color band across monthly calendar and not dots macbook air

I'm 76 so I can relate to your situation.

If you're talking about the various colors to attach to a named calendar, I'm afraid the small dots are all there is.

There are however, Accessibility options to make viewing more suitable for a variety of needs: System Preferences > Accessibility > Display

I've used many calendars over the years and I don't recall one like you describe, but cosmetic changes are made often. I suggest you search the internet for Mac compatible calendars that might meet your need.

Hello bgstock,

Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities. We see you have some questions about using Calendar on your Mac, and we'd like to help.

The following link may be able to help with what you're trying to do: Change a calendar’s name or color on Mac - Apple Support

"Change a calendar’s color

1. In the Calendar app  on your Mac, Control-click the calendar’s name in the calendar list.
2. If you don’t see the calendar list on the left, choose View > Show Calendar List.
3. Click to select a preset color, or click Custom Color to select a color from the Colors window.

Note: You can’t change the color of some calendars, such as the Birthdays calendar and the Siri Suggestions calendar."

The User Guide for Calendar can be found here: Calendar User Guide for Mac - Apple Support

If what you're wanting to do isn't a current feature, you can leave feedback about that in the following link: Product Feedback - Apple

Regards.