With the latest Unity3d 3.4 update they have set MonoDevelop as default. I’m going to give it a try and compare how the experience is working with mono develop compared to my usual textmate. One thing the compels me is the Intellisence which might come in handy and save me a lot of unity reference lookups to see what the right types are for the method call. Though before I could start using Mono Develop I had to get rid of the whiteness ! As mono develop uses GTK+ you should be able to just drop in a gtk theme and be fine. Alas it was not as easy as this 
You can download some dark themes I found including my howto in one package here : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1723477/darkmono.zip
After some experimenting I found something that works fairly well for me. Follow along if you are interested 😀
Download a GTK+ theme to your liking. You can use sites like : http://gnome-look.org/
Make a new directory in your homedir called .themes : mkdir ~/.themes
Extract your downloaded themes to this directory.
After that you :
– Start Mono develop
– select visual style -> Interface theme -> clear looks black blue
– select text editor -> syntax highlighting -> irBlack
– Quit Mono develop
Then either backup or remove this directory and file
mkdir ~/default_monotheme sudo mv /Applications/Unity/MonoDevelop.app/Contents/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/2.6.7/share/themes/ ~/default_monotheme mv /Applications/Unity/MonoDevelop.app/Contents/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/2.6.7/etc/gtk-2.0/gtkrc ~/default_monotheme
Then start mono develop again, and now your eyes are at ease 🙂
Happy coding everyone !
Code Noctis 
For Windows:
1. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Unity\MonoDevelop\share\themes\MS-Windows\gtk-2.0
2. Rename the file “gtkrc” to “gtkrcORIG” or something similar.
3. Copy the gtkrc file from your downloaded theme into this folder.
4. Start MonoDevelop with your new color scheme.
There may be another user folder where you can put your themes to access them from the Interface Theme dropdown option in the Preferences menu, but I couldn’t find out where to put it. This will suffice for now.
In WINDOWS 7 x64:
1. Paste downloaded theme folders into: c:\program files (x86)\Unity\MonoDevelop\share\themes
2. GOTO > C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Roaming\MonoDevelop-Unity
3. OPEN > MonoDevelopProperties.xml
4. FIND >
5. CHANGE > value=”” to one of the themes downloaded
(EX:
6. Startup MonoDevelop.. It should work..
## NOTE ## Some themes may not work 100% because of the engine utilized for theme elements.. MonoDevelop on Windows uses wimp, on OSX clearlooks is default… any others may require finding custom builds of the required dll’s.
ENJOY!
# 4 – Property key=”MonoDevelop.Ide.UserInterfaceTheme” value=””
# 5 EX: Property key=”MonoDevelop.Ide.UserInterfaceTheme” value=”Clearlooks_blackblue”
sorry bout that.. 🙂
Thanks man! Worked like a charm :))
do you have any idea, how to do same in new mono develop 4.0.1
i can’t find any options
Hi, I found it: under Tools hit Options. On the left panel, under ▼Text Editor hit Syntax Highlighting.
If your trying to quickly change the color of the text area, this is it. You can use one of the built in themes. I can suggest you use New to create your own color scheme, and use your games color scheme for fun immersion. Pressing export does not work well for me though.
Yes, these steps for Windows 7 64-bit are not working. I tried, checked, rechecked, with updates below OP main post, still no go! Ideas? Anyhone get this working?
Go to tool > Option > Text highlight and select theme
Does someones managed to make it work for MonoDevelop 4.0.1 ?
Ok I found a workaround here for 4.0.1. reposting it here cause it’s ont of the first google result. Thanks to slomonostromo (http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/official-monodevelop-4-x-thread.210383/page-2)
Get dark theme here: http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Clearlooks_blackblue?content=46165
Unpack to C:\Program Files\Unity\MonoDevelop\share\themes
Clear content of this file: C:\Program Files\Unity\MonoDevelop\bin\gtkrc.win32
and replace content with this line: gtk-theme-name = “Clearlooks_blackblue”
PS: Actually the clearlooks theme is not working well for me, the solution tab is still white. But other themes seems to work better. Still got “the one”, the search continues. I Will report when I’ll find it
Well I tried dozens of themes, but none got all the white covered. So for now I’ll stick to this one http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Leaves?content=169088
Here’s what it looks like with monodevelop (LeavesTheme) + windows UxTheme (nome Nite Squared) : http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2016/03/1453467147-monodevelopdarkleaves.png
Just updating the method:
1/ Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\GtkSharp\2.12\share\themes
and install your themes there. Make sure the structure goes something like
themes\[ThemeName]\gtk-2.0\gtkrc
(there may be also be some more files depending of your themes)
2/ Go to your “Unity5\MonoDevelop\bin” folder,
3/ Edit “gtkrc.win32”
Erase all of its content and write
gtk-theme-name = “[ThemeName]”
4/ Make sure to close and restart MonoDevelop
PS : i recommend “Smoked Glass” https://www.gnome-look.org/p/1080193/
That’s one of the more complete / more dark theme compatible with monodevelop. (no more flashy white text field)