One of the visual issues you may run into using Linux Mint is with the default scroll bars used by most apps. Rather than having a dedicated through set aside for a distinct scroll bar, the default theme for Linux Mint uses a thin and translucent bar that can overlay the content of the window and fades away when not in use. This can be hard to see for those with visual impairments making it more difficult to navigate.
To support those who struggle to see and use these translucent scroll bars, and those that don’t like them, Linux Mint allows you to change the appearance to the more traditional format. You can also change the width of the scroll bars if you find them too difficult to see or click on.
To configure the appearance of the scroll bars, you first need to press the Super key, type “Themes”, then hit enter.
Tip: The “Super” key is the name that many Linux distributions use to refer to the Windows key or Apple “Command” key without infringing on any trademarks.
Once in the theme settings, switch to the “Settings” tab to be able to configure the scroll bar settings. The second to last slider in the “Settings” tab, labelled “Use overlay scroll bars” configures if the scroll bars are generally translucent or have dedicated troughs. To change the appearance to use dedicated troughs that make the scroll bar a lot easier to see, click the slider to the “Off” position.
If you prefer the scroll bars to be wider, or narrower, you can override the default setting with the last slider, labelled “Override the current theme’s scrollbar width”. Just click it to the “On” position, then set a new value on the “Scrollbar width (px)” slider that appears beneath it.
Note: These settings won’t affect all apps, as some include code for their own scroll bars. It will, however, affect any app that uses the system theme.
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