change the windows theme to a higher resolution one.

That seems like a rather extreme measure that would also change every other program's appearance, which I do not need to do.

Do I take your answer to mean there is no fix within Thunderbird?

You could try other themes, to see if there is another one that works more to your liking.

Failing that, you can hand-edit a css file to change colours. Tell us if you want to follow this up, as it will need a bit of research to set you on your way.

I do truly appreciate that. But everybody seems to jump to themes, etc as opposed to discussing either a setting within Thunderbird or perhaps some entry that could be put into userchrome.css to do it, or is that what you meant by "Failing that, you can hand-edit a css file to change colours"?

Creating that would be beyond me--though I have put some font change code provided by someone else into userchrome.css, and done simple edits (changing font size mostly).. I would have no idea what code would operate on the left panel selected item highlight though.

Is everybody telling me that it is unfixable except by theming somehow.

You're ahead of me. :-)

It is indeed an edit to userChrome that I had in mind, but I'd have to scrabble about to find any examples.

To most users it is infinitely preferable to install an add-on than to edit files.

Haha...I see it exactly the opposite way. Installing a theme, which changes the whole appearance. to solve just one area seems like using a sledgehammer on a nail,

I worked for a week trying to get the taskbar in Windows 8.1 readable, and finally did have to go to a theme change (that changed lots of other stuff) to do it, but I would have much preferred to just change the taskbar color and font. But MS removed that capability from Windows 8.1.

So, if anyone can conjure CSS for userchrome that will darken the highlight or color, I would be most appreciative. Right now, it is a nice blue highlight when a folder is clicked in the left, but when a message on right side is clicked, the left highlight changes to a nearly unseeable gray. I would be happy for it to remain as it was or simply dim "a shade or two." But even the gray would be acceptable if it were dark enough to be visible without making the foreground text unreadable.

I am with Zeno, I simply do not mention userchrome unless it is mentioned first almost. Simply because I am sick of people throwing userchrome solutions back as just to hard. The average user ticks a box. At a pinch they will type something in a box, but only if someone tells them what to type in it. That is the sate of things.

You want technical answers and userchromne solutions make it clear and we will help where we can.

Code follows.

/*Selected with focus.  */
#folderTree treechildren::-moz-tree-row(selected) {
background-color: #780000 !important;
}

/* Selected without focus. */

#folderTree treechildren::-moz-tree-row(selected, focus) {
background-color: #E800000 !important;
}

My choice of colours is poor (ugly reds) pick your own here http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_colors.asp

That works beautifully! You are the man!

And yes, it is an ugly red <grin>

Thanks indeed; annoying problem solved!

Matt, the previous worked great and I have made successfully another adjustment on my own--to name the text inside selected, unread titles be black--and increased the font size for them. Done..

But if I may, I am stumped on how to get the text inside selected with focus, READ titles (right panel) also stay black instead of turning white. It seems like it should be simple, but nothing I have done has worked.

treechildren:-moz-tree-cell-text(unread) { font-size: 10pt !important; font-family : Arial !important; color: #D50000 !important }

changing unread to read will cover both starts. Delete the font and font family rows if thy are not needed.

For font sizes, this add-on is really the better way https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/theme-font-size-changer/

I don't think that does it when the row is SELECTED (highlighted). It does work when row is NOT selected as I already have essentially that operating. /*WAIT I DIDN'T HAVE COLOR IN THE ONE FOR 'READ' */ Here is my total set of adjustments,,

======================================

/* Folderpane text (left panel) */ treechildren { font-family: verdana !important; font-size: 12pt !important; }

/* vvv this one is similar to yours previous but it does not keep the text black when the row is selected--the text turns white */ /* Messagepane text (right panel)*/ treechildren:-moz-tree-cell-text(unread) { font-size: 11pt !important; font-family : verdana bold !important; color:black !important; } treechildren:-moz-tree-cell-text(read) { font-size: 12pt ! important; font-family : verdana !important; /*WAIT I DIDN'T HAVE COLOR IN THIS ^^ ONE */ }

/*Selected with focus--left panel */ (pound-sign-here)folderTree treechildren::-moz-tree-row(selected) { background-color: #D0D0D0 !important; }

/* Selected without focus--left panel */ (pound-sign-here)folderTree treechildren::-moz-tree-row(selected, focus) { background-color: #499DF5 !important; }

======================================

The extension at the link you posted says it is for Firefox.