High-contrast theme not working properly with Firefox 73
I updated Firefox to version 73.0.1 and Windows 10 Pro to version 1909 at last week. Good news is that update fixed several accessibility issues with Firefox's interface wtih add-ons (i.e. invisible buttons became visible). Bad news is that key functionality in webpages broke down.
Attached are example screenshots from Google main page and Foreca weather service's 10 day forecast for Jyväskylä, Finland. In Google's case "Google Search" and "I'm Feeling Lucky" text is white on black as should be but buttons also have thick white borders around them (not present before update), which makes reading text difficult. In Foreca's site its propably something similar but there is so much white colour involved that I'm unable to read anything.
Can I somehow fix this issue myself? If not where should I report this issue?
Google: https://www.google.fi/ Foreca: https://www.foreca.fi/Finland/Jyvaskyla/10vrk
P.S. On page used for sending this message "Post Question" button has similar thick border but in light blue instead of white. Much easier to read than in posted example cases.
All Replies (3)
Hi Timoteus, please ignore the spam message promoting an unofficial phone number.
Firefox 73 adjusted how background colors work in High Contrast mode so you can see the page a bit more as it was designed. I think that was improved with the 73.0.1 update, but is not yet perfected. If you prefer the old approach, here is how to turn off the new one:
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste backp and pause while the list is filtered
(3) Double-click the browser.display.permit_backplate preference to switch the value from true to false
I don't know whether that will take effect on the next page reload or only after shutting down and restarting Firefox.
Hi jscher2000,
Thank you for your assistance. Making these changes do not require restarting of Firefox. This brought into my mind addiotional question: Is it possible to map keayboard commands to activate/deactivate these kinds of funcions in Firefox?
In principle new approach is an improvement as currently many websites have either invisible buttons or invisible text fields which somewhat complicate their use. However at the moment there seems to be quite many websites which are either partially or completely incompatible with new approach. Therefore I would appreciate ability to easily switch between these approaches as required.
Best regards, Timoteus
Hi Timoteus, since the backplate preference is not in any menu and does not have a toolbar button, I don't think there is any more convenient way to access it. Hopefully it will get refined in future versions.
You could keep the about:config page open in a tab somewhere to make it a bit quicker to access. When you type ab in the address bar Firefox should show a "Switch to Tab" action to focus that tab.