Desktop icons

The machines we love to hate

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Gary Dunn
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Desktop icons

Post by Gary Dunn »

How do I change the color of the text to black? They are hard to read with a light colored wall paper.

Thanks!<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Gary Dunn on 11 September 2006 at 06:46 PM.]</p></FONT>
Chip Fossa
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Post by Chip Fossa »

Good question Gary.

I often wanted to change the color of ICON texts, but coudn't find it in PROPERTIES/APPEARANCE.

Yeah...when you change your desktop or screensaver, a lot of times your icons become useless because of the new background coloration; and lightness/darkness.

I hope somebody chimes in here. This would be really great to know.
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Wiz Feinberg
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Post by Wiz Feinberg »

Right-click on a blank space on your Windows XP desktop, select Properties > Appearance > Advanced. There is a flyout options box and a color picker on the Advanced Appearance page.

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Chip Fossa
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Post by Chip Fossa »

Thanks Wiz,

I'm ready to turn in, but I'll give this a try in the AM.

Thanks, again.
Joe Law
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Post by Joe Law »

If you don't want to go to the trouble of changeing the text,when you have a page of lite or unreadable txt just select or highlight it with a left click then you can read it..
Chip Fossa
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Post by Chip Fossa »

Wiz,

On the ADVANCED page in APPEARANCE, I don't find anywhere to change the color of the icon text.

The only options for ICON in the ITEM menu is for size, bold, and italics.

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. It's happened before.
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Gary Dunn
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Post by Gary Dunn »

Chip.

I didn't find font color either, but I did enlarge the Icons and spacing. At least that made for a more organized desktop.
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Wiz Feinberg
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Post by Wiz Feinberg »

Things have been changed regarding the desktop appearance options. You cannot change the font color independently under Windows XP. Instead, open the Display Properties, click to "Appearance" and click on the first flyout option box (Windows and Buttons) and change to "Windows Classic style." Click Apply and wait for the desktop to change.

Next, click on the flyout button in the options box labeled "Color scheme." Mine has 22 options to choose from. Experiment with combinations until you find one you like best , then click Apply and OK. The icon text is either going to be black or white, depending on the background color in the theme, or one you choose from the Advanced button Desktop color selector. Windows will always select a contrasting choice of black or white, but nothing else.

You can change the font face and size from the advanced options. You should also look at the options under Effects, on the Appearance page. There are some neat text effects like Clear Type and shadows under menus.

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Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
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<small>Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
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Learn about current computer virus and security threats here.
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<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Wiz Feinberg on 13 September 2006 at 03:56 PM.]</p></FONT>
Chip Fossa
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Post by Chip Fossa »

So, after all this, it comes down to either
the ICON TEXT color will either be BLACK or WHITE - neither of which is a color.

Black - lack of all colors
White - all colors

The PC gets BORING. To look at and deal with.

So - any changes, small as they may be, are sure welcome to me.

Why can't you put color in your ICON's text?

Is this a big deal??

Guess it is.

Every now and then, I just love to go and re-face, re-do, whatever you want to call it, my PC's LOOK.

Why are those options [aside from icon text color] so prominent? - CUZ we all get BORED!!

I WANT TO HAVE THE OPTION TO CHANGE ICON TEXT COLORS! I WANT IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Wiz Feinberg
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Post by Wiz Feinberg »

Chip;
May I recommend a dozen MGD to cure this problem?
Chip Fossa
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Post by Chip Fossa »

Well Wiz,

You got me again. What are MGD's? And, do you think I really need a dozen?

I hope we're both having FUN here. I know I'm not really all that serious about this.

Seems to me, tho, with all the incredible potential of present-day PC's, to wish for a simple thing as a color change on an icon text would hardly be any kind of effort at all?
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Jack Stoner
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Post by Jack Stoner »

Do a google search for "desktop themes for Windows XP" and you will find many. Surely one will get you customized colors.

Here's one site I found. I can't vouch for anything on the site - just one that I found doing a google search.
http://www.themexp.org/
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Wiz Feinberg
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Post by Wiz Feinberg »

<SMALL>What are MGD's?</SMALL>
MGD = Miller Genuine Draft

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Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
<small>Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services,
or my Webmaster Services webpage.
Learn about current computer virus and security threats here.
Read Wiz's Blog for security news and update notices</small>