I post a new var_dump function with colors and collapse features. It can also adapt to terminal output if you execute it from there. No need to wrap it in a pre tag to get it to work in browsers. 

<?php
function dump_debug($input, $collapse=false) {
    $recursive = function($data, $level=0) use (&$recursive, $collapse) {
        global $argv;

        $isTerminal = isset($argv);

        if (!$isTerminal && $level == 0 && !defined("DUMP_DEBUG_SCRIPT")) {
            define("DUMP_DEBUG_SCRIPT", true);

            echo '<script language="Javascript">function toggleDisplay(id) {';
            echo 'var state = document.getElementById("container"+id).style.display;';
            echo 'document.getElementById("container"+id).style.display = state == "inline" ? "none" : "inline";';
            echo 'document.getElementById("plus"+id).style.display = state == "inline" ? "inline" : "none";';
            echo '}</script>'."\n";
        }

        $type = !is_string($data) && is_callable($data) ? "Callable" : ucfirst(gettype($data));
        $type_data = null;
        $type_color = null;
        $type_length = null;

        switch ($type) {
            case "String": 
                $type_color = "green";
                $type_length = strlen($data);
                $type_data = "\"" . htmlentities($data) . "\""; break;

            case "Double": 
            case "Float": 
                $type = "Float";
                $type_color = "#0099c5";
                $type_length = strlen($data);
                $type_data = htmlentities($data); break;

            case "Integer": 
                $type_color = "red";
                $type_length = strlen($data);
                $type_data = htmlentities($data); break;

            case "Boolean": 
                $type_color = "#92008d";
                $type_length = strlen($data);
                $type_data = $data ? "TRUE" : "FALSE"; break;

            case "NULL": 
                $type_length = 0; break;

            case "Array": 
                $type_length = count($data);
        }

        if (in_array($type, array("Object", "Array"))) {
            $notEmpty = false;

            foreach($data as $key => $value) {
                if (!$notEmpty) {
                    $notEmpty = true;

                    if ($isTerminal) {
                        echo $type . ($type_length !== null ? "(" . $type_length . ")" : "")."\n";

                    } else {
                        $id = substr(md5(rand().":".$key.":".$level), 0, 8);

                        echo "<a href=\"javascript:toggleDisplay('". $id ."');\" style=\"text-decoration:none\">";
                        echo "<span style='color:#666666'>" . $type . ($type_length !== null ? "(" . $type_length . ")" : "") . "</span>";
                        echo "</a>";
                        echo "<span id=\"plus". $id ."\" style=\"display: " . ($collapse ? "inline" : "none") . ";\">&nbsp;&#10549;</span>";
                        echo "<div id=\"container". $id ."\" style=\"display: " . ($collapse ? "" : "inline") . ";\">";
                        echo "<br />";
                    }

                    for ($i=0; $i <= $level; $i++) {
                        echo $isTerminal ? "|    " : "<span style='color:black'>|</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;";
                    }

                    echo $isTerminal ? "\n" : "<br />";
                }

                for ($i=0; $i <= $level; $i++) {
                    echo $isTerminal ? "|    " : "<span style='color:black'>|</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;";
                }

                echo $isTerminal ? "[" . $key . "] => " : "<span style='color:black'>[" . $key . "]&nbsp;=>&nbsp;</span>";

                call_user_func($recursive, $value, $level+1);
            }

            if ($notEmpty) {
                for ($i=0; $i <= $level; $i++) {
                    echo $isTerminal ? "|    " : "<span style='color:black'>|</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;";
                }

                if (!$isTerminal) {
                    echo "</div>";
                }

            } else {
                echo $isTerminal ? 
                        $type . ($type_length !== null ? "(" . $type_length . ")" : "") . "  " : 
                        "<span style='color:#666666'>" . $type . ($type_length !== null ? "(" . $type_length . ")" : "") . "</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;";
            }

        } else {
            echo $isTerminal ? 
                    $type . ($type_length !== null ? "(" . $type_length . ")" : "") . "  " : 
                    "<span style='color:#666666'>" . $type . ($type_length !== null ? "(" . $type_length . ")" : "") . "</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;";

            if ($type_data != null) {
                echo $isTerminal ? $type_data : "<span style='color:" . $type_color . "'>" . $type_data . "</span>";
            }
        }

        echo $isTerminal ? "\n" : "<br />";
    };

    call_user_func($recursive, $input);
}
?>