Excursus

Syntax coloring is a feature of some text editors that displays different parts of the text in different colors depending upon the logical category of the text. This makes it easier to write structured texts whether these be code or markup. The Live Parsing Editor written to digitize the Oxford English Dictionary was probably the first text editor to use syntax coloring. (More information about LEXX or LPEX can be found in this article by M.F. Cowlishaw.) Syntax coloring makes the logical structure of your document visually apparent and hence the document easier to read. Syntax coloring is a feature of many text editors, but TextMate has the distinct advantage of making it really easy to modify and create new coloring “themes”. A number of user generated themes are available on this page of the TextMate Wiki.

TextMate Themes is a new theme depository that makes it easier to navigate user submitted themes. The theme depository also has some advanced features such as comments and user’s ratings. If you are in the market for a new theme, TextMate Themes may make your search easier. And if you are a theme author you should upload your theme.