1714852 - (Regression - Proton) Address bar extension icon is completely white with dark themes

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox :: Address Bar, defect)

Description

[ffbugzilla]

Attachment: Example

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:85.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/85.0

Steps to reproduce:

1. Set any dark theme for Firefox (for example, the built-in dark theme)
2. Install an extension that has an .svg address bar icon (for example, SwiftDial)
3. Navigate to a page where the icon is enabled

Actual results:

The icon is almost completely white and looks weird

Expected results:

The icon should have colors like it had before the Proton update

Comment 1

[ffbugzilla]

(In reply to ffbugzilla from comment #0)

Created attachment 9225455 [details]
Example

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:85.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/85.0

Steps to reproduce:

1. Set any dark theme for Firefox (for example, the built-in dark theme)
2. Install an extension that has an .svg address bar icon (for example, SwiftDial)
3. Navigate to a page where the icon is enabled

Actual results:

The icon is almost completely white and looks weird

Expected results:

The icon should have colors like it had before the Proton update

Comment 2

[Pablo]

I was able to reproduce this on windows 10, MacOS 10.15 and Ubuntu 20.

nightly 91 affected
beta 90.0b4 affected
release 89.0 affected

steps:
install addon
and go back to https://addons.mozilla.org/es/firefox/addon/swiftdial/

Comment 3

[Harry Twyford]

This behaviour is intentional. In dark themes, we now filter SVG page action icons to make them white. Many SVG page action icons are outlines or are otherwise meant to be displayed in a single color.

We found in bug 1702034 that many icons were not visible in dark themes. This was an issue pre-Proton as well. We [acknowledged] that this change would make some icons look incorrect, but we think the benefits outweigh the costs here. The developer of SwiftDial could either use a PNG icon if they want to preserve color, or use a monocoloured SVG icon.

Comment 4

[ffbugzilla]

Seems more like a hack than a proper solution. Filtering SVGs won't solve the same visibility problems with black PNGs on transparent backgrounds. And the same problems will arise if similar non-adressbar SVG or PNG icons (which are not filtered) will be displayed against all-black theme (like Black by XI).

To me, letting developers modify their extensions and set different icons for the dark mode seems like a much better solution.

PS: I'll send the info to the developers. Hope they'll be able to work their way around this mess. Until then, I'll just disable Proton and will be avoiding it until the issue is fixed properly.

Comment 5

[Harry Twyford]

(In reply to ffbugzilla from comment #4)

Seems more like a hack than a proper solution.

I agree, it is a hack. However, allowing dark mode page action icons in addon manifests is a much larger lift than just applying a filter. Ultimately all design decisions involve trade-offs and require resources. Keeping the filter results in a better experience in most cases and minimizes the developer resources required.

And the same problems will arise if similar non-adressbar SVG or PNG icons (which are not filtered) will be displayed against all-black theme (like Black by XI).

As for non-address bar icons, WebExtension manifests support a browser_action.theme_icons property. It allows developers to set a different dark mode icon. Afaik, there is no similar API for page action icons, hence the need for a filter.

If you wish, you can follow bug 1416871 to see about support for theme_icons for page action icons. I'm closing this bug as filed, however, since we have no current plans to revert this filter.