I will admit that syntax coloring is nice, but more for the checking it provides than anything else. In a column of keyword=value, it's nice to spot the missspelled keyword instantly.

I have used this for the past year. I've tried Solarized, Github and many others on the list, but I always return to neverland. It's very dark and with high contrast, but it's also the only colorscheme that doesn't strain my eyes after long periods of coding. Bonus points for being primarily written for 256 color terminals.

It's also one of the few colorschemes that actually utilize _all_ of the syntax groups that vim handles. Many schemes use highlight links, and having differing colors between Repeat and Statement usually shows that the author knows what he is doing.

I tried Solarized for a short while, and while I appreciate the logic that went into designing it, the lack of contrast made me switch away from it pretty quickly.

I think font choice also has a lot to do with this - some of these schemes look far better with antialiasing turned on, or larger font sizes. Inconsolata 13 pt here.

This post should be titled "My 10 favorite colorschemes" because:

1. we don't need any colorscheme beside the default ones.

2. those are just your favorites, which nobody should care about.

Please tell me what plugins and settings I need: I'm too dumb and lazy to find them on my own.