Solved Dark mode conundrum - hard to see borders of different windows

RDG · Oct 16, 2024

Because I've found dark mode on this site easier on my eyes I've set it up for Windows and my browser. If I had my druthers it would be the softer charcoal like this site, but I'm basically happy with it. However, when I have multiple windows open it is challenging to determine which window is which. I thought I had found the solution via Windhawk's Bring Back Borders but that made changed I didn't want or like. Ideally, what is needed is a thin whitish frame around the window. Is there such a fix out there, somewhere? Thanks.

Jacee · Oct 16, 2024

Go to Settings, select Personalization, then scroll down

RDG · Oct 16, 2024

Jacee said:
Go to Settings, select Personalization, then scroll down View attachment 112825

Woohoo! Thanks so much!

glasskuter · Oct 16, 2024

I use a theme with different colors set for active/inactive window but in dark mode even with Show accent colors in borders enabled I still couldn't determine active vs inactive window easily. The problem is because the Windows border defaults to only 1 pixel in width. That's not enough to detect in dark mode., at least not for my eyes.

Set an accent color that is in direct contrast to black. Your active window border will use this color. If you use very bright neon like border colors it is much more obvious. but being a matchy-matchy gal I use colors from my desktop background.
Set an inactive title bar color using Winaero Tweaker . You can also use Winaero tweaker to increase the border width and border padding. Because of the active/inactive colors I chose, while I do see the active border a little better, I find the increase in border width affected the visible appearance of the the inactive border more.

jajk · Oct 16, 2024

Same annoyance as RDG with multiple windows open on a dark theme. Fixed for active window by Jaycee's tip but why does this border color disappear on inactive windows?
Any tips on modifying the inactive window border color also?

glasskuter · Oct 16, 2024

jajk said:
but why does this border color disappear on inactive windows?

Answer in post #4

jajk · Oct 16, 2024

This is what I found that simply works for 24H2...
reg file to add a key to change the accent color of inactive windows. The example changes the color to white (same as Active window) and results in this:
Obviously white is not a good choice for a mix of dark theme and light theme windows. A non-greyscale color is probably the go.

Edit: This is indeed the same reg key that is created by Winaero Tweaker to change the inactive title bar color which is a slightly misleading description as it changes the color of the border as well. Strange why MS would remove the users ability to edit all the elements to create their own theme that were there in Win7 and prior...someone thinks they know what is best for us mere paying customers. I wonder if such a person has a little tantrum when we hack the living daylights out of their precious O.S?

RDG · Oct 17, 2024

jajk said:
Same annoyance as RDG with multiple windows open on a dark theme. Fixed for active window by Jaycee's tip but why does this border color disappear on inactive windows?
Any tips on modifying the inactive window border color also?

I discovered that, too.

glasskuter · Oct 17, 2024

jajk said:
Any tips on modifying the inactive window border color also?

Yes, as mentioned in my post #4. Assign an inactive border color using WinaeroTweaker

jajk · Oct 17, 2024

Now all that is left is to figure out how to de-link the Title bar color from the border color.....
Can't remember if this could be done back in Win7 days since I only started using heavily dark themes on Win11 where it becomes harder to see the demarcation between active and inactive windows against a dark background.
Maybe I am looking at an impossibility and the Title Bar and Border are inseparable?
Feel free to chime in with your knowledge and experience.

RDG · Oct 17, 2024

glasskuter said:
I use a theme with different colors set for active/inactive window but in dark mode even with Show accent colors in borders enabled I still couldn't determine active vs inactive window easily. The problem is because the Windows border defaults to only 1 pixel in width. That's not enough to detect in dark mode., at least not for my eyes.

Set an accent color that is in direct contrast to black. Your active window border will use this color. If you use very bright neon like border colors it is much more obvious. but being a matchy-matchy gal I use colors from my desktop background.
Set an inactive title bar color using Winaero Tweaker . You can also use Winaero tweaker to increase the border width and border padding. Because of the active/inactive colors I chose, while I do see the active border a little better, I find the increase in border width affected the visible appearance of the the inactive border more.

It worked! I must say, however, that looking at the tiny Winero Tweaker bright white screen really hurt my eyes now that I'm accustomed to dark mode. Thanks.

RDG · Oct 17, 2024

I tried a red border, thinking it would only affect the color of the border but some apps/programs used that color for the title bar, too. I love my Win11 blue wallpaper so I opted for a light blue (custom) and this is what it looks like.

jajk · Oct 17, 2024

There are dark themed apps and then there are almost dark themed apps with exceptions... like Title bars that take on Windows accent color instead of their own dark theme. I picked a color that was not too bright and the least clashing overall with the rest of my color scheme.

Not sure if that is the final color but I will live with it for a few days.
Figured out another problem as to why I could not update to latest version of 24H2... it is because I avoided creating a Microsoft account on install so I am in the naughty corner - always swimming against the flow :eyeroll:

glasskuter · Oct 18, 2024

jajk said:
Figured out another problem as to why I could not update to latest version of 24H2... it is because I avoided creating a Microsoft account on install

Sorry, but I've never heard of that one. I suggst you look into the upgrade failure closer.How did you come to that conclusion.

jajk · Oct 18, 2024

Glasskuter, Its was off topic in this thread and flogging a dead horse as I will wait for a bug fixed fresh iso install some time in the future or reinstall a less buggy version if I get tired of waiting or bored. Reality is that I wouldn't use MS Windows except I run software that will not work under Linux directly, a Wine session or in a virtual machine running windows because there are needs to have direct access to hardware resources that can't be virtualized. It is a thing of joy to fire up my 2nd laptop running Linux I use to access an old but perfectly good Canon Scanner and anything on optical media as my new Laptop has no optical drive and Win11 is very good at making tech obsolete before its time. Lucky we still have the ocean to dump all the tech waste in. Running Win11 on the older laptop lost both the wireless network card functionality and Canon Scanner. A bonus of having a machine running Linux is that you can use GParted to blast problematic hard drive partitions that Win11 refuses to delete and shrink and split the system partition for people that blinked during install and ended up with the whole drive as a single partition - a recipe for huge losses.

byteatom · Feb 20, 2025

This WinBorderColor tool can customize foreground/background window border color.

Solved Dark mode conundrum - hard to see borders of different windows

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