Customizing the semi-transparent 'scrollbar'

There is no possibility to customize the scrollbar. Why do you need to find it outside of a scroll operation?

yole wrote:

.. Why do you need to find it outside of a scroll operation?

I'm assuming you mean, why i don't use the scroll function of a scrollwheel?

I'm working with a tablet, which offers no scrollwheel, and i'm using a dual monitor setup with sRGB calibrated monitors, so when i want to scroll quickly i'm using the scrollbar handle to scroll (normal user interaction behaviour) by dragging it with the mouse cursor. It also doesn't help the scrollhandle only lights up when i'm actually hovering over it, which means i already found it, so why light up then?

Can this be a feature request?

Sven

We don't currently have any plans to make the appearance of the scrollbar customizable. Note that you can middle-click anywhere in the scrollbar to jump to the location where you've clicked.

Too bad about the customization, the middle mouse click helps a lot though, thanks for the tip Dmitry.

cheers,

Sven

I actually have same problem finding where the scrollbar is when I want to scroll down/up/left/right.

A semi-transparent bar does look pretty but unfortunately a bit difficult to find with a quick glance, plus it's very thin that makes harder to actually click on the bar.

A solid and wider bar would only take space of one character worth but a lot eaiser to play.

I hope it will be a plan to allow solid colour for scrollbars.

thank you.

Yes, this has been bugging me as well.  The scroll bar is nearly invisible and very difficult to find.  I primarily use the mouse wheel for up and down scrolling, but to scroll horizontally I use the bottom scrollbar, and it is very difficult to locate it.

Another vote for being able to customise it from me.  It didn't bug me as much on a mac because I was so used to scrolling with the awesome tracking pad.  Being back on Windoze (something I couldn't avoid) it's very annoying again.

Although it's a fairly minor issue compared to the woeful performance when typing in a Java editor which is the subject of a whole other thread.

Hi! Please vote for the corresponding feature request in our tracker: IDEA-69682.

I have the same issue with the scroll bars. I would like them to be always visible. They are so pale on a white screen that I always search them. These scrolbar are really not a time saver. I loose time everytime I use them. They have a bad contrast. On the left-right toolbar, the other windows are making it difficult to be on the toolbar and on the up-down one, the warnings are often making the toolbar even less visible.

Can you have an option to change the color of the scroll bar and enable them to be always visible. This would save time not having to find them in the editor screen.

Take a look at the Material Theme UI EAP. It has an option to remove the transparency of the scrollbar under Settings->Appearance & Behavior->Material Theme->Transparent Scrollbars.

This used to bother me so much and the Material Theme saved the day. I also genuinely enjoy the theme, but that's just a plus.

Cheers.

I agree with what others have said. Transparent scrollbars hurt usability rather than helping. Here are some reasons why they are bad in Intellij:

1. They don't solve a problem and don't pose a use-case, as the space is still reserved for scrolling and cannot be used for selecting. It only gives the illusion of more space.

2. Hovering over a scrollbar can cause a tooltip to open due to the underlying text, making the scrollbar unclickable without fudging with it for a few moments. This is especially true for horizontal scrolling.

3. Most scrolling issues in Windows can be solved by panning the file with MMB, however Intellij overrides MMB with multiline select, making this workaround impossible.

5. There's no way to customize it, no way to change the transparency, no way to make it opaque on hover, etc etc. Considering the fact that many forward-thinking text editors (ahem Sublime) have drastically different and highly usable scrollbars, it's surprising that it would be so locked down in Intellij.

From a UI perspective, making finding the scrollbar handle a "find-the-cat" meme is insane. The code window scrollbar (handle) should be one of the most customizable features in the entire application. To say the handle is "semi-transparent" is optimistic. If you turn off all warning and problem markers and have a perfectly black background, then you can see it somewhat easily.