How to change the colours in Apple OS X 10.9 Mavericks

• The inverted colour scheme
• The desktop background colours

Note: Mac key convention: ‘ Ctrl ‘ is used for ‘Control’, ‘ Apple ‘ is used for ‘Command’ and ‘ Alt ‘ is used for the ‘Option’ key.

Note: For keyboard access, make sure ‘ Full keyboard access ‘ is turned on – you can turn it on or off by pressing ‘ Ctrl ‘ + ‘ F1 ‘ at any time.

Using the inverted colour scheme

Step 1

• Make sure you are in ‘ Finder ‘ - press ‘ Apple ‘ + ‘ Tab ‘ if necessary to cycle through open applications until you return to ‘ Finder ‘.
• Click on the ‘Apple ‘ menu or press ‘ Ctrl ‘ + ‘ F2 ‘.
• Click on ‘ System Preferences… ‘ as shown in Fig 1 or press the down arrow key to highlight it and then press ‘ Enter ‘.

Fig 1

Step 2

Click on the ‘ Accessibility ‘ icon or press ‘ Tab ‘ repeatedly to cycle through the icons until the ‘ Accessibility ‘ icon is highlighted with a blue border as shown in Fig 2 and then press the ‘ Spacebar ‘.

Fig 2

Click on ‘Display’ or press ‘ Tab ‘ to highlight one of the items of the left-hand list and then press the up and down arrow key to select the ‘Display’ tab (highlighted in blue). Fig 3

Fig 3

Finally, check the option ‘Invert colours’ (Fig 4) and the colour scheme will change straight away.

Fig 4

From this window you can also change the contrast level. Press ‘Tab’ until you reach the form control ‘Enhance contrast’, and click the indicator or use the arrow keys to set a different contrast level.

Changing the desktop background colour

Step 1

• Make sure you are in ‘ Finder ‘ - press ‘ Apple ‘ + ‘ Tab ‘ if necessary to cycle through open applications until you return to ‘ Finder ‘.
• Click on the ‘Apple ‘ menu or press ‘ Ctrl ‘ + ‘ F2 ‘.
• Click on ‘ System Preferences… ‘ as shown in Fig 1 or press the down arrow key to highlight it and then press ‘ Enter ‘.

Step 2

Click on the ‘ Desktop & Screen saver ‘ icon or press ‘ Tab ‘ repeatedly to cycle through the icons until that icon is highlighted with a blue border as shown in Fig 5 and then press the ‘ Spacebar ‘.

Fig 5

Click to select or ‘Tab’ to ‘Desktop’ then press the ‘Spacebar’.

Click on ‘Solid Colors’ in the ‘Apple’ folder  or press the ‘Tab’ key to select the left hand list then use the up and down arrow keys to highlight and then press the ‘Spacebar’, Fig 6.

Fig 6

Click to select a colour or press ‘Shift’ and use the left and right arrow keys. You will see that as soon as you make a choice the background colour changes straight away.

When you are happy with your choice click on the Desktop window’s close button or press ‘Apple’ + ‘W’.

Note: If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies – contact your local IT support for further help.