2070290 - Newtab context menus no longer match user theme

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: New Tab Page, defect, P1)

Description

[Scott [:thecount] Downe]

Regression: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D311432

That was included in bug 2051742 which looks to maybe have multiple patches.

To test

1. Set newtab background to light if you have a dark theme, or dark if you have a light theme.
2. Click the shortcut context menu button.

Expected: Should match your theme.
Actual: It matches the wallpaper.

Comment 1

[Jim T]

Reopening: this was marked FIXED at filing time by accident, no patch has landed. Setting P1/S2. The regressing patch (D311432) is in browser/extensions/newtab, so it rides the trainhop; the 157 XPI cut Aug 31 likely carries it to release users this week, and Beta 156 ships Sep 15. Assignee left to Scott.

Comment 2

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

Set release status flags based on info from the regressing bug 2051742

:jbrown, since you are the author of the regressor, bug 2051742, could you take a look?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 3

[Hackbot]

This looks like CSS color-scheme inheritance rather than anything in the menu code.

browser/extensions/newtab/content-src/components/TopSites/_TopSites.scss applies the wallpaper-contrast-fix mixin (browser/extensions/newtab/content-src/styles/_mixins.scss) to .top-site-outer while the tile is hovered or .active, forcing color-scheme: light|dark from the .lightWallpaper/.darkWallpaper body class. The tile carries .active exactly while its menu is open. D311432 (443bdfc9eea4) swapped the old .context-menu div — styled from --newtab-* theme variables, which don't react to color-scheme — for <panel-list> (browser/extensions/newtab/content-src/components/TopSites/TopSite.jsx), whose tokens are light-dark()-based (--panel-list-background-color: var(--background-color-box), toolkit/content/widgets/panel-list/panel-list.tokens.css). A popover still inherits from its DOM parent, so the menu now resolves those tokens against the wallpaper's scheme instead of the theme's. The section menu has the same exposure — its panel-list sits under .section-context-wrapper, which also includes the mixin (browser/extensions/newtab/content-src/components/DiscoveryStreamComponents/CardSections/_CardSections.scss).

Proposed fix: re-assert the page's theme scheme on the menus instead of letting them inherit the wallpaper's. Record it as a custom property alongside the existing branches in browser/extensions/newtab/content-src/styles/_theme.scss (--newtab-theme-color-scheme: light, dark under [lwt-newtab-brighttext] at #89-92 and in the prefers-color-scheme: dark block at #120-122), then apply color-scheme: var(--newtab-theme-color-scheme) to panel-list globally next to the existing rule in browser/extensions/newtab/content-src/styles/activity-stream.scss, so all four migrated menus are covered at once. color-scheme: initial is not a substitute — it pins light-dark() to its light branch and breaks dark themes, the same caveat already noted in browser/extensions/newtab/content-src/components/Base/_Grid.scss.

No existing test asserts menu theming. browser/extensions/newtab/test/browser/browser_topsites_section.js and browser/extensions/newtab/test/browser/browser_topsites_contextMenu_options.js already open the panel-list and are the natural place to add a check that the computed color-scheme of panel-list matches the document root's with a contrasting wallpaper class applied.

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Suggested severity: S3
The menu is mis-themed but not broken: --panel-list-background-color and --panel-list-text-color flip together, so it stays legible and fully usable, and only users whose wallpaper luminance differs from their theme see it.

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Comment 4

[Irene Ni [:ini]]

Attachment: Bug 2070290 - Keep New Tab panel-list menus on the browser theme when a wallpaper is set. r=#home-newtab-journeys-reviewers-rotation

Comment 5

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/984bb1989afc
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/b6f962f02a53
Keep New Tab panel-list menus on the browser theme when a wallpaper is set. r=thecount

Comment 6

[Norisz Fay [:noriszfay]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/b6f962f02a53

Comment 7

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

The patch landed in nightly and beta is affected.
:ini, is this bug important enough to require an uplift?

• If yes, please nominate the patch for beta approval.
  • See https://wiki.mozilla.org/Release_Management/Requesting_an_Uplift for documentation on how to request an uplift.
• If no, please set status-firefox156 to wontfix.

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 8

[Donal Meehan [:dmeehan]]

Setting Fx156 to wontfix since this can train hop

Comment 9

[Simona Rosu [:srosu], Ecosystem QA]

I have verified this issue using the latest Firefox Nightly 158.0a1 (Build ID: 20260921195707) and Firefox Beta 157.0b4 (Build ID: 20260921090921) on Windows 10 x64, macOS 15.7.3, and Ubuntu 24.04.1.

• The context menu of shortcuts matches the user’s theme.