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And I found a really clear reference for any system admin sympathetic enough to their Users and budding Writers plea for MORE space than the freeking 500 chars hardcoded into Mastodon source.
(** at Gargron's insistence, and not in a config file as I would think it should be; would make the changes MUCH easier.)
https://wiki.nixnet.xyz/books/masto-tweaks/page/character-count
Another nice page on the same site -- adding Themes to Mastodon!
https://wiki.nixnet.xyz/books/masto-tweaks/page/themesskins
The author describes how to obtain a fully fleshed theme like the ones in use at Toot.cafe or Witches.Town from their Github depositories (links provided!)
And then, you could modify either of them to your own liking.
I really like the custom theme Renato Lond created and uses at his instance - https://masto.donte.com.br/
Green background is easy on the eyes, while some contrasting elements add pizzazz and make it easier to find controls and scroll bars (these, sometimes are blurred into the Dark Themes I prefer) Screen cap of the default Web client view attached.