How do I change the background color of the Navigator view in eclipse?

Question

I didn't find any option for that, so I suspect that some views follow the color pattern of the operating system. I'm currently using OS X, and it seems like changing the default background color it's not possible either.

What I'm trying to accomplish is to create a dark background theme, but customization seems only possible on some of the eclipse views.

Solution 1

As mentioned in "Changing UI color in Eclipse":

Each time you see white or gray color, this is more than likely related to OS system colors.

(that is, for everything which is not an editor or a custom view).

This is likely the case for the navigator view, as reminded in "How to change background of all VIEWS in Eclipse IDE ?"

Solution 2

For platforms where eclipse uses gtk (Linux for example) one can use a custom gtkrc file (place it for example in the eclipse base directory)

style "eclipse" {
base[NORMAL] = "#FDF6E3"
fg[SELECTED] = "#FDF6E3"
base[SELECTED] = "#073642"
fg[NORMAL] = "#073642"
text[NORMAL] = "#073642"
base[ACTIVE] = "#073642"
}
class "GtkWidget" style "eclipse"

And a custom start script for eclipse

#!/bin/sh
GTK2_RC_FILES=gtkrc ./eclipse

Got the solution from http://blog.sarathonline.com/2008/10/solved-eclipse-looks-good-in-ubuntu-now.html

Combine this with the color themes plugin for coloring the editors

Solution 3

My case is: Eclipse ver. 2018-09, Win 10. Eclipse install folder: C:\eclipse\eclipse-2018-09

I compared 2 files: 1) C:\eclipse\eclipse-2018-09\plugins\org.eclipse.ui.themes_1.2.200.v20180828-1350\css\e4_basestyle.css 2) C:\eclipse\eclipse-2018-09\plugins\org.eclipse.ui.themes_1.2.200.v20180828-1350\css\e4-dark.css

And find out css selector "CTabFolder Tree, CTabFolder Canvas" is present in dark, but absent in basestyle.

Add this selector in file "e4_basestyle.css"

CTabFolder Tree, CTabFolder Canvas {
    background-color: #dddddd;
    color: #000;
}

and You can tune color for nav view.

Then select theme "Light" in Preferences->General->Appearance and click "Apply".