My PhpStorm Customisations and Settings

This note was updated on 29 May, 2023 at 19:23.

Maybe one day I’ll get round to using a settings repository, but for the moment going through this list with a fresh installation of PhpStorm takes a couple of minutes, so eh.

Note: The search functionality in PhpStorm’s Settings window is pretty good, so I haven’t included the whole hierarchy of menus you need to drill down to find a particular setting. Use the setting name formatted in italics as the search term.

Plugins

In addition to the plugins that come bundled with PhpStorm, I also use IdeaVim (because I’m one of those people), Key Promoter X, and Laravel Idea.

Removing as much of the interface as possible

I’m also one of these people.

• Turn on Use contrast scrollbars.
• Turn on Use smaller indents in trees.
• Turn off Show tool window bars.
• Right-click the status bar and turn on the Memory Indicator.
• Turn off Display icons in menu items.
• Turn on Widescreen tool window layout (where appropriate).
• Remove tabs completely (set Tab Placement to None) and instead rely on Ctrl+E to switch between recent files.
• Turn off Show browsers popup in the editor.
• Hide the navigation bar (View → Appearance → Navigation Bar).

If using the New UI Beta:

• Turn on Compact mode.

IdeaVim customisations and settings

• Ensure that the .ideavimrc configuration file from my dotfiles is installed.

• On macOS, make IdeaVim a more pleasant experience by running defaults write com.jetbrains.PhpStorm ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false in the terminal.

Miscellaneous customisations and settings

• Check that PhpStorm is aware of all available PHP CLI interpreters in Languages & Frameworks → PHP in the Settings window.

• Set the IDE theme to Darcula or Dark, depending on whether you’re using the existing UI or the New UI Beta.

• Set the editor font to Iosekva Term.

• Set default visual guides at 72 and 78 characters.

• Set the Project Opening’s Default directory.