I would like my email messages to show as blue instead of black.

Here's the same screenshot again, this time with six of the UI elements numbered:

  1. Ribbon tabs
  2. Button labels
  3. Folder names
  4. Sub-folder names
  5. Message list
  6. Message header bar

Which of these elements do you have difficulty reading? How could their legibility be improved?


Hi ¡Firedog,

I appreciate all your efforts to grab the matter. The problem might not appear at your computer, as you might have changed settings/configurations.

For me in WLM (also have little comparasion with MS Outlook 2010),

1. Ribbon tabs: Ok.

2. Button labels: Ok.

3. Folder names: Very faint. Size very small. (Additionally: MS Outlook 2010 has yellow boxes, but the results are similar. It does not hurt in MS Outlook 2010)

4. Sub-folder names: Very faint. Size very small.

5. Message list: I am using reading  pane right of the message list. New messages appear bold ok. Unread messages are very faint. Size is Ok. If I use, reading pane at bottom of the message list, then don't have faint fonts problem. (Additionally: In MS Outlook 2010 the first line shows contact name in pure black colour, the second line is gray. Font sizes are same as WLM. The combination of Black and gray looks fine for MS Outlook. In WLM both lines appear gray, that's the problem.)

6. Message header bar: Ok. Message itself displays fine. However, microsoft community Logo looking very faint in a post from microsoft community. Font colours and sizes are fine.

Additional: The message which I am writing in this windows also appears gray to me, except bold letters. It might be related to internet colour settings (I am not sure, I am just a user, not a computer expert), which I don't know how to change. I think WLM might also depend on internet explorer for font settings. I am just a student, and don't know the details. I have set 130% of original size to view it in internet explorer, but, in case of WLM, I cannot find an option to increase the size to 130%. Nevertheless, the letters typed in MS Word 2010 look pure black to me, which is fine.

(From Microsoft word, I am able to find that this colour stands between gray-80% and Black, Text 1, Lighter 25%. The same sentence when copied from MS Word and pasted here has significant difference of colour clarity, however, after posting the comment, the clarity vanishes, and both texts appear similar.)