id="75" fore-color="#B9CB89" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_STRING					-->
<style id="76" fore-color="#B9CB89" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_SQSTRING					-->
<style id="77" fore-color="#B9CB89" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_DQSTRING					-->
<style id="78" fore-color="#FFBB80" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_OPERATOR					-->
<style id="79" fore-color="#9B859D" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_FUNCTION					-->
<style id="80" fore-color="#DDDDDD" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_IDENTIFIER				-->
<style id="81" fore-color="#B9CB89" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_QUOTEDIDENTIFIER			-->
<style id="82" fore-color="#B9CB89" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_USER1					-->
<style id="83" fore-color="#B9CB89" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_USER2					-->
<style id="84" fore-color="#B9CB89" back-color="#707070" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_USER3					-->
<style id="85" fore-color="#FFBB80" back-color="#909090" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_HIDDENCOMMAND			-->
<style id="86" fore-color="#AAAAAA" back-color="#909090" bold="No" />	<!-- SCE_MYSQL_PLACEHOLDER				-->

Hope you guys find this helpful