"change theme colors" cannot be undone and breaks other theming features

[doctorsangria]

Captchas

• [x] I have read the instructions.
• [x] I have searched existing issues and avoided creating duplicates.
• [x] I am not filing an enhancement request.
• [x] I have checked that this issue cannot be reproduced on Mozilla Firefox.
• [x] I have checked that this issue can be reproduced once I removed all my Mods and Custom CSS.

What happened?

I clicked "change theme colors" to try the new feature once in like November and I haven't been able to back to my all-black theme since. If you have a color theme and you go to about:addons and try to use a built-in Firefox theme, they apply, kind of, but in a weird way where they kind of overlay over each other. Switching between the Firefox dark and light themes multiple times will showcase the bug quite clearly. Zen themes don't work at all, and restarting the browser will just bring the color theme back.

I expect the custom themes to completely disable when enabling any other theme, either Firefox or Zen. Or, maybe there should be a button in the color picker popup window itself that turns the feature off.

I really don't want to have any kind of color theme since I use an OLED and want to reduce burn-in for static elements like the browser UI.

Version

1.10.3b

What platform are you seeing the problem on?

Windows - x64

What component is this issue related to?

Mods / Themes

Relevant log output if applicable

[punk-dev-robot]

What are my options now? uninstall and start from scratch?

[doctorsangria]

you can disable the feature in about:config, i believe its either zen.theme.gradient or zen.theme.gradient.show-custom-colors

[JotaRata]

I confirm this can be triggered by #7369

Also, disabling zen.theme.gradient and zen.theme.gradient.show-custom-colors does not fix the issue and completely disables/break userChrome themes

[dosubot[bot]]

Hi, @doctorsangria. I'm Dosu, and I'm helping the desktop team manage their backlog. I'm marking this issue as stale.

Issue Summary:

• The issue involves Firefox's "change theme colors" feature, which cannot be undone and conflicts with other themes.
• You suggested adding a button to disable this feature, especially for OLED users.
• Punk-dev-robot inquired about solutions, and you proposed disabling certain settings in about:config.
• JotaRata confirmed the issue can be triggered by another problem (#7369) and noted that disabling the settings breaks userChrome themes.

Next Steps:

• Please let me know if this issue is still relevant to the latest version of the desktop repository by commenting here.
• If there is no further activity, the issue will be automatically closed in 7 days.

Thank you for your understanding and contribution!

[doctorsangria]

Still happens, though now it seems even with a fresh install of Zen I can't apply any themes from the Firefox store, they just don't work right anymore. I can't disable acrylic either when I toggle widget.transparent-windows and zen.theme.acrylic-elements to false.

[1randomguy]

Same problem. Disabling zen.theme.gradient fixed it, however I don't understand how there can be an option to apply custom theme colors without any way of removing them in the same ui, that's just a crazy design decision to me...

[doctorsangria]

Agree, the cutesy UI for the color picker needs to be scrapped entirely IMO for something intuitive and simple. Its just got too many problems.

1. No way to disable it
2. A skeumorphic knob for grain intensity for some reason. Why do this if we're all using mice (and I can't even imagine having to adjust that with a trackpad)?
3. Why can't you see the colors on the color wheel except for where you've placed the selector?
4. It still seems to be broken - the color I chose before the update remains underneath, mixing with whatever I pick. And now, unlike before, disabling zen.theme.gradient actually doesn't get rid of it - it does disable any theme I applied after the update, but I can't get rid of the old blue theme no matter what. I'm probably going to have to reinstall again.

And I could go on. Every single time the color picked is updated the notes say something like "improved UI" or "fixed bugs" but it really feels like it's only gotten worse with time

[1randomguy]

Yeah, and at the same time I feel so whatever about theming. I'd honestly kind of prefer it to be removed completely and development efforts being focused on more meaningful improvements and bugfixes... I don't need a browser that's a specific shade of red and purple, I need one that offers a good workflow, doesn't disrupt me with weird bugs, and respects my privacy.

[dosubot[bot]]

Hi, @doctorsangria. I'm Dosu, and I'm helping the desktop team manage their backlog and am marking this issue as stale.

Issue Summary:

• You reported that Firefox's "change theme colors" feature in version 1.10.3b cannot be undone, causing custom themes to improperly overlay built-in themes.
• This issue prevents reverting to an all-black theme, which is important for OLED users.
• Attempts to disable the feature via about:config settings either fail or break userChrome themes, as you and JotaRata confirmed.
• The problem persists even after fresh installs, with themes from the Firefox store not applying correctly and acrylic settings not disabling.
• Both you and 1randomguy have criticized the UI design and suggested removing or simplifying the theming feature.

Next Steps:

• Please let me know if this issue is still relevant with the latest version of the desktop repository by commenting here to keep the discussion open.
• Otherwise, I will automatically close this issue in 7 days.

Thank you for your understanding and contribution!