Bookmark text background is "broken" when using High Contrast Windows theme

[Hunam]

Need Brave to ignore Windows Theme settings or is there a way to just apply a text background override somehow?..

Chrome bookmark bar background with high contrast

[Mattches]

@Hunam,
Thanks for reaching out.
Assuming you’re using the Same as Windows OS setting in theme – if you change the theme to the built in Brave Dark theme, do you get the same effect?

[Hunam]

The wish is that when I apply any theme, Brave should ignore anything windows.

I don’t even have anything black in my High Contrast Theme, except background.

[Theme]
; Windows - IDS_THEME_DISPLAYNAME_AERO
DisplayName=Gino Gray
ThemeId={30A4D7D0-E8D2-467C-BC88-C9A557F57D63}

[Control Panel\Desktop]
PicturePosition=4

[VisualStyles]
Path=%SystemRoot%\Resources\Themes\Aero\AeroLite.msstyles
ColorStyle=NormalColor
Size=NormalSize
AutoColorization=0
ColorizationColor=0X7F000000
VisualStyleVersion=10
HighContrast=3

[MasterThemeSelector]
MTSM=RJSPBS

[Control Panel\Colors]
ActiveBorder=35 35 35
ActiveTitle=35 35 35
AppWorkspace=35 35 35
Background=0 0 0
ButtonAlternateFace=192 192 192
ButtonDkShadow=35 35 35
ButtonFace=35 35 35
ButtonHilight=35 35 35
ButtonLight=35 35 35
ButtonShadow=75 75 75
ButtonText=220 220 220
GradientActiveTitle=192 192 192
GradientInactiveTitle=128 128 128
GrayText=128 128 128
Hilight=75 5 5
HilightText=252 252 252
HotTrackingColor=100 100 100
InactiveBorder=35 35 35
InactiveTitle=35 35 35
InactiveTitleText=192 192 192
InfoText=220 220 220
InfoWindow=35 35 35
Menu=35 35 35
MenuBar=25 25 25
MenuHilight=128 128 128
MenuText=230 230 230
Scrollbar=35 35 35
TitleText=220 220 220

[Hunam]

It really seems that “Same as Windows” doesn’t use actual registry entries for theme colors. Light looks exactly the same as “Same as Windows”.

[petemill]

Looks like there’s a couple of things going on here:

1. “Same as Windows” is no different to Light or Dark, it just means that the brave built-in Light or Dark theme will be selected based on whether Windows’ own Light or Dark setting is set. It does not control whether or not more colors are retrieved from the Windows OS theme. It’s a default, or a helpful tool, for the majority of users who do not want the browser light / dark style choice to differ from the rest of the OS.

2. That the background text is using that weird background color, different to the toolbar background color definitely can be considered a bug that we could fix. However, it could also be considered a feature. Brave (and Chromium) knows that you have turned on High Contrast via Windows. The bookmark text foreground color on the dark toolbar color could be considered not high contrast enough for accessibility reasons, and uses the most contrasting combination possible. If I’m understanding your complaint right, it’s that the color stands out as different from the rest of the toolbar background color. This is something we can certainly look in to.

[Hunam]

1. Got it. Intuitively I thought it would try to use Windows colors.

2. You got it exactly right. In my case use of High Contrast theme in windows isn’t really aimed at getting the high contrast UI, but minimalistic, plain look, without getting into gutting windows theme files and registry editing. And when Brave tries to “help” me “knowing” I’ve got High Contrast theme going, it only makes a mess out of its UI.

The way I see this “bug” fixed is when you don’t select “Same as Windows”, Brave should ignore your Windows theme preferences and not adjust bookmarks text if it’s High Contrast theme. Or have a checkbox there saying “Do not adjust for High Contrast” or some such.

Thanks for looking into it!