1427071 - allow WebExtensions to override browser.display.background_color

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(WebExtensions :: General, enhancement, P5)

Description

[Sören Hentzschel]

For New Tab Override I would like the Option to override browser.display.background_color.

Reason: New Tab Override has an option to change the new tab page to a arbitrary background color. I can use browser.tabs.insertCSS, I can use document.body.style.background or even if I hard-code a color in the HTML file there is a really annoying flickering on every new tab from white to the new color. If I set browser.display.background_color to #ff0000 then it's a flickering from red to the new color. So what I really have to do for this option instead of the current approach is to override browser.display.background_color to a arbitrary color so that there is no longer a flickering.

Another use case:

It's also annoying to change every time browser.display.background_color if I want to open a white SVG image because it's invisible on the white background. I would like to write a small WebExtension to change browser.display.background_color via a browserAction button.

Comment 1

[Caitlin Neiman [:caitmuenster]]

Hi Soren, this has been added to the agenda for the February 6, 2018 WebExtensions APIs triage. Would you be able to join us? 

Here’s a quick overview of what to expect at the triage: 

* We normally spend 5 minutes per bug
* The more information in the bug, the better
* The goal of the triage is to give a general thumbs up or thumbs down on a proposal; we won't be going deep into implementation details

Relevant Links: 

* Wiki for the meeting: https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebExtensions/Triage#Next_Meeting
* Meeting agenda: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1731b2kkN1wndNzVvo--5gwUcagbOSKGNYv4769r68NM/edit#
* Vision doc for WebExtensions: https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebExtensions/Vision

Comment 2

[Mike Conca [:mconca]]

The feeling coming out of the meeting is that providing an API to fix this issue is a bit of a band-aid. The ideal solution would be to fix it in the product so that new tab override doesn't flicker, rather than provide this API and require every single new tab extension to use it.

Comment 3

[Sören Hentzschel]

> The ideal solution would be to fix it in the product so that new tab override doesn't flicker

Agreed. Is there already a bug for fixing this flickering? If not could you create one so that I can follow the progress? Thank you.

Is there also a solution for my another use case?

> I want to open a white SVG image because it's invisible on the white background. I would like to write a small WebExtension to change browser.display.background_color via a browserAction button.

It's a bit annoying to always change the value in about:config. As web developer I have to work a lot with SVG images, sometimes they are white, sometimes black, sometimes they have another color, so I have to change the background color every time to see something…