6 IntelliJ Tweaks For A More Pleasant Coding Experience
Every developer has a particular routine when it comes to setting up their environment. If a developer is in a new installed IDE, then it is likely that he will not code a single line until he worked through his list of tweaks.
Having tons of settings and keybindings to change may be a disadvantage in foreign environments. Nevertheless, it is your working environment, and it must feel comfortable to be the most productive.
Here is my list of personal tweaks to IntelliJ-based IDEs after five years of experience, which you can set up in no time.
Eclipse Dark Theme Color Scheme
The Eclipse color scheme is the first plugin I install in any environment. I worked for a time with Eclipse, and after entirely switching to the JetBrains suite case, I missed something. The IDE colored many different elements the same, making it hard to work with larger codebases because you must remember more.
Having everything the same color is not a big problem for experienced developers. However, it can slow you down, and beginners can struggle to understand what is going on.
A color scheme that even gives field and local variables different colors gives you a huge productivity boost. You instantly recognize where something corresponds to, and you understand an immense amount of code exponentially faster.
There are many different color schemes on the marketplace, and I tried a lot. I stuck to the Eclipse one. May because I already got so used to it, and changing the color scheme too often only slows you down. Nevertheless, it works and makes me way faster than without the scheme.
If you already have a theme that associates different code elements with different colors, you are fine. When not, then I can only recommend you to check this plugin out. After installing it go to Editor > Color Scheme and select “Eclipse Dark Theme”.
Atom Material Icons
If you work on a colossal project, may a fully loaded Spring Boot Backend, you might have a dozen packages. While hoping quickly through your project, you may lose where you are because there are too many packages with the same icon.
This plugin automatically checks your package name through a predefined list of icons with ordinary words, and if there is a fitting icon, it will use it.
So you do not even have to change anything to get a better feeling of navigation in your project.
The plugin does not only change package icons but also file icons.
It does not matter if you have a docker file or a dozen configuration files. The plugin provides so many icons that in many projects, I never saw an icon twice.
If you get used to those icons, then you instantly know where something is located without even reading the filename. Your eyes know what exactly you are looking for, because it can detect colors way faster than text.
Smooth scrolling on macOS
Many developers who use IntelliJ on their new M1 Macs may encounter stuttering while they are scrolling. Even after googling for hours, they may not find any suitable solution.
What if I tell you that it is a simple fix done in less than a minute? Go to Preferences > Appearance & Behavior > Appearance and change antialiasing in Editor to “No antialiasing”.
Greyscale is the default setting for IntelliJ, and on Windows and Intel Macs, I never had any trouble. It feels very unpleasant if scrolling stutters on your new blazing-fast M1 Mac. Some colleagues ran into the same issue and even considered switching the IDE until I found the solution. IntelliJ may fixed the problem when you read this. However, if they haven’t yet, then here you go!
Smaller source tree
In Java, it is common to have long class names and packages, and this is why the source tree takes up a massive portion of your screen.
Luckily IntelliJ provides a simple option where you can reduce that width. Go to Preferences > Appearance & Behavior > Appearance and enable “Use smaller indents in trees”.
This tweak reduces the indent to a minimum like Visual Studio Code and saves a lot of space, which results in more horizontal space for your code editor.
Rainbow Brackets
This plugin gives pairs of brackets different colors, depending on their level of depth. If you are a Flutter Developer, then this is something you should check out.
Code can quickly get nested, especially in Flutter, and this plugin can help as much as the first plugin covered in this article. It gives different things different colors and hence more manageable for your brain.
Nyan Cat Progress Bar
To end this article with something fun, I recommend this plugin. It looks hilarious, but it makes working a delight! Imagine launching IntelliJ in a bad mood, and then you see this. It instantly kicks your mood up!
I had several cases where a colleague watched me and saw that. Mostly it made the person laugh, and we had a fun conversation afterward. The fact that it can even make someone else laugh makes it worth it for me.
Conclusion
While there are many tweaks and plugins out there, if you use the right ones properly, you can boost your productivity!
