" cool help screens " :he group-name " :he highlight-groups " :he cterm-colors " your pick: set background=dark " or light hi clear if exists("syntax_on") syntax reset endif let g:colors_name="pomelo" hi Normal ctermfg=179 "hi Normal " OR highlight clear Normal " set background& " highlight clear " if &background == "light" " highlight Error ... " ... " else " highlight Error ... " ... " endif " A good way to see what your colorscheme does is to follow this procedure: " :w " :so % " " Then to see what the current setting is use the highlight command. " For example, " :hi Cursor " gives " Cursor xxx guifg=bg guibg=fg " Uncomment and complete the commands you want to change from the default. hi Cursor ctermbg=255 ctermfg=16 cterm=none hi CursorLine ctermbg=233 cterm=none hi CursorIM ctermbg=60 ctermfg=255 cterm=none hi Directory ctermbg=0 ctermfg=57 cterm=none hi DiffAdd ctermbg=0 ctermfg=43 cterm=none hi DiffChange ctermbg=0 ctermfg=128 cterm=none hi DiffDelete ctermbg=0 ctermfg=209 cterm=none hi DiffText ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=none hi ErrorMsg ctermbg=0 ctermfg=160 cterm=none hi VertSplit ctermbg=0 ctermfg=238 cterm=none hi Folded ctermbg=17 ctermfg=75 cterm=none hi FoldColumn ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=none hi IncSearch ctermbg=0 cterm=inverse hi LineNr ctermbg=233 ctermfg=245 cterm=none hi ModeMsg ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=none hi MoreMsg ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=none hi NonText ctermbg=16 ctermfg=252 cterm=none hi Question ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=none hi Search ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=none hi SpecialKey ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=none hi StatusLine ctermbg=244 ctermfg=0 cterm=none hi StatusLineNC ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=none hi Title ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=none hi Visual cterm=inverse hi VisualNOS ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=none hi WarningMsg ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=none hi WildMenu ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=none hi Menu ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=none hi Scrollbar ctermbg=16 ctermfg=241 cterm=none hi Tooltip ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=none hi CursorColumn ctermbg=233 cterm=none " syntax highlighting groups hi Comment ctermbg=0 ctermfg=245 term=none hi Constant ctermbg=0 ctermfg=174 cterm=none hi Identifier ctermbg=0 ctermfg=251 cterm=none "prom hi Statement ctermbg=0 ctermfg=227 cterm=none "if hi PreProc ctermbg=0 ctermfg=167 cterm=bold hi Type ctermbg=0 ctermfg=167 cterm=none "-> hi Special ctermbg=0 ctermfg=131 cterm=none " HTML-specific hi htmlBold ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=bold hi htmlBoldItalic ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=bold,italic hi htmlBoldUnderline ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=bold,underline hi htmlBoldUnderlineItalic ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=bold,underline,italic hi htmlItalic ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=italic hi htmlUnderline ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=underline hi htmlUnderlineItalic ctermbg=0 ctermfg=252 cterm=underline,italic