Universal Design Icon Using High Contrast Display in Windows 95

What is a high contrast display?

When you select a high contrast display, Windows instructs programs to change the color scheme to a high-contrast scheme and to increase legibility whenever possible. You can also set the overall color scheme and font sizes. This feature can be helpful for users with low vision.

Sometimes when you switch to or from a high contrast display, currently running programs may crash and you will have to restart these programs. It is best to set the high contrast display before opening any applications.

You can also change the desktop configuration. This does not provide the increased contrast,but allows you to individualize the desktop in addition to allowing you to choose one of the presaved desktop configurations.

High contrast settings

The following options are available with high contrast.

Keyboard shortcut

When the keyboard shortcut is turned on, you can activate the high contrast display by pressing LEFT ALT + LEFT SHIFT + PRINT SCREEN. This enables you to turn on the high contrast display without going to the Control Panel.

If this settting is specified and you hit LEFT ALT + LEFT SHIFT + PRINT SCREEN, you will see a dialog box informing you that you have typed in the high contrast shortcut. From the dialog box you can choose "OK" to turn on the high contrast display or "Cancel" to keep the screen the way it was. You can also change the high contrast settings by choosing "Settings" or pressing "S", which brings up the Control Panel dialog for all of the Accessibility Properties.

Color scheme

The two standard color schemes available for high contrast display are white on black and black on white. All window backgrounds, title bars, main work areas, and text are affected. These schemes still use color, but mainly in application icons. In addition to the color changes, when you select one of the standard high contrast schemes, the taskbar is enlarged. If you turn off the high contrast display, the taskbar remains enlarged until you manually adjust it.

You may also choose a custom color scheme. You can not create a new scheme, but there are a variety of colors to choose from. Some examples are lilac, rose, and teal. You may also keep the Windows standard colors, but change the size to large or extra large for improved visibility. Some, but not all, of the non-standard colors also allow large or extra large options.

Look at some examples of high contrast displays.

Setting up high contrast display

  1. Bring up the Accessibility Properties window. The Keyboard option will be on top like this:
    Accessibility Properties window Keyboard tab
  2. If the focus (the highlighted or outlined portion of the screen) is not on the Keyboard label at the top of the screen, press TAB until it is (this should take nine presses) and then use the right arrow key to bring the focus over to the Display label. Or, press CTRL+TAB twice. When you are done with this step, the Display tab should be in front like this:
    Accessibility Properties window Display tab
  3. If the "Use High Contrast" checkbox is not checked, press u. This turns on the high contrast display.
  4. If you want to change any of the settings, press s to bring up the "Settings for High Contrast" dialog box like this:
    Settings for High Contrast dialog box
    It's a good idea to check the settings at this point to make sure they are set the way you want them.
    NOTE: Some of the settings toggle. This means that if they are on and you select them, they turn off. If they are off and you select them, they turn on. A feature can be toggled by pressing the underlined letter in its description. For example, to check or uncheck the box labelled "Use Shortcut", press u.
  5. To allow the keyboard shortcut (or turn off that feature if it is on), press u.
  6. To move the focus to the color scheme box, press the TAB key.
  7. To change to the white on black color scheme, press w.
  8. To change to the black on white color scheme, press b.
  9. To change to a custom color scheme, press c. The focus will move to the custom option menu, and you can use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the list of available colors and sizes like this:
    custom color scheme dialog box
    Once the focus is in the option menu, if you want to return to the standard color schemes, you will need to press ALT plus the command key for the scheme you want. For example, if you are looking through the option menu and decide you want the standard white on black setting instead, press ALT+w.
  10. When all of the settings are the way you want them, press ENTER to return to the Accessibility Properties window.
  11. If you want to test your high contrast settings without closing the Accessibility Properties window (this is highly recommended), either hit ALT+A or hit TAB three times, until the focus is on the "Apply" button, and then press ENTER. This allows you to test your high contrast settings and change them if needed without having to reopen all of the windows. To close the Accessibility Properties window, hit ENTER again.
  12. If you want to save the settings and close the Accessibility Properties window at the same time, hit TAB once, until the focus is on the "OK" button, and then press ENTER. This will close the Accessibility Properties window.
  13. Hit ALT+F+C to close the Control Panel window if it is still open.

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