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(Mozilla, you've screwed up!) Colour pallette is not showing colours.

  • 5 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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This problem only seems to have occurred since Firefox went to the tab based Options, rather than the previous pop up Options window.

I am a low vision user, and in the first instance, I can ONLY use the High Contrast Black colour scheme in Windows. As you may know, this is not an Aero scheme, and I can't use Aero schemes. I say this only because, by playing around with the settings, I think I've established a link between my problem and the fact that I don't, and can't, use an Aero scheme.

Okay...now for my actual problem. I recently decided to refresh Firefox, to get it back to get it back to it's cleanest possible state. I have never used Sync, so I set that up prior to doing the refresh. I do the refresh, and, lo ahd behold, all my carefully customised colour settings that I've had for years, and have maintained through every Firefox update, had gone! Not only that but however that 'Sync' thing i ssupposed to work, it isn't, and I have no idea how to make it work. On top of that, until I get my customised font colours sorted, I can't use half the links on the options page

So, I thought to myself, damn, but, I can get myself out of this, as I have had to do in the past with a new computer. I opened up my newly refreshed Firefox, and went to Options. It opened up in a tab, which was different to the last time I did this, when it was a pop up window, but I thought, hey, it doesn't matter, because I'm sure those good souls at Mozilla will have retained all the funcionality of the old pop up window.

How wrong could I have been!

Once you get to the 'Content' page in Options, you click on the 'Colours' button, and there were my usual customising tools. I use the colour pallettes to define the colours of both the 'Visited' and 'Unvisited' links in my browser. I need this to be specific colours, so my eyes can quickly see which text are links, and which have previously been visited or not.

Here's where the problem is. You click on the little rectangles that open up the colour pallette, and the grid opens, and where there should be colours, there are black squares. Not only that, but there are no tool tips to indicate what the colour actually is under each black square. Not only this, but when you look at the four buttons that are lableed 'Unvisited' and 'Visited', only the two on the left are labelled, not the two on the right, and the ones on the left seem to be wrongly labelled anyway.

I have noticed that, if you switch Windows colour schemes to an Aero scheme, the colours appear, but in reverse. I think someone is going to tell me that the pallettes will only work under Aero...but that wasn't the case with the previous pop up options window that Firefox used to use. Once again, I stress, I can't use Aero schemes as the High Contrast Black scheme is not an Aero scheme, and most visually impaired people use 'High Contrast Black'.

I am well and trully screwed thanks to Mozilla. I have lost all my freedom, and I am very depressed because I can't carry out all the essential web based tasks I need to do to get through a normal day as a visually impaired person. Online shopping, online banking, online news, and a ton of other things.

Thanks Mozilla, you've seriously ruined everything by messing around with things that aint broke!

This problem only seems to have occurred since Firefox went to the tab based Options, rather than the previous pop up Options window. I am a low vision user, and in the first instance, I can ONLY use the High Contrast Black colour scheme in Windows. As you may know, this is not an Aero scheme, and I can't use Aero schemes. I say this only because, by playing around with the settings, I think I've established a link between my problem and the fact that I don't, and can't, use an Aero scheme. Okay...now for my actual problem. I recently decided to refresh Firefox, to get it back to get it back to it's cleanest possible state. I have never used Sync, so I set that up prior to doing the refresh. I do the refresh, and, lo ahd behold, all my carefully customised colour settings that I've had for years, and have maintained through every Firefox update, had gone! Not only that but however that 'Sync' thing i ssupposed to work, it isn't, and I have no idea how to make it work. On top of that, until I get my customised font colours sorted, I can't use half the links on the options page So, I thought to myself, damn, but, I can get myself out of this, as I have had to do in the past with a new computer. I opened up my newly refreshed Firefox, and went to Options. It opened up in a tab, which was different to the last time I did this, when it was a pop up window, but I thought, hey, it doesn't matter, because I'm sure those good souls at Mozilla will have retained all the funcionality of the old pop up window. How wrong could I have been! Once you get to the 'Content' page in Options, you click on the 'Colours' button, and there were my usual customising tools. I use the colour pallettes to define the colours of both the 'Visited' and 'Unvisited' links in my browser. I need this to be specific colours, so my eyes can quickly see which text are links, and which have previously been visited or not. Here's where the problem is. You click on the little rectangles that open up the colour pallette, and the grid opens, and where there should be colours, there are black squares. Not only that, but there are no tool tips to indicate what the colour actually is under each black square. Not only this, but when you look at the four buttons that are lableed 'Unvisited' and 'Visited', only the two on the left are labelled, not the two on the right, and the ones on the left seem to be wrongly labelled anyway. I have noticed that, if you switch Windows colour schemes to an Aero scheme, the colours appear, but in reverse. I think someone is going to tell me that the pallettes will only work under Aero...but that wasn't the case with the previous pop up options window that Firefox used to use. Once again, I stress, I can't use Aero schemes as the High Contrast Black scheme is not an Aero scheme, and most visually impaired people use 'High Contrast Black'. I am well and trully screwed thanks to Mozilla. I have lost all my freedom, and I am very depressed because I can't carry out all the essential web based tasks I need to do to get through a normal day as a visually impaired person. Online shopping, online banking, online news, and a ton of other things. Thanks Mozilla, you've seriously ruined everything by messing around with things that aint broke!

All Replies (5)

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This change was made several months ago in Firefox 38, so the forum volunteers are aware of this problem. We don't know how it will be fixed because by default, Firefox disables background colors when you use a Windows high contrast theme. That is on the developers' plate.

For now, we can suggest two possible workarounds:

(1) Temporarily stop Firefox from adapting to high contrast themes

"3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options > Content

Click the "Colors" button, then change the drop-down control below "Override the colors specified by the page with my selections above:" to Never and OK the change.

(Screen shot attached)

After making your changes, you can switch it back.

(2) Temporarily switch back to the old pop-up style dialog

(A) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.

(B) In the search box above the list, type or paste pref and pause while the list is filtered

(C) Double-click the browser.preferences.inContent preference to switch it from true to false

(Note: I don't know whether the old dialog will be in Firefox forever or is a transitional feature. As you've probably noticed, the long-term trend is to remove things that pop up.)

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Okay, well, having submitted my rant...submitted after about four hours of going round the internet in circles trying to answer my own question, I made one last search for an answer...and guess what?...I found it!

The bods at Mozilla that design this software and then update it, should consider that the person who decides how I want my Firefox to work, is me!...and therefore, don't go changing stuff without a full explanation of how to change it back. I have discovered the about:config page...went down to browser.preferences.inContent line, and changed the value to False...hey presto, solved!!! Just tell me this, why not offer that option in the Options?

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Oh...forgot to mention...the colour palette?...doesn't work in a tab...it only works properly in the pop up Options window! You probably need to fix that, as most of my stress today could have been avoided if it had worked!

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At the risk of repeating myself:

The color picker works in the new page UNLESS you are using a high contrast theme. The developers are aware of that, but I haven't researched the time frame for a fix.

As noted earlier, Mozilla has been removing individual pop-up windows and move them into tabs for a couple years now, so that is the future direction and yes there will be some bumps in the road along the way.

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Are you using the default theme or a custom theme (about:addons)?

  • Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

  • Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window