My #1 wish for IDEA 14

http://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/44?pr=idea is somewhat a solution to this

I used to have problems like that too, then I wrote this plugin: http://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/7138?pr=idea 

Since then, I have no problem with working on large number of opened projects, usually 10-20, including different branches.
I do not read what is opened, I just type a part of the name and then read what is left and choose the right one.
But I have to say that my project names are little bit more distinguishable (PORTAL_TRUNK, PORTAL_14000, PORTAL_14100,..)

By the way, you could write a plugin which would make a colored box in the toolbar, like so:

public class ProjectToolbarColor extends DumbAwareAction implements CustomComponentAction {

     private ColorPanel colorPanel;

     @Override
     public void update(AnActionEvent e) {
          Project project = e.getProject();
          if (project != null) {
               String name = project.getName();
               boolean trunk = name.contains("trunk");
               colorPanel.setSelectedColor(trunk ? Color.BLUE : Color.RED);
          }
     }

     @Override
     public JComponent createCustomComponent(Presentation presentation) {
          final JPanel comp = new JPanel();
          colorPanel = new ColorPanel("");
          colorPanel.setBorderColor(Color.WHITE);
          comp.add(colorPanel);
          return comp;
     }

     @Override
     public void actionPerformed(AnActionEvent anActionEvent) {

     }

A bit off topic, but how do you manage to have 10 to 20 projects running at the same time?
I usually run out of memory when I have more than 2 open.
I have Xmx=1024m.
My project has about 175 jars (~200MB) in dependencies though, although these are the same jars in each branch.

I have Xmx=3024m or so.
Before using 64bit OS, I had to use 2 instances of IntelliJ integrated via my plugin.

Oh, wow, this plugin is a life saver, and should be part of the IntelliJ core! Finally no more CMD+` to cycle through my projects to find the right one. Really nice!

Thanks for pointing that out. I wasn't aware of that plugin. I'll certainly give it a try. However, most errors occur while switching back from another application (all my IDEA entries in the task bar look the same).

So what about changing the icon?

 
ppublic class IconProjectComponent implements ProjectComponent {
     private Project project;

     public IconProjectComponent(Project project) {
          this.project = project;
     }

     public void projectOpened() {
          if (project != null) {
               String name = project.getName();
               boolean trunk = name.toLowerCase().contains("trunk");
               if (trunk) {
                    Window ideFrame = WindowManagerEx.getInstanceEx().getFrame(project);
                    java.util.List<Image> icons = new ArrayList<Image>();
                    icons.add(com.intellij.util.ImageLoader.loadFromResource("/trunk.png"));
                    icons.add(com.intellij.util.ImageLoader.loadFromResource("/trunk_small.png"));
                    ideFrame.setIconImages(icons);
               }
          }
     }
... }


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That's also nice, but wouldn't work in Mac, right?

Why not?

Because there's always only one instance (or icon) in the task switcher of IntelliJ in Mac, instead of one icon per project, like in Windows. I don't see how this would work then?

Ok, me neither.