The 'selected items' color randomly changes and I can't figure out why.
Hi everybody, I recently upgraded to Firefox 13, which appears to be the most stable browser version so far and I really like it. I have loved Firefox very much, having used it since somewhere between versions 2 and 3.
After upgrading to version 13 I noticed something that annoys me quite a bit. This may have been present before but I can't remember and I did not notice until now.
On my computer (Windows 7 x64 Ultimate) I have set the color of the 'selected items' (specifically text) to be lime green text on a slightly off black background. I chose this color scheme because it blends very well with Firefox itself (I have the NASA night launch theme), Windows Explorer, and many web pages that I have changed to a dark theme (using the Stylish browser extension). This color scheme has excellent contrast in areas with black text on a light background, as well as light text on a dark background. It has served me well.
After upgrading to Firefox 13 I have noticed that if the web page is dark with light text, the 'selected items' color changes to lime green text on a light grey background. (Less frequently, it changes instead to off-black text on a lime green background). I have not been able to isolate the threshold where this change occurs (meaning how dark the website background needs to be /how light the text needs to be for this to happen) nor have I found a solution.
This problem sometimes extends even to sites that have dark text on a light background: when tabs are switched, with no input fields clicked and the address bar is not clicked. This very page (Firefox support) is apparently vulnerable as well.
This problem only happens on rendered web pages. Firefox's menus, buttons and toolbars, as well as all other programs and Windows itself, are unaffected.
I want the 'selected items' to remain as I have set it, and not deviate regardless of the apparent contrast or color scheme of the web page being displayed.
[Edit #1]: Interestingly, as I was copying the information from about:support I noticed that it is affected as well.
Any suggestions? Thanks so much, and I am sorry for the long-winded description. tl;dr look at the pictures.
Modified by i_am_man
All Replies (2)
It is always best to avoid making changes to the selected text colors.
Firefox uses an algorithm to check if the contrast is sufficient and will swap text and background colors if that test fails.
Thanks for your post, I understand the behavior now. Still, is there a way to override it? I really would like to keep the selected text colors I have.
Can Firefox be compiled from modified source code and still be updated automatically?
I would be willing to take the time to learn how to write an add-on that changes this, but I am not a programmer. Supposing I were to learn how to program sufficiently well to create an add-on of my own, how difficult would this behavior be to remove?
Modified by i_am_man