Vim Solarized Color scheme: Should I have to set `call pathogen#infect()` in my .vimrc to make the syntax highlighting work properly?

Question

I'm new to vim and was wondering if I was supposed to have the call pathogen#infect in my .vimrc file. If I don't have this it tells me E185: Cannot find color scheme solarized. I realize there are many questions out there on this topic but this one in specific I found difficult to answer.

Is there a better way to do this?

Details:

• Mac OSX
• iTerm
• ZSH (don't think this matters but thought I'd throw it in there.)

Also is this how the color scheme should look outside of files?

Articles referenced:

Vim highlighting with solarized color scheme

E185: Cannot find color scheme solarized

solarized coloring only *fully* working in .vimrc file, other files have syntax coloring issues

E10 errors in .vimrc

Adjust colors in vimrc or rather in the color scheme itself

Answer 1

It depends on how you installed Solarized. If it sits beneath ~/.vim/bundle then yes, you need to call pathogen#infect(). (No package under there will be available otherwise.)

Your screenshot looks exactly like mine, although I never considered the possibility that I might be getting the wrong colours.