Re: mintty window border?

Re: mintty window border?

[Jim Garrison]

This is an update to a question I had a couple of years ago
https://cygwin.com/pipermail/cygwin/2021-April/248367.html

Windows 11 now has an "accent color" option under
Settings/Personalization/Colors that adds a thin (1px?) border around
all windows, in a user-selectable color.  This definitively eliminates
the problem seen with overlapping mintty windows that have a dark grey
or black background (where the shadow isn't visible).

Just FYI

-- 
Jim Garrison
jhg@acm.org

Re: mintty window border?

[Backwoods BC]

On Thu, Aug 24, 2023 at 11:08 AM Jim Garrison via Cygwin
<cygwin@cygwin.com> wrote:
>
> This is an update to a question I had a couple of years ago
> https://cygwin.com/pipermail/cygwin/2021-April/248367.html
>
> Windows 11 now has an "accent color" option under
> Settings/Personalization/Colors that adds a thin (1px?) border around
> all windows, in a user-selectable color.  This definitively eliminates
> the problem seen with overlapping mintty windows that have a dark grey
> or black background (where the shadow isn't visible).
>
> Just FYI
>
> --
> Jim Garrison
> jhg@acm.org

This is also true for Windows 10, although I may have had to
explicitly enable it (I don't remember).

Re: mintty window border?

[Gary Johnson]

On 2023-08-24, Backwoods BC via Cygwin wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 24, 2023 at 11:08 AM Jim Garrison via Cygwin
> <cygwin@cygwin.com> wrote:
> >
> > This is an update to a question I had a couple of years ago
> > https://cygwin.com/pipermail/cygwin/2021-April/248367.html
> >
> > Windows 11 now has an "accent color" option under
> > Settings/Personalization/Colors that adds a thin (1px?) border around
> > all windows, in a user-selectable color.  This definitively eliminates
> > the problem seen with overlapping mintty windows that have a dark grey
> > or black background (where the shadow isn't visible).
> >
> > Just FYI
> >
> > --
> > Jim Garrison
> > jhg@acm.org
> 
> This is also true for Windows 10, although I may have had to
> explicitly enable it (I don't remember).

It's in the same place on Windows 10.  I just enabled it.  Thank you
both!

Regards,
Gary

Re: mintty window border?

[Thomas Wolff]

Am 25.08.2023 um 02:41 schrieb Gary Johnson via Cygwin:
> On 2023-08-24, Backwoods BC via Cygwin wrote:
>> On Thu, Aug 24, 2023 at 11:08 AM Jim Garrison via Cygwin
>> <cygwin@cygwin.com> wrote:
>>> This is an update to a question I had a couple of years ago
>>> https://cygwin.com/pipermail/cygwin/2021-April/248367.html
>>>
>>> Windows 11 now has an "accent color" option under
>>> Settings/Personalization/Colors that adds a thin (1px?) border around
>>> all windows, in a user-selectable color.  This definitively eliminates
>>> the problem seen with overlapping mintty windows that have a dark grey
>>> or black background (where the shadow isn't visible).
>>>
>>> Just FYI
>>>
>>> --
>>> Jim Garrison
>>> jhg@acm.org
>> This is also true for Windows 10, although I may have had to
>> explicitly enable it (I don't remember).
> It's in the same place on Windows 10.  I just enabled it.  Thank you both!
But it adds the thin border only to the foreground window...
Thomas

> Regards,
> Gary
>
>

Re: mintty window border?

[Gary Johnson]

On 2023-08-25, Thomas Wolff via Cygwin wrote:
> 
> 
> Am 25.08.2023 um 02:41 schrieb Gary Johnson via Cygwin:
> >On 2023-08-24, Backwoods BC via Cygwin wrote:
> >>On Thu, Aug 24, 2023 at 11:08 AM Jim Garrison via Cygwin
> >><cygwin@cygwin.com> wrote:
> >>>This is an update to a question I had a couple of years ago
> >>>https://cygwin.com/pipermail/cygwin/2021-April/248367.html
> >>>
> >>>Windows 11 now has an "accent color" option under
> >>>Settings/Personalization/Colors that adds a thin (1px?) border around
> >>>all windows, in a user-selectable color.  This definitively eliminates
> >>>the problem seen with overlapping mintty windows that have a dark grey
> >>>or black background (where the shadow isn't visible).
> >>>
> >>>Just FYI
> >>>
> >>>--
> >>>Jim Garrison
> >>>jhg@acm.org
> >>This is also true for Windows 10, although I may have had to
> >>explicitly enable it (I don't remember).
> >It's in the same place on Windows 10.  I just enabled it.  Thank you both!
> But it adds the thin border only to the foreground window...
> Thomas

Yes, it's not as good as having a border around all windows all the
time, or around just mintty and gvim windows, but it is so much
better than nothing at all, or so it seems so far.

Regards,
Gary

Re: mintty window border?

[Backwoods BC]

On Thu, Aug 24, 2023 at 10:54 PM Gary Johnson via Cygwin
<cygwin@cygwin.com> wrote:
>
> On 2023-08-25, Thomas Wolff via Cygwin wrote:
> >
> >
> > Am 25.08.2023 um 02:41 schrieb Gary Johnson via Cygwin:
> > >On 2023-08-24, Backwoods BC via Cygwin wrote:
> > >>On Thu, Aug 24, 2023 at 11:08 AM Jim Garrison via Cygwin
> > >><cygwin@cygwin.com> wrote:
> > >>>This is an update to a question I had a couple of years ago
> > >>>https://cygwin.com/pipermail/cygwin/2021-April/248367.html
> > >>>
> > >>>Windows 11 now has an "accent color" option under
> > >>>Settings/Personalization/Colors that adds a thin (1px?) border around
> > >>>all windows, in a user-selectable color.  This definitively eliminates
> > >>>the problem seen with overlapping mintty windows that have a dark grey
> > >>>or black background (where the shadow isn't visible).
> > >>>
> > >>>Just FYI
> > >>>
> > >>>--
> > >>>Jim Garrison
> > >>>jhg@acm.org
> > >>This is also true for Windows 10, although I may have had to
> > >>explicitly enable it (I don't remember).
> > >It's in the same place on Windows 10.  I just enabled it.  Thank you both!
> > But it adds the thin border only to the foreground window...
> > Thomas
>
> Yes, it's not as good as having a border around all windows all the
> time, or around just mintty and gvim windows, but it is so much
> better than nothing at all, or so it seems so far.
>
> Regards,
> Gary

I get borders around both active and inactive windows, but then I've
spent hours (probably days) messing with registry values in an attempt
to gain the kind of UI control that was built into XP. I don't know
which change I made that gave me borders, but it is possible.

Any combination of these changes may have done it -- or none of them
(I changed a lot of things):

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM]
"AccentColorInactive"=dword:00ccddee

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Accent]
"MotionAccentId_v1.00"=dword:000000db
"AccentPalette"=hex:a9,ef,ff,00,79,e6,ff,00,48,d2,f2,00,00,99,bc,00,00,6b,83,\
  00,00,4b,5c,00,00,32,3d,00,e3,00,8c,00
"StartColorMenu"=dword:ff836b00
"AccentColorMenu"=dword:ffbc9900
"TaskbarColorOverride"=dword:ffff0000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"NoSizeChoice"=dword:00000000
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"NoDispBackgroundPage"=dword:00000000
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"NoDispScrSavPage"=dword:00000000
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"NoDispCPL"=dword:00000000
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"NoDispSettingsPage"=dword:00000000

Re: mintty window border?

[Sam Edge]

On 25/08/2023 08:18, Backwoods BC via Cygwin wrote:

 > On Thu, Aug 24, 2023 at 10:54 PM Gary Johnson via Cygwin
 > <cygwin@cygwin.com> wrote:
 >>
 >> On 2023-08-25, Thomas Wolff via Cygwin wrote:
 >>>
 >>>
 >>> Am 25.08.2023 um 02:41 schrieb Gary Johnson via Cygwin:
 >>>> On 2023-08-24, Backwoods BC via Cygwin wrote:
 >>>>> On Thu, Aug 24, 2023 at 11:08 AM Jim Garrison via Cygwin
 >>>>> <cygwin@cygwin.com> wrote:
 >>>>>> This is an update to a question I had a couple of years ago
 >>>>>> https://cygwin.com/pipermail/cygwin/2021-April/248367.html
 >>>>>>
 >>>>>> Windows 11 now has an "accent color" option under
 >>>>>> Settings/Personalization/Colors that adds a thin (1px?) border
around
 >>>>>> all windows, in a user-selectable color.  This definitively
eliminates
 >>>>>> the problem seen with overlapping mintty windows that have a
dark grey
 >>>>>> or black background (where the shadow isn't visible).
 >>>>>>
 >>>>>> Just FYI
 >>>>>>
 >>>>>> --
 >>>>>> Jim Garrison
 >>>>>> jhg@acm.org
 >>>>> This is also true for Windows 10, although I may have had to
 >>>>> explicitly enable it (I don't remember).
 >>>> It's in the same place on Windows 10.  I just enabled it.  Thank
you both!
 >>> But it adds the thin border only to the foreground window...
 >>> Thomas
 >>
 >> Yes, it's not as good as having a border around all windows all the
 >> time, or around just mintty and gvim windows, but it is so much
 >> better than nothing at all, or so it seems so far.
 >>
 >> Regards,
 >> Gary
 >
 > I get borders around both active and inactive windows, but then I've
 > spent hours (probably days) messing with registry values in an attempt
 > to gain the kind of UI control that was built into XP. I don't know
 > which change I made that gave me borders, but it is possible.
 >
 > Any combination of these changes may have done it -- or none of them
 > (I changed a lot of things):
 > [snip]

In Windows 10, I've managed to get inactive window title bars white with
a dark
accent and active dark with a white accent colour around without
resorting to
registry hacking. I'm using a solid black background, 'Light' colour setting
and auto-selected accent colour in Preferences. I've also enabled the accent
colour on title bars and window borders checkbox. I still have problems with
non-compliant "I'll draw it myself" apps that don't use the stock
furniture but
it works for mintty at least.

I'm baffled as to why a UI designer would introduce a feature that makes it
difficult if not impossible to see the edges of windows in the first
place but
that's Microsoft all over. :-S

Re: mintty window border?

[Jim Garrison]

On 8/25/2023 00:18, Backwoods BC via Cygwin wrote:
[snip]
> 
> I get borders around both active and inactive windows, but then I've
> spent hours (probably days) messing with registry values in an attempt
> to gain the kind of UI control that was built into XP. I don't know
> which change I made that gave me borders, but it is possible.
> 
[snip]

In my setup (plain Win11 without registry hacks) the border is
highlighted on the focused window, and other windows have a much
fainter border, just enough to be visible when you have multiple
overlapping minttys with black background.  Not sure if this was
the case on Win10 as well.

-- 
Jim Garrison
jhg@acm.org

Re: mintty window border?

[Gary Johnson]

On 2023-08-25, Jim Garrison via Cygwin wrote:
> On 8/25/2023 00:18, Backwoods BC via Cygwin wrote:
> [snip]
> >
> >I get borders around both active and inactive windows, but then I've
> >spent hours (probably days) messing with registry values in an attempt
> >to gain the kind of UI control that was built into XP. I don't know
> >which change I made that gave me borders, but it is possible.
> >
> [snip]
> 
> In my setup (plain Win11 without registry hacks) the border is
> highlighted on the focused window, and other windows have a much
> fainter border, just enough to be visible when you have multiple
> overlapping minttys with black background.  Not sure if this was
> the case on Win10 as well.

I see that now on my Windows 10 machine.  I don't know why I didn't
notice it before.  Perhaps the accent color was too dark.  I changed
the accent color to white, which doesn't seem to interfere with my
color scheme, and paid more attention to overlapping mintty and gvim
windows (which have black backgrounds), and as you say, it's faint
but there.

Regards,
Gary

mintty window border?

[Jim Garrison]

Mintty's window does not seem to have any border at the left and bottom.
The top of the window has the title menu bar and the right side is the
scroll bar.  When I have multiple mintty windows open, and they overlap,
since there is no border, one window blends into another.

I searched mintty's options and there doesn't seem to be a way to
specify a border.  If the window background is a light color, there's
a subtle drop shadow that helps a bit, but with a dark style it's
impossible to distinguish the windows.

Here's a sample:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10zKWdie_nA-_hzsN8i_GeCw7VadJBmol/view?usp=sharing

Is there a way to make it draw a border?

-- 
Jim Garrison
jhg@acm.org

Re: mintty window border?

[Thomas Wolff]

Am 25.04.2021 um 23:49 schrieb Jim Garrison via Cygwin:
> Mintty's window does not seem to have any border at the left and bottom.
> The top of the window has the title menu bar and the right side is the
> scroll bar.  When I have multiple mintty windows open, and they overlap,
> since there is no border, one window blends into another.
>
> I searched mintty's options and there doesn't seem to be a way to
> specify a border.  If the window background is a light color, there's
> a subtle drop shadow that helps a bit, but with a dark style it's
> impossible to distinguish the windows.
Borders are drawn by Windows, according to Windows style settings. This 
is not specific to mintty, you'll see the same effect with other 
applications.
>
> Here's a sample:
> https://drive.google.com/file/d/10zKWdie_nA-_hzsN8i_GeCw7VadJBmol/view?usp=sharing 
>
>
> Is there a way to make it draw a border?
Applications can draw their own decorations, at considerable 
implementation effort.

Re: mintty window border?

[Mark Geisert]

Jim Garrison via Cygwin wrote:
> Mintty's window does not seem to have any border at the left and bottom.
> The top of the window has the title menu bar and the right side is the
> scroll bar.  When I have multiple mintty windows open, and they overlap,
> since there is no border, one window blends into another.
> 
> I searched mintty's options and there doesn't seem to be a way to
> specify a border.  If the window background is a light color, there's
> a subtle drop shadow that helps a bit, but with a dark style it's
> impossible to distinguish the windows.
> 
> Here's a sample:
> https://drive.google.com/file/d/10zKWdie_nA-_hzsN8i_GeCw7VadJBmol/view?usp=sharing
> 
> Is there a way to make it draw a border?

As Thomas pointed out, not mintty's fault.  I ran into the same issue on first 
upgrade to Windows 10.  Windows 7 allowed one to set window borders; Windows 8 and 
up don't.  But one can adjust registry entries to fix the issue.  Check here:
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/change-desktop-windows-metrics-border-width-windows-8
The fix outlined there works for Windows 10 too.
HTH,

..mark

Re: mintty window border?

[Jim Garrison]

On 4/25/2021 5:15 PM, Mark Geisert wrote:
> Jim Garrison via Cygwin wrote:
>> Mintty's window does not seem to have any border at the left and bottom.
>> The top of the window has the title menu bar and the right side is the
>> scroll bar.  When I have multiple mintty windows open, and they overlap,
>> since there is no border, one window blends into another.
>>
>> I searched mintty's options and there doesn't seem to be a way to
>> specify a border.  If the window background is a light color, there's
>> a subtle drop shadow that helps a bit, but with a dark style it's
>> impossible to distinguish the windows.
>>
>> Here's a sample:
>> https://drive.google.com/file/d/10zKWdie_nA-_hzsN8i_GeCw7VadJBmol/view?usp=sharing 
>>
>>
>> Is there a way to make it draw a border?
> 
> As Thomas pointed out, not mintty's fault.  I ran into the same issue on 
> first upgrade to Windows 10.  Windows 7 allowed one to set window 
> borders; Windows 8 and up don't.  But one can adjust registry entries to 
> fix the issue.  Check here:
> https://www.thewindowsclub.com/change-desktop-windows-metrics-border-width-windows-8 
> 
> The fix outlined there works for Windows 10 too.
> HTH,
> 
> ..mark
> 

Perfect, that's exactly what I need.  Thanks.

-- 
Jim Garrison
jhg@acm.org