378048 - combo boxes, text boxes, etc. not usable when system colors are modified (i.e., white text on white background)

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Core :: Widget: Win32, defect)

Description

[naveed]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.3) Gecko/20070309 Firefox/2.0.0.3
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.3) Gecko/20070309 Firefox/2.0.0.3

When system colors are modified, colors for components are not getting their colors  in the same manner other Windows applications are retrieving them. Specifically, when choose a dark background color (e.g., black) and a light foreground color (e.g., white), text boxes and combo boxes still have white backgrounds (the default). This seems to be a problem for Mozilla applications in general (Thunderbird has the same issue).

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. go to windows Display Properties
2. choose the Appearance tab
3. click Advanced
4. for the item combo box, choose Window
5. set BG color to black and FG color to white (top and bottom color combos, respectively
Actual Results:  
combo and text boxes still have a white BG

Expected Results:  
combo and text boxes should have a black BG

Comment 1

[naveed]

Modifying the 3D Objects item in Advanced Appearance doesn't help either; BG colors for 'boxes' remain white

Comment 2

[Mardeg]

The combo boxes changed to black BG with white text fine for me.

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.3) Gecko/20070309 Firefox/2.0.0.3

In Firefox, go to Tools -> Options, "Content" section, click "Colors..." button, and tick the box for "Use system colors"

Comment 3

[naveed]

Yes, I did enable the Use system colors checkbox.

But just to be clear, I'm talking about 'boxes' on the application's forms; and not what is rendered in the browser. 

For example, after setting the BG to black and the FG to white, go to: Tools -> Options -> Content -> Font & Colors page section and look at the "Default font" combobox.

When the combobox is *not* opened/pulled down, the BG is white and the text is white (only once the combobox is unfurled do you see the black BG and white FG)

Comment 4

[Mardeg]

Verifying WorksForMe - the combobox you mention in the options dialog, along with all other relevant widgets changed to black BG and white FG immediately when I changed the system's colors.
Someone please mark bug 379652 as a duplicate of this.

Comment 6

[naveed]

I've been able to reproduce this bug on several systems: my work system, my home system, and my laptop. Coworkers' systems also exhibit the same behavior. The bug is *always* there. And it is specific to Mozilla applications (i.e., Firefox, Thunderbird).

Are you guys testing on your development systems? Perhaps the presence of development libraries mediates proper behavior?

Comment 7

[Chris Salem]

A fix for this will help those with visual impairments get off of IE browsers.  Please hurry. :) 

Comment 8

[Greg Cook]

Attachment: Screenshot of obscured listboxes (and History sidebar)

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.8.1.9) Gecko/20071025 Firefox/2.0.0.9

Screenshot of obscured listboxes (and History sidebar)

Comment 9

[Greg Cook]

It seems the -moz-Field colour is being set to white whereas -moz-FieldText takes the Windows foreground value.  These two values are used heavily by the Classic theme.  The colour of the menulist text in the screenshot can be changed by editing line 57 of:

http://lxr.mozilla.org/mozilla1.8.0/source/themes/classic/global/win/menulist.css

After an hour's digging I can't find where -moz-Field is set though, to suggest a patch.

As a workaround, install a light-on-dark theme..

Comment 10

[Tom S]

This has been reported by "marc0303" during the Firefox UX IAmA. http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/19x7up/we_are_the_firefox_user_experience_team_this_is/c8s557p

Comment 11

[kungfoobar]

I have this issue too under Kubuntu 12.04 and 12.10 64bit.

Comment 12

[Stephen A Pohl [:spohl]]

We have switched to non-native theming for form controls on all platforms in bug 1535761. The new form controls support Windows High Contrast Mode.