Ubuntu 13.04

I work with two monitors, usually with lots of different windows open.

I don't like to use the mouse, so swap between applications using alt-tab usually.

The problem comes when I want to type something into an application. I need the active application to immediately obvious, usually so that I can tell which monitor to look at next.

With default ubuntu (with appearance = ambiance), the only real visual indication of a window being active is that the header bar of the application is in a lighter font color.

This is too subtle for me, so I find myself alt-tabbing and moving my mouse too much when switching applications, then clicking around with the mouse to give a particular window the focus.

I want my switching to be more accurate, and for that I think I need better feedback on what window has the focus. This needs to be more obvious than it is now.

I looked at the high contrast appearance, and it helps somewhat, but the inconsistency in the icon sets is far too distracting.

I think what I need is a something like a bright border right around the window, or something like that, to make the active window really stand out. Or, maybe to have the non-active windows fade to the background a bit.

I would appreciate tips on how others overcome this problem, to make the active window stand out visually from the other windows.

Thank you!