scroll bar

GRAPHIC			TEXT
Size	Color1	Color2	Font	Size	Color	Bold	Italic
X

You can use this option to change the width of the scroll bars and the scroll bar button sizes. This will apply to all scroll bars in all types of windows including drop-down list boxes (though not in recent Microsoft applications).

It also applies to the little striped 'resize dialog' triangle that appears in many Open / Save As dialogs.

Selected Item

GRAPHIC			TEXT
Size	Color1	Color2	Font	Size	Color	Bold	Italic
X	X		X	X	X	X	X

'Select Items' refers to the item you are currently hovering over in a program's menu or on the Start Menu. The graphic size option and font face and font size apply to the menu as a whole, but the two Color options define the foreground and background colour for the item that you are currently hovering over. This also applies to lists and drop-down boxes. As with many of the other visual options this has limited effect in Microsoft's recent programs. In Microsoft Word, for example, the menus enlarge and change font but the color preferences have no impact.

The colour options also affect the highlighting of text in many programs (including Internet Explorer, shown left), but not in Microsoft Word's documents.

Tooltip

GRAPHIC			TEXT
Size	Color1	Color2	Font	Size	Color	Bold	Italic
	X		X	X	X	X	X

Tooltips are the little boxes that often pop up when you hover your cursor over an item on the screen such as a toolbar button or icon. They also pop up to describe pictures on well-written webpages. You can change the colour scheme and font size font size for toolbars across Windows.

This is well supported across windows except the tooltips within the Windows Explorer for browsing files and on the Start Menu continue to keep their font small. In order to enlarge this font you need to change the settings for the 'Icon' item. I have further information in a Quicktip article on this.

Many Visually Impaired users would benefit from disabling Windows Explorer's Tooltips. Find out how by reading my article on the subject.

Window

GRAPHIC			TEXT
Size	Color1	Color2	Font	Size	Color	Bold	Italic
	X				X

The Text Color option has the same effect as with Message Box, above, and no more. However the Graphic Color1 changes the background colour of compliant Windows work areas and text boxes, list boxes and so on. The most important impact is that this affects the document workspace in Microsoft Word (even the newer versions) and other word processors and office-type applications. Consequently the colour combination that you set here will allow you to type documents with your preferred colours safe in the knowledge that they will always print black-on-white as standard.

The screenshot on the left clearly shows the change in workspace, but also the effect on the toolbars.