[Bug] Tabs are disappearing briefly (blinking / re-rendering)

[thnee]

Abstract

The GUI produces a type of "blinking effect" during normal usage. The tabs disappear briefly, the sidebar panel is blank, and then the tabs are visible again.

Related issue

Let me describe a similar issue, just to clarify that I think this is a different issue. Sometimes, it seems like the tabs are reloaded from storage. The tabs disappear, and there is a loading animation which takes a couple of seconds, and then all the tabs are loaded up again. (It seems like the code is reloading tabs from disk into memory. It seems like this is an intentional behavior. Although I am not sure why this happens).

Expected result

GUI remains visible at all times, like every other normal GUI program.

Actual result

The tabs disappear briefly, the body of the sidebar panel is blank, and then the tabs are visible again.

This happens every time when switching to the Firefox window from another app window (with Alt-Tab).

Most of the time it happens very quickly, like 20 milliseconds. Then it is noticeable, but only slightly annoying. But sometimes it takes a lot longer, like 500 milliseconds. Then it is a lot more annoying.

It looks like it is re-rendering the GUI content. Nothing else is changing. - There is no loading animation. - The tab structure/order is not changing. - The scrollbar position is not changing.

The only content that is blinking are the tabs inside the sidebar panel. Everything else is behaving in a normal expected way, and is not blinking. - The TST sidebar panel background and border is not blinking. - The color is not changing. There is no white flash when using dark theme. - Other parts of the Firefox Window are not blinking. - Other GUI programs on the system are not blinking.

Environment

• Platform (OS): AMD laptop with Windows 11 Pro 23H2
• Version of Firefox: 128.0.3 (64-bit)
• Version (or revision) of Tree Style Tab: 4.0.20 (2024.6.28)

This issue happens on both my Intel desktop with Windows 10, and on my AMD laptop with Windows 11. But the problem is generally worse on my AMD laptop, this is where the time is usually longer, like 500 milliseconds.

This issue happens on all displays, such as internal laptop display, and external USB-C display, and external DisplayPort display.