271864 - Unable to set NO Background Color as Default in Composer Preferences

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Core :: DOM: Editor, defect)

Description

[Cliff Palmer]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; WinNT4.0; en-US; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20040910
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; WinNT4.0; en-US; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20040910

Earlier versions of Composer (through Mozilla 1.3) did NOT set "bgcolor"
attribute in composer unless users explicitly declared a backgroung color.  This
was always the case in the old Netscape 4.x family.  Mailnews Preferences for
composition do not inlcude the provision to NOT DECLARE a background color
(simply do not generate the "bgcolor" attribute).  This option IS available when
using the composer;'s feature to set the background color, by selecting the
"default" button.  The same option should be in preferences to enable the user
to set the "default" selection as their default preference.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1.  Select Composer
2.  Select the "Choose color for background" icon in the Formatting toolbar.
3.  Select the Default button

Actual Results:  
Generated HTML does not include the "bgcolor" attribute.  Viewer/recipient sees
background color according to their system settings.

Expected Results:  
This setting needs to be part of the Mailnews Composition Preferences.  The
"msgcompose.background_color" configuration element does not have a setting to
indicate "DO NOT SET".

In versions of Mailnews up through Mozilla release 1.3, and in Netscape versions
4.x, the "bgcolor" attribute was not included unless the user explicitly
declared a background color (either in the composed article or in their
preference settings).  The new default to ALWAYS have a "bgcolor" setting was
introduced on an unsuspecting public without announcement.

Comment 1

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
Firefox:     http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5beta1.html
Seamonkey:   http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Comment 2

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This bug has been automatically resolved after a period of inactivity (see above
comment). If anyone thinks this is incorrect, they should feel free to reopen it.

Comment 3

[Cliff Palmer]

(In reply to comment #2)
> This bug has been automatically resolved after a period of inactivity (see above
> comment). If anyone thinks this is incorrect, they should feel free to reopen it.

The bug still exists.  For people who choose to leave "white" as the system
background color of choice, the bug simply is not seen.  For those who choose to
have any other color as their active window background (i.e. "Window" appearance
setting) color, Mozilla will always set the "bgcolor" attribute to white
(#ffffff) in composed messages, unless the sender changes it.  This means that
messages received from Mozilla users are always white in background color, and
can be an annoyance to users who prefer to have their received messages default
to their system color settings.

From the lack of response to this bug, it appears that there are very few people
who have any interest in resolving the problem, but I cannot let it simply
expire from time.  Other mail tools do not have this problem; it is a shame that
Mozilla continues to have it.

Comment 4

[Serge Gautherie (:sgautherie)]

MozillaAS v1.7.x is not supported anymore.

Can you reproduce with SeaMonkey v1.1.9 ?

Comment 5

[Cliff Palmer]

Yes, the problem behaves in all SeaMonkey releases (through v1.1.9) and also Thunderbird (through v2.0.0.14).

Because the vast majority of users accept the default background color (white or #FFFFFF) for their E-Mail tool, they do not notice the problem.  I use custom colors for my desktop, and can immediately spot an E-Mail sent by a Mozilla-based E-Mail tool (SeaMonkey or Thunderbird), because the message background color is not my default background color)

Thanks for any help in resolving this issue.  Perhaps the answer would be to add a "Windows or System Default" setting to the Options/Display values.

Comment 6

[Michelle Funches - QA]

This bug has been marked for regression and or closure.
I tested this with Thunderbird 31.0 
Edit>Preferences>Display>Colors; also checked Compositon
Set background color as new, removed check for Allow content to choose...
Thunderbird 38.7.1
Edit>Preferences>Composition>Background Color
Considering this I will mark this issue as Resolved-WORKSFORME. 
If anyone can still reproduce it, feel free to reopen the issue and provide updated steps/links and version info.

Comment 7

[Michelle Funches - QA]

Adding clarity: I can accept default color, change and maintain a new color, or select to Use system colors