Using Windows 10 Dark Theme Colors in Notepad with High Contrast Setting
Windows 10 offers a variety of themes and high contrast settings to customize the look and feel of the operating system. For developers and users who prefer a dark theme, Windows 10 provides a built-in dark theme that can be applied to the entire system. However, the Notepad application does not follow the system-wide theme setting and remains in the default light theme.
Enabling Dark Theme in Windows 10
To enable the dark theme in Windows 10, follow these steps:
- Click on the Start button and select Settings.
- In the Settings window, select Personalization.
- Select Colors from the left-hand menu.
- Under Choose your color, select Dark.
This will apply the dark theme to the entire system, except for some legacy applications like Notepad.
Using High Contrast Setting in Notepad
To change the font color in Notepad to black and the background color to white, you can use the high contrast setting. Here's how:
- Open Notepad.
- Press the Alt key to show the menu bar.
- Click on Tools and select High Contrast.
- Select High Contrast #1 or High Contrast #2.
This will change the font color to black and the background color to white, making it easier to read the text in a dark environment.
Creating a Custom Style for Notepad
If you want to customize the look and feel of Notepad further, you can create a custom style using a text editor like Notepad++ or Visual Studio Code. Here's an example of how to create a custom style for Notepad:
- Create a new file with the extension .xml.
- Add the following code to the file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<styleInfo title="Notepad Black and White" version="1.0" description="Custom style for Notepad with black font and white background">
<addon>
<font name="Consolas" size="10" face="Consolas" color="#000000"/>
<background color="#FFFFFF"/>
</addon>
</styleInfo>This code defines a custom style for Notepad with a black font and white background using the Consolas font. You can modify the font name, size, and color to suit your preferences.
Applying the Custom Style to Notepad
To apply the custom style to Notepad, follow these steps:
- Save the .xml file to the following directory:
%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Notepad\This will create a new folder called "Notepad" in the AppData directory, if it doesn't already exist, and save the .xml file inside it.
- Open Notepad.
- Click on Format and select Style.
- Select the custom style you created from the list.
This will apply the custom style to Notepad, giving it a black and white look similar to the Windows 10 dark theme.
- Windows 10 offers a built-in dark theme that can be applied to the entire system.
- Notepad does not follow the system-wide theme setting and remains in the default light theme.
- To change the font color in Notepad to black and the background color to white, you can use the high contrast setting.
- To create a custom style for Notepad, you can create an .xml file with the desired font and background colors.
- To apply the custom style to Notepad, save the .xml file to the Notepad directory in the AppData folder and select it from the Style menu in Notepad.
References
- Microsoft. (2021). How to change the color scheme in Windows 10. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-change-the-color-scheme-in-windows-10-5492518e-40a3-8d36-0e5e-2345507756a9
- Microsoft. (2021). Customize Notepad. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/customize-notepad-86d330b7-589c-3808-b702-93e598f17b1a