A contrast theme can make text easier to distinguish from its background. The useful test is broader than whether the desktop looks striking: you also need to recognise links, selected items and controls that are unavailable.

In Windows 11, open Settings, Accessibility, Contrast themes. Choose a theme and select Apply. Allow the change to complete before judging it. To return to the ordinary appearance, select None in the same list and apply it.

Check the meaning carried by each colour

Open a familiar application with a text field, a selected item and an inactive control. Confirm that you can tell those states apart. Then open a document containing a hyperlink and a paragraph with selected text.

If a preset is close but one element is difficult, use Edit beneath the theme selector. Microsoft provides separate colour choices for background, text, hyperlinks, inactive text, selected text and button text. Save a custom theme under a descriptive name after making changes.

Change one troublesome element at a time. For example, improving ordinary text while making the selected-text combination unreadable would exchange one problem for another.

Judge the actual task, not just the preview

Complete a small routine action, such as finding a file and saving a copy. Check warnings and confirmation dialogues too; they may use controls you did not see on the application’s main screen.

Inspect charts, pictures and specialist program interfaces separately. Do not assume a successful Windows preview proves every piece of content has become accessible. If information still depends on a colour you cannot distinguish, seek a labelled or otherwise accessible version of that information.

Keep the accepted theme name with any application exceptions you found. This lets another person help restore your working setup without replacing a deliberate accessibility choice merely because it looks different from their own desktop.

Sources: Microsoft contrast themes.