PhpStorm - we increase productivity (plug-ins and themes). Part 2

PhpStorm - improve performance (keyboard shortcuts). Part 1

Plugins

PhpStorm has a rich selection of plugins that add support for various languages. I, for example, use the Dart plugin for PhpStorm. Although this is not exactly the type of plug-ins that I would like to talk about, they, nevertheless, can also increase your productivity. Plug-ins that add features that you would not think would be found in the PHP IDE:

• The combination of the DynamicReturnType plugin with a good dependency injector , as described by Danack, will allow you to do the right IoC and use autocompletion and code inspector as if you were dealing with classes directly.
• The key promoter plugin will show you keyboard shortcuts for mouse actions that you perform. If you use actions that do not have shortcut keys, very often, he will offer you to create these abbreviations.
• CSS-X-Fire allows you to edit CSS in Chrome Firebug Lite or Firebug Firefox, and when you go to PhpStorm you will be prompted to apply the changes made in the browser.
• As you know, PhpStorm is a project-based IDE, i.e. it cannot open and edit arbitrary files that are not related to the project, like a regular text editor. This can be inconvenient when you need to brainstorm something or just take a few notes for yourself, but do not want to pollute the project folder. Scratch allows you to use temporary files in your projects for exactly these purposes.

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Dark themes for comfortable work

Many people underestimate the good topic, rejecting it due to the fact that it does not really taste like it. This is wrong - a good topic, this is a good user experience - it increases readability and makes more noticeable error messages, keywords and syntax constructs. Specifically for dark themes there are several advantages:

• When looking at a bright display, your eyes get tired faster, especially at night (important for many programmers). On dark displays, instead of being distracted by the bright screen and trying to see the dark letters in the background, your eyes immediately turn to the bright part - the text, without paying any attention to the background at all.
• I subjectively state that colors are easier to see on a darker background. Naturally, this means that the colors should be sufficiently contrasting with the background, although without excesses.
• It is a known fact that the blue light of displays suppresses the production of melatonin, which in turn causes sleep disturbance. If you find that at 4 am, after intensive work, you cannot fall asleep, despite the feeling of completely annihilating fatigue, try a darker subject and expose yourself to the least possible light at night.

(Note: for the sake of fairness, it is worth noting that when working with one monitor, switching from the dark IDE theme to the browser, where the background is often light to the eyes, this is very irritating.)

Try themes of medium contrast. Avoid absolute values ​​- the background should not be pure black, and the text should not be pure white / red / green / orange. These sharp contrasts strain the eyes just like white background and dark text. Instead, try pastel, smoky colors. In addition, increasing the font is usually a good idea if, by default, it is too small. Eyes tense when reading too small letters, and if the distance to the monitor is not optimal, a headache will not take long. I would suggest one of two themes - Darcula, embedded theme or Solarized .





Most of the discussions about design are subjective, but I urge you to go beyond the comfort zone of your eyes for a day or two and try an alternative. You will be surprised how quickly you can adapt to the new style, if you find one that is especially appropriate for you.