microsoft / microsoft/PowerToys
Adjustable Active Window Border Thickness
- Dominant language
- C
- Stars
- 139k
- Forks
- 8.6k
- PR merge metrics
- PR metrics pending
Description
### Description of the new feature / enhancement
On large monitors or ultrawide displays it can sometimes be difficult to quickly identify which window is currently active, especially when switching windows using the keyboard (Alt+Tab or other shortcuts) rather than the mouse.
Windows only shows a very thin accent-colored border around the active window, which can be hard to notice.
Proposed solution
Add an optional PowerToys feature that highlights the active window with a configurable border.
Possible settings:
- Border thickness (e.g., 2–10 px)
- Custom color
- Optional glow or outline effect
- Enable/disable toggle
### Scenario when this would be used?
Users working on large or multi-monitor setups frequently switch between windows using the keyboard. A thicker colored border around the active window would make it immediately obvious which window currently has focus.
This would improve usability and accessibility, especially on high-resolution displays.
Notes
PowerToys already draws borders for features like "Always On Top". A similar visual indicator for the currently active window could reuse a similar approach.
### Supporting information
_No response_
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by examining PowerToys' existing Always On Top border implementation, which the issue identifies as a similar visual indicator. Define how active-window detection, configurable thickness and color, optional effects, and enable/disable settings should work; the feature is done when the border reliably highlights the focused window across the described monitor setups.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- c
- Domain
- desktop
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100