Taskbar: I want the active tab to look different from the other tabs

OldGrantonian · 21 Jun 2022

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I don't actually care what my "active" colour is for the taskbar. All I want is that it should be visibly different from the inactive tabs. (I would settle for black and white - but that would be a bit harsh - like the "contrast" themes.)

BTW: I'm not trying to be lazy. I've done my homework:

- I looked inside the following Settings: System > Display, Personalization, Ease of Access.

- I opened each of the first 7 or 8 forum pages, searching for "taskbar".

- I looked at Shawn's tutorial: "How to Change Accent Color of Start Menu, Taskbar, Action Center, and Title bars in Windows 10" (update 31 Aug 2021).

- I looked in Superuser.com: Color of active window in Windows 10 taskbar - Super User

- I googled for the text used in my title for this post.

Thanks

Callender · 21 Jun 2022

I'm not expert on this but it might depend upon theme choice.

Example:

No highlight for active tab so cannot tell which is the active one.

Taskbar: I want the active tab to look different from the other tabs-active-2.jpg

Using a basic theme and the active tab shows up with a lighter background:

Taskbar: I want the active tab to look different from the other tabs-active.png

OldGrantonian · 21 Jun 2022

@Callender

Thanks for response.

With my Win 10, I got 4 themes.

The effects of each theme were as shown in screenshot.

My results were the same as yours. With the black taskbar, it was almost impossible to differentiate between active/inactive.

With the white taskbar, there was a difference. But I did NOT see the same obvious difference as in your screenshot.

BTW: Tab colours are set in Edge, but are affected by the Windows theme.

Thanks

bro67 · 21 Jun 2022

How to change the inactive tab color in windows10? - Technoresult

OldGrantonian · 22 Jun 2022

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bro67 said:

How to change the inactive tab color in windows10? - Technoresult

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Thanks for the link. It looks like a goldmine of info for the registy hackers.

I have the theory that some individual items in the registry are locked together in the code behind the Settings dialogs.

For the taskbar, I think colours are restricted to similar RGB. Any differences in the registry are locked to a few % in the code behind. So you can't have red buttons for Inactive, and blue buttons for Active - except for folks who have vision issues. Full marks to MS for that.

Apart from the taskbar, other items seem to have more scope for differences between Active and Inactive. Look at the graphics in one of Shawn's tutorials:

Turn On or Off Show Accent Color on Title Bars and Windows Borders in Windows 11 Tutorial | Windows 11 Forum

Thanks

Callender · 22 Jun 2022

For what it's worth I use a solid background for desktop, Maybe try that. Save your current theme so that you can revert changes.

Taskbar: I want the active tab to look different from the other tabs-theme.png

Taskbar: I want the active tab to look different from the other tabs-background.png

Taskbar: I want the active tab to look different from the other tabs-colors.png

OldGrantonian · 22 Jun 2022

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Callender said:

For what it's worth I use a solid background for desktop

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I think your suggestion moves me closer to my target.

I'll keep experimenting.

Thanks
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