I am using Texshop 2.47 currently. Versions beyond that are not recommended for my OS.
I'd like to change the font colors in my source window. In particular I want something easier on the eyes since one spends such long hours with these files. For instance, white text on a brown background or something. The relevant settings seem to come up in the Preferences window, under the Source panel. There is a button to change the background color which works, but…
There is a button to set the font, with which one can change the style and size of the font in the source window, but altering the color has no effect. Strangely the default color it displays is magenta, despite that the text is actually black, with blue/green/red for certain syntax.
There is a section of that same menu labeled "Parens Targets & Highlight Color" with check boxes next to {}, [], (), and <>, with the first 3 checked by default. To the right of that it displays a box to change the color where again the default color is that magenta. Altering the color, and altering the checkboxes, both have no effect.
While I'm at it, there also seems to be no way to change the font color in the preview window, while again the background can be changed easily.
Lastly, another minor concern about default settings:
I have my windows set so that my preview window is larger than my source window, and the zoom level is increased, and whenever I open a document it's set to open that way. But there seems to be no way to set the scrolling on the preview window so that it's centered horizontally. That is not a big deal since it's so easy to fix, but it is something I must do every time and it would be good if that could be a default setting too.
Best Answer
According to this thread, there is a bug in certain versions of TeXShop which prevents the font colour being modified in the source window. (The colours used to markup syntax may be modified, but not the base colour, as I understand it.)
According to this thread the bug is fixed in version 3.05 and later.
So, if you cannot update to a more recent version of the editor, I am afraid that you likely must find another editor or put up with the default colour.