Changing the colours you view the website in

In Windows Explorer 7

  • Open the ' Tools ' menu with the mouse or by pressing ' Alt'+'T ' .

  • Select the ' Internet Options ' option with the mouse or by pressing 'O'.

  • Select the ' Accessibility ' button with the mouse or by pressing 'Alt'+'E'

  • Check the 'Ignore colours specified on web page' checkbox with the mouse or by pressing ' Alt '+ ' C '.

  • Click the 'OK' button with the mouse or press ' Enter ' to return to  Internet Options.

You may not notice any difference, but the website will now be using the colour scheme you have on your computer. If these colours are Ok then you need not do anything else, other than clicking ‘OK’ or pressing ‘enter’ on your keyboard.

If however you still need to change the text or background colours on the web page take the following steps:

  • With the 'Internet Options' box still open click on the 'Colors' button or press 'Alt' + 'O'.

  • The default setting is to have the 'Use Windows colors' option selected, to use your own colours click the box to remove the tick with the mouse or press 'Alt' + 'W '.

  • Select either the 'Text' button with the mouse or by pressing 'Alt' + 'T' , or the 'Background' button with the mouse, or by pressing 'Alt' + 'B'.

  • Select the colour of your choice with the mouse or by using the arrow keys to highlight it and then pressing 'Spacebar' to select.

  • Click the 'OK' button with the mouse or press 'Enter'.

  • Repeat the process of selecting a colour for visited 'Alt' + 'I' and unvisited 'Alt' + 'N' links if needed.

  • When you have changed all the colours you want click 'OK' or press 'Enter' to return to the 'Internet Options' box

  • Click the 'OK' button with the mouse or press 'Tab' until it is selected and press 'Enter' once which will return you to Internet Explorer.

In Mac Firefox

  • Click the 'Firefox' menu with the mouse or press 'Ctrl' + 'F2' to highlight the menu bar and then press the right arrow to highlight the 'Firefox' menu.

  • Click on 'Preferences' or press the down arrow to highlight 'Preferences' and then press 'Enter'.

  • Make sure the 'Content' tab is selected if not click on it or use the left / right arrow keys to select it.

  • Under 'Fonts and Colors' click on 'Colors' or use the 'Tab' key to highlight it and press the 'Spacebar' to select.

  • You can choose to have your Mac OS colour scheme settings by clicking on the 'Use system colors' checkbox to select it or 'Tab' to the checkbox and press 'Spacebar' if it is not ticked.

  • Next click on 'Allow pages to choose their own colors, instead of my selections above' checkbox or 'Tab' to the checkbox and press the spacebar to turn it off.

  • Click the 'OK' button or press 'Enter'

  • Press 'Apple' + 'W' to return to Firefox.

On a Mac you have limited options to change your OS colour scheme so you are more likely to need to set text and background colours just for Firefox. To do this:

  • Follow the steps above.

  • For your text colour, click the box next to the 'Text': heading or press 'Tab' to jump to it and press the 'Spacebar' to bring up the colour swatch.

  • Click on the text colour you want, or use the cursor keys to browse the list of colours, when the colour you want is highlighted press 'Enter'.

  • Make sure the 'Use system colors' checkbox is unchecked by clicking on it or 'Tab' to the checkbox and press 'Spacebar' if it is ticked.

  • Next make sure the 'Allow pages to choose their own colors, instead of my selections above' checkbox is turned off or 'Tab' to the checkbox and press ' Spacebar ' to turn it off (uncheck the box).

  • If you do not need to change the 'Background' colour or 'Link colors', to return to Firefox click the 'OK' button or press 'Enter' then press 'Apple' + 'W' to return to Firefox and ignore the rest of these steps but make sure you reload the page by pressing 'Apple' + 'R'.

  • For your background colour click the box next to the 'Background' heading or press 'Tab' to jump to it and press the 'Spacebar' to bring up the colour swatch.

  • Click on the background colour you want, or use the cursor keys to browse the list of colours, when the colour you want is highlighted press 'Enter'.

  • For the 'Link Colors' follow the steps above but choose the 'Unvisited Links' and 'Visited Links' boxes.

  • To return to Firefox click the 'OK' button or press 'Enter' then press 'Apple' + 'W' to to return to Firefox.

  • Finally press 'Apple' + 'R' to reload the page with your colour settings.

Last updated: 26 October 2009