System Colors

CSS2 System Colors
system colorWindows Appearance Settingsample
activeborderActive Window Border [bg] 
activecaptionActive Title Bar [bg] 
appworkspaceApplication Background [bg] 
backgroundDesktop [bg] 
buttonface3D Objects [bg] 
buttonhighlight3D Objects [bg+] 
buttonshadow3D Objects [bg-] 
buttontext3D Objects [fg] 
captiontextActive Title Bar [fg] 
graytext3D Objects [bg-] 
highlightSelected Items [bg] 
highlighttextSelected Items [fg] 
inactiveborderInactive Window Border [bg] 
inactivecaptionInactive Title Bar [bg] 
inactivecaptiontextInactive Title Bar [fg] 
infobackgroundToolTip [bg] 
infotextToolTip [fg] 
menuMenu [bg] 
menutextMenu [fg] 
scrollbar3D Objects [bg+] 
threeddarkshadow3D Objects [bg] 
threedface3D Objects [bg] 
threedhighlight3D Objects [bg+] 
threedlightshadow3D Objects [bg] 
threedshadow3D Objects [bg-] 
windowWindow [bg] 
windowframe[na] 
windowtextMessage Box [fg]
Window [fg]
 
Legend
[fg]forground
[bg]background
[bg+]lighter shade of 3D Objects background color (there is no interface to change this color directly)
[bg-]darker shade of 3D Objects background color (there is no interface to change this color directly)
[na]not affected by the Appearance interface, but can be changed by some color schemes

Note

The 3D Objects background setting sets the backgrounds of Active Window Border (activeborder), Inactive Window Border (inactiveborder), and Menu (menu) to match; and sets Application Background (appworkspace) and Inactive Title Bar (inactivecaption) to a darker shade; these can then all be altered independantly.