With a see-through background, items and text sit directly on top of the world. In snowy biomes, near lava, or in front of detailed builds, slots can be harder to read. These vanilla settings and habits help.
Adjust your settings
1. GUI Scale: Open Options → Video Settings and raise GUI Scale. Larger slots and item icons stand out better against a busy background. Lower it again if menus take up too much of your view.
2. Brightness: If dark caves make it hard to tell items from the background, raise Brightness in Video Settings. If bright areas wash things out, lower it.
3. Menu blur: If your Video Settings include a menu background blur option, try a low value. A little blur can make items easier to read. Turn it off completely if you want the clearest view of your surroundings.
4. Shaders: If you use shaders through a loader such as Iris or OptiFine, bright lighting or bloom can make menus harder to read. Try a shader preset with less bloom if this happens.
Build good habits
- Pick your background. For long sorting sessions at a storage wall, look at a plain wall or the floor before you open the chest. A plain surface behind the menu makes items easier to read.
- Use it where it matters. Save the see-through view for times when your surroundings are worth watching, like caves, fights, and open fields.
- Check every screen once. Open your inventory, a chest, a furnace, the creative tabs, and the advancements screen in your usual lighting. Then tune your settings until all of them are readable.