Comment by alternatex
1 day ago
The only thing that bothers me about Zed is the theme. It's so bland it actually gives me reading difficulties. I'd be surprised if some of the color combinations don't pose an accessibility issue. Grey text on grey background is quite the choice.
I do agree that Zed's default themes aren't great. They look too 'plain' for my taste. Bit more contrast can't hurt either.
BUT: It's very easy to just choose a different theme and there are plenty to choose from by now. It's even possible to make your own theme and they even have a first-party theme editor (https://zed.dev/theme-builder) which works great. They should maybe include some descriptions for each color instead of just the name but that's the only negative thing I can say right now.
I'd even say that it's easier to theme Zed than VSCode because there are fewer variables.
Thank you for the tips. I didn't know it was possible to install other themes as extensions.
There is also https://zed-themes.com/ with theme previews.
And the icons are too small. It's vaguely a mystery meat navigation.
As far as I can tell you can theme nearly everything in the app. I've got custom colors for diffs and some syntax, and my base theme is ripped from Monokai.
Cursor has the best default dark theme IMO
It also has a much better edit prediction model than Zed
Personally Cursor feels like a vibe coded slop these days, I canceled the subscription and went back to vscode with AI features off. Claude Code is my third hand and that's it. I need to try Zed though, I remember Atom changed the way I use text editors, I'm certain Zed will provide the same experience.
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I found it funny when an American customer support person I was talking to over the phone had no idea what "zed" meant. I was reciting some code and they asked, "what is zed"? I said, "uh, the last letter of the alphabet".
If you really wanna confuse them, use "Zulu". Unless they have exposure to military or aviation, they'll have no idea what you're talking about.
Fun related anecdote, my wife works in a medical lab and occasionally has to call a doctor to report critical values. She frequently uses the NATO phonetic alphabet (her dad was Navy) for patients with names that are hard to pronounce or have an odd spelling (Who names their kid "Heathyr?"), and one time, the nurse taking the note actually filed a complaint against her for using "weird" words to spell out a name.