1772860 - Thunderbird Dark theme incorrectly selected as background

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Thunderbird :: Theme, defect)

Description

[Eric Moore]

I compared the background colors for themes between Thunderbird 91.10.0 (64-bit) and 102.0b2 (64-bit) under Windows 11 Pro.

1. The light theme in 91.10.0 is white. It is light grey in 102.0b2, though if I enable a add-on theme (and it doesn't incorrectly turn the background dark) the background is the same white as in 91.10.0.

2. In the following table if a add-on theme in 102.0b2 has a black background I also tried selecting the built-in light theme before selecting the add-on theme again. In every case that made no difference.

Theme 91.10.0 102.0b2

color palette White Black
abstract114 White Black
autumn path White Black
dark green geometry White Black
dream of waves White White
glass blood White Black
horizontal wood White White
sea shells on beach White Black
soft aqua White White
soft drawing paper White White
woody persona White White

I'm using the same profile for both versions. My system is not using a Windows theme, its just using a background picture.

I have compact headers, folderflags, headertools improved and manually sort folders enabled. ImportExportTools NG is installed but disabled. I tried disabling all of them, exiting and restarting while using a theme (color palette) that incorrectly has a black background with 102.0b2. It made no difference.

All of the add-on themes I tested using 91.10.0 and in 102.0b2 should have a white background. 6 out of 11 didn't with 102.0b2. That seems too many to blame the add-on authors.

The light theme is light grey when used by itself in 102.b2. The light theme should have the same color as 91.10.0 (white).
.

Comment 1

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

All of the add-on themes I tested using 91.10.0 and in 102.0b2 should have a white background. 6 out of 11 didn't with 102.0b2. That seems too many to blame the add-on authors.

This is not an issue, is the new Theming engine we inherit from Firefox.

If a theme styles the primary toolbar with background color dark enough that a white text is needed to ensure AAA contrast and readability, the entire UI switches to light or dark styling to follow the theme.

Firefox implemented an extra feature which allows overriding the "content" body to light or dark, disregarding the selected theme (E.g.: dark toolbar and light body, or vice-versa).
We didn't port that feature because it simply adds unnecessary complexity and behaves differently depending if the section is chrome (mail tab, content tab, etc) or content (account setup, address book, etc.)

The light theme is light grey when used by itself in 102.b2. The light theme should have the same color as 91.10.0 (white).

Are you talking about the built-in light theme? That comes from Firefox so if the color scheme changed, that one is on them.

Pinging Richard to double check this, but this is leaning towards wontfix for me.

Comment 2

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

Yes, the theming has changed in the Mozilla code we use. You can also install the themes in Firefox and you will see that the toolbar area uses the dark background -> the context menus on all pages, also the light settings or Add-on manager pages, are dark. Or the AppMenu is dark too. For me the light settings page with the dark context menu looks a bit odd.

We did the dark in-content pages by purpose to be consistent with the main tab which is dark too.

Comment 3

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Marking this as INVALID per comment 1 and comment 2.
TLDR:

• Current themeing behavior is on purpose
• The entire UI changes to reflect the themed toolbar (dark toolbar = dark UI and light toolbar = light UI)
• The color changes to the light theme come from m-c

Comment 4

[Eric Moore]

I realize you're not going to change anything. But I'd like to provide you some feedback anyways, hoping you might find it useful some day.

"If a theme styles the primary toolbar with background color dark enough that a white text is needed to ensure AAA contrast and readability, the entire UI switches to light or dark styling to follow the theme."

I've used the seashells on the beach theme periodically for years. There were some legibility problems but it was okay once the button was highlighted. I also had muscle memory. Now I have problems seeing the white text against the light background of the theme AND it changes the other panes to use a dark background (which I strongly dislike). So now I no longer use one of my favorite themes.

There are plenty of other themes I can use but I wanted to make the point that what works well for Firefox doesn't necessarily work well for Thunderbird. If I get a dark background on Netflix as soon as I watch something its gone. I will see it on some other sites but if I go to washingtonpost.com or freshnews.org or fool.com or dzone.com its also gone. But I will see the dark background the entire time I use Thunderbird.

Personally I'd prefer you let me choose whether to use a light or dark background by selecting the light or dark theme before selecting the lightweight theme I want to use. However if you're going to do something unexpected behind their back "for the users own good" Thunderbird should do something like add one line to the activity manager log. Otherwise it seems like a bug to many users.