Not sure if this can help,

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/nosquint-plus/ Please try NoSquint Plus Manage site-specific zoom levels and color settings

The color I want to change is in Firefox itself -- the color of about:blank. This solution enables changing color in websites -- that is not my problem.

To be clear: This reply from FredMcD did NOT solve the problem.

I do thank FredMcD for his help.

Go to the Mozilla Add-ons Web Page {web Link} (There’s a lot of good stuff here) and search for what you want.

Thank you for the further suggestion about the add-ons.

I went the page and reviewed a few dozen of the listings. They do not appear to address my problem, and they are designed (apparently) for purposes that I do not share.

I am not a web page developer, just someone who uses Firefox. Moreover, I do not want to get involved in web page development.

(I am very simple: I use a Lenovo laptop with Windows 10 and Firefox. I do not use Edge or any Google product.)

For over a decade, my "background" color on my browser has been a relatively comfortable on the eyes light yellow/cream, (This was true with a number of different browsers. With the new changes to Firefox, that has been taken away. What I have now is bright white -- most uncomfortable. I want just a comfortable on the eyes, light solid color in the background.

And something simple to do.

Many thanks

The "New Tab Override" extension has the option to open a blank page with a selected background color when a new tab is opened.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/new-tab-override/

After installing this extension, one of the options in the drop-down list on the options page for this extension is "background color". When you select this option, a color selection button appears, where you can choose any color you want.

To get to this options page for the New Tab Override extension: 1. Select Menu -> Add-ons 2. Select Extensions 3. Find the New Tab Override extension 4. click the Options button for this extension

Thank Wolfgrr.

I believe I added the extension. I believe I found a color I want to try. I believe I chose it. But about:blank remains white.

What am I supposed to do after I choose a color? How do i get from choosing a color to actually changing the color of the about:blank page to the new color?

Please remember I know nothing about any technical matters. I am just someone who uses a computer to do work. In this case, I find most uncomfortable the change of my home page from a comfortable yellow/cream (a color I had for over ten years -- maybe for 15 years) to a bright white.

Thank you, again.

Hi WBM1, about:blank is not a real web page, it's more of an empty frame. You can set a background color for the frame that web pages load into, and that will color the background on about:config. It might also bleed into some normal web pages that have a transparent background, so I'll deal with that separately in a minute.

This goes into a userChrome.css file:

@-moz-document url(chrome://browser/content/browser.xul) {
  browser[type="content-primary"], 
  browser[type="content"] {
    background: #fffdd0 !important;
  }
}

(That's a color code for cream that I found on the web and you can vary it to your taste.)

More about the userChrome.css file if you're new to it:

https://www.userchrome.org/how-create-userchrome-css.html

For general browsing and to avoid weird effects when printing, I also have these in the userContent.css file:

@media not print{
  /* Create a global off-white background on screen */
  html {
    background-color: #fafafa !important;
  }
}
@media print {
  /* Create a global white background for printing */
  html {
    background-color: #ffffff !important;
  }
}

Since I'm filling color on the html element, the page's rules for the body background color will appear in front of my color; you only see my faint gray if the page "assumes" a white background and leaves it unspecified.

You know what might be simpler? Make a local HTML file and use that as your home page instead of about blank. Code could be:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<title>My Home</title>
<style>
@media screen {
  html, body {
    background-color: #fffdd0 !important;
  }
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<!-- Nothing to see here! -->
</body>
</html>

Save that as blankhome.html in some convenient location, open it in Firefox, then use the "drag to home icon" to make it your home page. See: How to set the home page.

Dear Jscher2000:

Thank you for your kind response.

I have to confess that I may have understood as much as 10% of what you wrote. (Also, see my last response to WolfGrr, who kindly gave me advice that seems to run in a different direction.)

Your last detail about making a "local HTML" sounds potentially helpful, but I have no idea how to do that.

Please note, I do not have a website. I do not want to have a website. I do not want to learn the mysteries of software/coding/programming/whatever. I am just an older person who would like the changes that Mozilla introduces for its own reasons not impact me adversely quite as much as they have recently (by making my home page bright white).

Given my ignorance, pehaps there is nothing I can do. Perhaps I will just have to learn to live with this bright white.

But I will read all suggestions and endeavor to understand whatever I can.

Thank you, again.

Hi WBM1, to create a local web page:

(1) Copy/paste the HTML code of the page into a new blank Notepad document

You also can use a better editor, but beware of getting "RTF" or other formatting codes in the page with too fancy an editor.

(2) Save the document as a plain text file, but override the file name by using quotation marks on both sides:

"blankhome.html"

Otherwise, Notepad adds .txt on the end, which won't work.

(3) Open blankhome.html in Firefox and check the color. If you want a different color, edit the hex code in the document in Notepad and save. Then reload in Firefox (Ctrl+r) to check the effect.

(4) When the page is ready, make blankhome.html your home page using the steps in the article: How to set the home page

The nice thing is, over time, you may decide you want a family photo there, or some frequently used links. This is your page and you can do whatever you want with it if you get some tips on editing it.

You know what might be the easiest of all?

Look at *ALL* the options on the "Option" drop-down on the "New Tab Override" extension's options page. (This is not the same as "about:blank".)

Find the option called "background color" and select it.

Then choose the color you want from the color picker available by clicking on the color button just below the title "Background Color"

If this is what you did, and it didn't work for you, then perhaps there's something wrong with the extension. It works great for me.

Ah! I see. It doesn't work for the "home page". Only for new tabs.

Dear Jscher2000:

Thank you for your third suggestion.

(1) I confess, I have no idea about Notepad. As far as I can recall, I have never seen it or used it. I just looked at the list of programs installed on my computer and cannot find a listing for Notepad.

(2) I may have saved something as a plain text file, but I have no firm recollection of that. At least, I have encountered the term "plain text" before.

(3) I have no idea how to open an "html" file in Firefox. I have never encountered "hex code" before. I also do not know how to "reload."

(4) I do not know how to make anything other than blank;home my home page.

Sorry, but I really am ignorant.

Thank you,again.

Dear WoofGrrr:

Thank you again.

I have found that I did choose the color. And now the new color shows up in a "new tab" if I open a ""new tab." But I want the new color to show all the time as the home page color. How do I move from a "new tab" to a home page?

Many thanks, again.

Hi WBM1, Notepad is an ancient program that exists on all installations of Windows. Windows 10 doesn't have the old style applications list, but you can type note in the search box and see a familiar blue notepad icon you can click the start the program.

I think the steps I listed and the link I gave cover the rest.

Dear Jscher2000:

Thank you for your response to my last message, part (1). I will see if I can find and start the program.

What about parts (2), (3) and (4) of my last message?

As I said, sorry, but I really am ignorant.

Thank you, again.

WBM1 said

The color I want to change is in Firefox itself -- the color of about:blank. This solution enables changing color in websites -- that is not my problem.

I think that the extension FredMcD suggested (NoSquint Plus), will be your best bet ......

Please read what it says under 'About this extension' "

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/nosquint-plus/

Let's try it this way:

(1) Open the blankhome.html page on my website:

https://www.jeffersonscher.com/temp/blankhome.html

(2) Use the Save Page As feature to save it on your system somewhere

right-click the page > Save Page As

Firefox should show you a dialog to let you choose the location, or it might just go to your Downloads folder. I suggest saving it in your documents folder.

(3) Click the Downloads button on the toolbar (arrow design) and then click the first item to open the page from where you saved it

(4) Drag the tab for that page over to the Home icon (looks like a house -- someone recently called it a kennel!) and drop it there:

Firefox should ask you to confirm that you want this to be your new home page.

Then you're done.

Dear All:

Using the last suggsestions of Jscher2000 and the color choice suggestions of WoofGrr for using the extension to create a color for a new tab, I have made my home page anew as a yellow/cream tab. It seems to work. I could never have done this without the help of all of you. Thank you very much. I remain an old ignorant person, and you have been kind to me.

Peace

Now, if anyone is up to a new challenge: is there any way to change the color of the bookmarks column I have running on the right side of my Firefox screen? I used to have a comfortable to the eyes light tan/cream (not yellow!) but I lost that when Mozilla made the last changes. Now I have the same bright white I had for the home page. It is hard to look at the white.

Hi WBM1, is it the sidebar? The sidebar has a little "v" button next to the word Bookmarks that lets you switch to History (and possibly other things).

Also, what is the code for the color you ended up preferring?