Total Commander

Currently the only visible difference is that the active one has cursor and (if Layout->Show current directory is set) different header colour. On most modern displays this is not enough to distinguish between them instantly, it requires searching for one of these differences. Something that applies to whole panel would improve productivity.
IMO the best would be having different colouring settings for active / inactive panels or (at least) different backgrounds

1m^2
AFAIR this was already requested somewhere, unfortunately without success so far.

I totally agree with you. Currently you have to look at the tiny path bar or the cursor (and if the cursor is scrolled out of view, you only have the path bar). Having to spot a certain UI element to distinguish the current panel state brings me a bit out of the workflow too quite often.

Having separate BG colors would allow me to distinguish the panel's state unconsciously and without drawing my attention to a certain UI element. I could see it through the corner of my eye.

So: a big heap of Support!
This would be a great visual assistance, and after all, just 2 new colors would have to be made configurable (odd/even lines in inactive panel.


2ghisler(Author)
So could you please consider this?

+1

Would be nice to alter brightness level of inactive pane like that:
s24 . postimg . org/4ci3ga7xh/inactive.png
(remove spaces)

As far as I recall, an attempt to implement different background colors faced problems. On this reason, I would suggest another option, which does not seem challenging for a programmer: faded font colors in the inactive panel (color hexadecimal values diminish by, say, 30% or by any other customizable value).

TC 9 will support different background colors in file panels.

ghisler(Author) wrote:TC 9 will support different background colors in file panels.

Can this option be used to make an inactive panel always light-grey and an active panel always white? If yes, how?

Otherwise, can users expect such capability (like distinct view modes for an inactive panel) in future?

Whats the problem ?
You can set the color of the pathbar for the active and inactive side.
With this I always know what the active side is.

Horst.Epp wrote:Whats the problem ?
You can set the color of the pathbar for the active and inactive side.
With this I always know what the active side is.

Yes I have also configured it this way. However, this does not work for me: I persistently get mistaken about which panel is active. The pathbar somehow appears outside the focus of my stare now and then.

I can experience loss of productivity with a Windows color theme where the active/inactive title bar colors are too similar, such as in "Vista Basic" or "XP Embedded" or if they use two shades of color where one isn't intuitively perceived as enable/activated/in front. With exactly 2 panels, I can't assume that the color that is in minority is the active one. When an LCD screen is observed at an angle, as it happens with title bars typically located at an edge of the screen, color shifts and the faint distinction of the two colors or gradients might become inverted.

Those visual styles are clearly not designed to be practically useful in long term. They make it hard to visually sort many open windows regardless of the application.

With Windows Classic there is no such problem. Grey vs Blue are very distinct colors, plus one clearly looks "turned on" compared to the other where color is completely absent.

I get an impression that Windows themes have gotten progressively worse well before "flat design".

Horst.Epp wrote: You can set the color of the pathbar for the active and inactive side

Sorry, How to do that (In options->display->color i see "background", "background2", "mark" colors only)?

Many thanks.

2Axis

Sorry, How to do that

"Configuration" -> "Options..." -> "Color" -> "Others:" -> "Title bar for file panels:"

these 4 options:
"Active side: Text"
"Active side: Background"
"Inactive Side: Text"
"Inactive Side: Background"

Thanks a lot Peter

ghisler(Author) wrote:TC 9 will support different background colors in file panels.

Has this been implemented? I can't find anything, neither in config\options, not in help...

If not, will it be implemented or the idea was finally rejected?

Configuration - Options - View Mode:
a) Background
b) Background 2
F1 shows the details.