The standard syntax highlighting in gvim is fine for short stints, but it can grow tough on the eyes after awhile.  At just the right moment last night (after a long day that brought eyestrain to a peak), Douglas Putnam’s most excellent blog pointed me to Solarized, Ethan Schoonover’s well-designed color scheme alternative.  I browsed the screen shots and then wasted no time adding it to gvim, like so:

git clone https://github.com/altercation/vim-colors-solarized.git

Copy files to my Vim folder

Edit _vimrc to add the following:

syntax enable
set background=light
colorscheme solarize

The Linux setup is similar; just copy to .vim and edit .vimrc.

I used the menu to switch between light and dark backgrounds whenever I needed an eye-relaxing change of pace, and for some languages.  I like it so much that I’ll probably add it to my terminals soon.

If life in gvim Technicolor is wearing you out, I suggest giving the Solarized color scheme a try.