Is it possible to make the background panels darker because during the daytime they basically can't be seen cuz I have mine at the top right of the screen.

You can change the background colors in the config, mine are  0 0 0 0,4 with 0.0 fadeout, i have the compass text/numbers yellow as they are easier to see, I have the message box topright,
here is a link to the colors available in the same type of format,
httpa.//www.tug.org/pracjourn/2007-4/walden/color.pdf

Just make a backup of your config before you start changing it so you can go back to it if you need to.