Accessibility Need- Notes App Background Color Font Color

[Windedhiker]

Hello,

 

I was hit on the freeway several years ago and have suffered brain damage from it. As a result, I have been updating everything I can to be easier on my brain. Specifically, I use the Notes app a lot but it does not allow you to change the background color. I know you can change the font color, but I need a dark background and white text otherwise I cannot understand it. The dark theme didn't switch the background color for me, and yellowish blue light free colors practically blind me.

 

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

[Vero]

Hi @Windedhiker and welcome to the forum. Alfred's theming only affects what Alfred himself looks like, and doesn't control the Notes application's colour scheme.

 

As far as theming Alfred, the "Alfred Dark" built-in theme uses white text on black background.

 

Cheers,
Vero

[vitor]

Welcome, @Windedhiker,

 

As @Vero mentioned, Alfred can’t really help you there. For matters related to other apps you need to contact their developers, in this case Apple itself since they’re the ones who make Notes.

 

The best way to contact them about this would likely to be opening a feature request on their bug reporter. The bad news is that they’re not the most responsive bunch, but the good news is that they care deeply about accessibility so there’s a bigger chance they’ll take a look at it.

In the meantime, you may want to explore the options in System Preferences → Accessibility → Display. Some of them might help.

[GuiB]

To go with @vitor's suggestion, I think you could get a great solution by inverting your monitor colors (which you can have access by going to the Display pane in the Accessibility preferences section like @vitor said). If this could be a solution to you, I think you may want a faster access to this control so you can switch the color when you switch application. Therefore, you can have access to the inverting color function or the contrast slider by doing CMD+OPTION+F5.

 

Also, if you prefer to have a direct hotkey to make the switch, you can add it to your Keyboard Shortcut Preferences at System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts or have a look at this link for more explanation: https://www.cultofmac.com/215227/make-the-invert-display-keyboard-shortcut-work-again-in-mountain-lion-os-x-tips/

Edited January 17, 2018 by GuiB

[deanishe]

26 minutes ago, GuiB said:

inverting your monitor colors

 

Heh. I love doing this to other people’s Macs. Most people have no idea about the feature and assume their screen has broken.

[GuiB]

6 hours ago, deanishe said:

Heh. I love doing this to other people’s Macs. Most people have no idea about the feature and assume their screen has broken.

 

Actually, I've done it from time to time as well as a joke to some of my friends

[Windedhiker]

Thanks for the help. I am learning more about Alfred and the whole Apple Accessibility ecosystem in general. I have used the invert colors feature on my iPhone X, but not as much on my iMac. 

 

I have made some templates for Pages and Numbers which are better for me. But it seems a bit clunky and less fluid than I prefer. I am sure as my knowledge of Javascript grows, I will come up with a more fluid solution. Thank you again for the help.

 

-Joel

[vitor]

9 hours ago, Windedhiker said:

I am sure as my knowledge of Javascript grows, I will come up with a more fluid solution.

 

Keep in mind that some of the limitations you encounter can’t be solved by yourself, no matter your coding abilities. Some things are impossible to do because you’re trying to change a medium (apps and an OS) you do not control (and that are closed source, to boot). Hence you’re limited by what the gatekeepers of said medium make available for you to change.

 

In such cases your only options are to either switch mediums or ask the gatekeepers to make the necessary accommodations.