Question

I would like to know how to change, if possible, the cursor in Vim (in color, shape, etc.) depending on what mode you are in.

I am constantly forgetting that I am not in Insert mode and start typing code, which results in all sorts of crazy things happening. It would be helpful if there was some sort of visual indication on the cursor.

Answer 1

A popular approach to indicate switching to and from Insert mode is
toggling the cursorline option, which is responsible for whether
the current screen line is highlighted (see :help cursorline):

:autocmd InsertEnter * set cursorline
:autocmd InsertLeave * set nocursorline

or, alternatively:

:autocmd InsertEnter,InsertLeave * set cul!

Modify the CursorLine highlighting group to change the styling
of the cursor line to your liking (see :help :highlight and
:help highlight-groups).

This approach assumes, of course, that you do not use the cursor
line highlighting in Normal mode.