Ask Paul: April 10 ⭐️

Happy Friday! This is possibly the longest Ask Paul I've ever worked on, thanks to some great reader questions. So settle in, this is one for the ages.
? Going dark
jt5 asks:

Concerning Dark Mode- I recently started using dark mode more and more- on both Windows and Mac and am really frustrated with both for different reasons. It seems wildly inconsistent – some areas it works and others it does not. My bigger concern- and question for you is this: Have you heard of any plans to make it customizable? For example- instead of black use a dark grey? If you take the grey option in office, it turns the areas you would type in to white- with no option I can find to change it. It is not just office- but that is what I use the most these days.

Sadly, this is a baby steps thing: The inconsistency in Windows you correctly note is a big problem because you can work in Dark mode and some dialog opens in Light mode and it's like a Klieg light blasting into your eyes suddenly at night. (Mac is at least better in that regard.) Microsoft is working on this and maybe the 2026 "pain points" focus will help. But that's the first step.

The second step is automatic Dark/Light mode switching, which the Mac does support. You can at least add this with a PowerToys utility called Light Switch, but that should be part of the OS.

But then we get to the third step, which is what you're asking for: A more granular Dark mode configuration capability. I see this sort of thing in individual apps–Affinity, for example–but the ability to configure this type of thing at the system level would be ideal. And no, I'm not aware of any way to do that, especially in Windows. I think the problem is that the base capability is so poorly done and isn't used everywhere anyway.

I do know from my .NETpad/WinUIpad apps that you can control the theme/color of any individual component, including the text box you write in, and so it's possible for this to work on an app-by-app basis. One of the features I had in .NETpad before the 2024/2025 rewrites was a theme feature so that the text box could be whatever combination of text color/background; I liked using a light gray background instead of white or whatever. I am curious apps as powerful as those in Office don't offer that, but I guess they are complex as Windows in some ways and it may just be a legacy issue.

I haven't done this, so I'm not sure what this would even do, but it may be worth looking at the accessibility features in Windows and/or Office to see if there are any workarounds in there. The few times I've looked at the high contrast features haven't been good experiences though.
?️ Retro Windows
NickTech asks:

Paul, I’ve seen you explore the development of Windows and other platforms in your Switcher and Programming Windows series. Have you taken a retro look back at Windows in day to day use or for use with software of the time (like retro gaming with the hits of the day on XP)?

One of my focus...