# How to change text color in the PDE sketch console
**URL:** https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-change-text-color-in-the-pde-sketch-console/13405
**Category:** Processing
**Created:** [August 15, 2019, 10:22pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-change-text-color-in-the-pde-sketch-console/13405 "2019-08-15T22:22:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@cathcarter](https://discourse.processing.org/u/cathcarter)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2019, 10:22pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-change-text-color-in-the-pde-sketch-console/13405/1 "2019-08-15T22:22:08Z")
How can I change the text color from red to white? I have bad eyes and I cannot read the contents of the console.
---
### Author:  [@Tiemen](https://discourse.processing.org/u/Tiemen)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2019, 11:30pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-change-text-color-in-the-pde-sketch-console/13405/2 "2019-08-15T23:30:51Z")
Dear Cath, welcome to the forum.
The text color in the console can’t be changed through the preferences, so it requires a little detour where we’ll have to make a change in a core file of Processing. If you have a Windows operating system, follow the steps below. To be on the safe side make sure Processing isn’t running.
1. Find the file named **theme.txt** in the folder where you installed Processing. For me that’s **C:\Program Files (x86)\processing-3.5.3\lib**. Copy the path to this folder.
2. Open the Command Prompt on your Windows computer as an administrator.
3. In your Command Prompt, type **cd** followed by the path you copied in step 1. In my situation it’s **cd C:\Program Files (x86)\processing-3.5.3\lib**. Press enter.
4. Type **theme.txt** and press enter again. Your text editor should open.
5. Press control + f to open your search function and type **#d9211e**. This is the color code used for the console errors. Change it to any hex code you prefer, such as **#f0f0f0**.
6. Save your changes, open Processing, and test whether you like the new color.
A downside of this method is that updating/reinstalling Processing probably resets the core files, meaning you have to execute these steps again. To save time in the future you could copy **theme.txt** to another location on your computer, and paste it back whenever Processing resets the core files.
Hopefully this solves your problem. If you have any questions please let me know.
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### Author:  [@jeremydouglass](https://discourse.processing.org/u/jeremydouglass)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2019, 5:03am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-change-text-color-in-the-pde-sketch-console/13405/3 "2019-08-16T05:03:24Z")
Given that this is an accessibility issue, it might be worth opening a feature request to add console color/size to preferences in the future? Accessibility is part of the Foundation mission …
> **[processing/processing](https://GitHub.com/processing/processing/issues)**
>
> Source code for the Processing Core and Development Environment (PDE) - processing/processing
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### Author:  [@kll](https://discourse.processing.org/u/kll)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2019, 8:28am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-change-text-color-in-the-pde-sketch-console/13405/4 "2019-08-16T08:28:35Z")
additionally to the above shown color adjustments:
are you aware that you can adjust the size for the whole processing IDE 3.5.3 window
AND the text size to editor and console area separate?
> here shown on a WIN 10 with Interface scale 150% and console font size 18
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### Author:  [@kll](https://discourse.processing.org/u/kll)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2019, 9:00am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-change-text-color-in-the-pde-sketch-console/13405/6 "2019-08-17T09:00:59Z")
hi @JoeGeun
on what system you tested this?
* * *
from a Win 10:
processing-3.5.3\lib\theme.txt
```auto
# CONSOLE
# The font is handled by preferences, so its size/etc are modifiable.
console.color = #000000
console.output.color = #cccccc
# text color for errors printed in the console
console.error.color = #d9211e
```
* * *
c:\Users\ \< user \>\AppData\Roaming\Processing\preferences.txt
```auto
console.font.size=12
```
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### Author:  [@cathcarter](https://discourse.processing.org/u/cathcarter)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2019, 1:26pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-change-text-color-in-the-pde-sketch-console/13405/7 "2019-08-17T13:26:16Z")
Thanks everyone … I will give all this a try.
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### Author:  [@Tiemen](https://discourse.processing.org/u/Tiemen)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2019, 10:32pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-change-text-color-in-the-pde-sketch-console/13405/8 "2019-08-18T22:32:04Z")
Perhaps a bit of topic, but is there anyone specifically in charge of Processing’s accessibility? I might be interesting in providing assistance there.
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### Author:  [@jeremydouglass](https://discourse.processing.org/u/jeremydouglass)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2019, 5:56am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-change-text-color-in-the-pde-sketch-console/13405/9 "2019-08-19T05:56:28Z")
That would be great! I’m not sure, but maybe contact people involved in p5.accessibility to ask–I’m not sure if that is a purely p5.js initiative or also on the PDE / Java side.
> **[P5 Accessibility](https://medium.com/processing-foundation/p5-accessibility-115d84535fa8)**
>
> By Claire Kearney-Volpe
> **[Working on the p5.accessibility Project](https://medium.com/processing-foundation/working-on-the-p5-accessibility-project-58a781575400)**
>
> by Mathura Govindarajan and Luis Morales-Navarro
Possibly see also [Processing Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (V.P.A.T.)](https://discourse.processing.org/t/processing-voluntary-product-accessibility-template-v-p-a-t/8400)