Developers dream: dark mode, tinting & efficiency — A quick guide on editor layout in Unity

In this guide, we are going to set up your Unity editor window to a more industry-standard layout.

How to set the editor to dark mode?

First off, we need dark mode, because if we are going to stare at a screen all day this may just save our eyes and, most importantly, it looks great.

Click “Edit” and select “Preferences”. This will open the project preferences window.

Under general, you will find the option “Editor Theme”. Click the arrow and switch from light to dark.

How much better is that on your eyes!

How to set a Playmode tint?

What is play mode tint? This seemingly insignificant setting is going to save you save so much frustration in future.

Imagine you have spent an hour setting up a level and linking references in the inspector and you go to save when suddenly you notice you are in play mode!

All of that effort was wasted. Playmode tint will change the colour of the editor so you can easily identify you are in play mode. No more lost data and wasted effort. You’re welcome.

In project preferences click on “Colors”. Under the General settings, you will find “Playmode tint” Choose a colour and click out the menu.

You can now close the preferences window.

How to set up the Project and Hierarchy windows

Click and drag the Hierarchy window and place it in the inspector window so you see a vertical line appear. This will place the Hierarchy window side by side with the Inspector window.

Next drag the Project window into the bottom of the Hierarchy window so it splits horizontally with the Project window underneath the Hierarchy window. You can drag on the edges of the windows to resize.

Next change the project window layout to a “One Column Layout” by clicking the 3 vertical dots in the top right-hand area of the window and selecting the layout.

How to set up Game, Console and Scene windows

Click on your Game window tab and drag it to your Console window and then switch their places. Change your Aspect from Free Aspect” to 16:9 and resize your windows to suit.

How to save your layout?

You can save your newly created layout by going to the top right of the editor and selecting the “Layout” drop down.

From here you can select “Save layout”. You can now name your layout (I name mine “Professional”) and click save.

Now you have Unity set up efficiently and you are ready to tackle your next project.