Label Text Color Overriden by List Text Color

[Huidong]

I noticed this issue when I recently tried a dark background with light text (NOT dark mode though, just changing the colors of the content components, i.e. list, tree, etc).

Specifically, the text color of the labels, which is still the default black, is overridden by the now light text color of the list. This renders the label text unreadable as the label background colors are also light-themed. I also have a screenshot to show this:

xyplorer_label-text-color.png (55.85 KiB) Viewed 4528 times

Here's the more interesting part: if I go to the Configuration and explicitly set the label text colors to black (more like "re-set", because it's already set to black in the first place), and then click OK, the label text colors will become black, correctly. However, if I then only do "Save Configuration" and restart, this fix will be lost (the label text color is overridden again). It only stays if I also do "Save Tags" as well, which kind of surprised me as I thought the tag settings only made references to the actual color settings stored in the main configuration. But what do I know.

Thanks for reading this, and I hope you could take a look at the issue?

[admin]

Are you using the current version of XY? (I ask because I cannot reproduce it...)

[Huidong]

I was using the latest version (20.80.0200) back when I posted about the issue, but I know this is no longer the current build. As I mentioned above, this could be fixed by just "re-saving" the (default) label color configuration, but I don't think I can un-fix this.

One thing that bothered me a little was that this "re-saving" doesn't trigger the "changes detected" symbol (i.e. the asterisk) to be shown on the "Save Tags" menu item (it showed on "Save Configuration" only), but "Save Tags" is required to make this fix persistent (survive the restart of the application). So I guess the color settings for the labels are actually saved in the tag config file, right? And so would you say that not showing the asterisk on "Save Tags" can be considered a little bug?

Re: your not being able to reproduce the issue: is it possible that the tag config file format underwent some changes, but I skipped some critical versions around that time when I updated XY in the past?

Anyway what I can be sure is this: when I was using the default light theme, the label text color is shown correctly (black); then I switched to a custom dark background and light text for the List, and that caused the label text to be infected with the same light color as well. By the way, this issue does not occur with Color Filters, e.g., the age-based filters with black text color and light background still show correctly after I switched to the dark list view.

I'm sorry if I'm taking this minute detail a little too seriously, but I hope what I'm rambling about is relevant or of interest to you, Don. Again thanks for taking a look.

[admin]

I'm sorry if I'm taking this minute detail a little too seriously, but I hope what I'm rambling about is relevant or of interest to you, Don. Again thanks for taking a look.

Oh, I'm just as interested as you. It certainly looks like a bug, it's only that I cannot reproduce it. There might be other factors relevant to it.

Re: your not being able to reproduce the issue: is it possible that the tag config file format underwent some changes, but I skipped some critical versions around that time when I updated XY in the past?

That's a theoretical possibility, though I usually take care to avoid such things.

[admin]

One thing that bothered me a little was that this "re-saving" doesn't trigger the "changes detected" symbol (i.e. the asterisk) to be shown on the "Save Tags" menu item (it showed on "Save Configuration" only), but "Save Tags" is required to make this fix persistent (survive the restart of the application). So I guess the color settings for the labels are actually saved in the tag config file, right? And so would you say that not showing the asterisk on "Save Tags" can be considered a little bug?

Yep, that will be fixed in the next beta.

[Huidong]

Oh, I just thought of actually looking at the tag config file (sorry that I hadn't done it sooner, but I thought ".dat" meant it wasn't readable...). Anyway, fortunately I managed to retrieve an old backup (dated 2019-05-30), and the answer was right there!

Code: Select all

XYplorer File Tags v4

Labels:
Red||FC7268;Orange||F6AB46;Yellow||EFDC4A;Green||B5D74A;Utility||5DA4FE;Favorite||E29CDC;Temporary||B5B5B5

Code: Select all

XYplorer File Tags v5

Labels:
Red|000000|FC7268;Orange|000000|F6AB46;Yellow|000000|EFDC4A;Green|000000|B5D74A;Utility|000000|5DA4FE;Favorite|000000|E29CDC;Temporary|000000|B5B5B5

So apparently black was the default text color and thus not explicitly saved back in v4? No maybe it was even earlier than that, and the missing value just carried over through multiple versions? But in terms of the logic, I guess it's a matter of how default values are overridden?

Well, by now I should stop guessing around, as you have the whole history of this in your mind

[admin]

No, there is no such difference between v4 and v5. Both store black as 000000 and default as nada (nothing).

So, there is a bug here in the current version, but I cannot see it here. Could you post screenshots of your configuration sections:
- Configuration | Colors and Styles | Colors
- Configuration | Colors and Styles | Highlights & Dark Mode
- Configuration | Information | Tags

[Huidong]

Here are the requested screenshots:

xyplorer_config-colors.png (78.58 KiB) Viewed 4380 times

xyplorer_config-highlights-darkmode.png (75.39 KiB) Viewed 4380 times

xyplorer_config-tags.png (78.69 KiB) Viewed 4380 times

[admin]

Thanks. So you are working in Light Mode with a dark list? Pretty unusual...

[admin]

I could see it now. It's not a bug but working as designed. The default color is the list color so it's a bright color in your case. If you want black you have to explicitly set it by clicking Configuration | Information | Tags | Labels | Text Color...

There is a bug though in this list:
Configuration | Information | Tags | Customize up to 31 Label captions and colors
Also here the bright default color should be shown, right?

[Huidong]

No, there is no such difference between v4 and v5. Both store black as 000000 and default as nada (nothing).

OK, could this be a miscommunication between us? I was trying to convey in the "fix" (original post) that, before the fix (and since the beginning), the label text colors were in their default value (i.e. their factory value, I never customized them before this), and that's when they get overridden by the list text color (and I only noticed such overriding recently because now I use a custom dark theme for the list, namely a light color for list text). Then with the "fix" applied, namely, explicitly setting the label text colors to be black, they no longer get overridden by the list text color.

So my current confusion is, is this what you expect, that the default label text color (namely saved as nada) should be overridden by the list text color? If so, then I guess there is no bug.

What I'm trying to suggest though, is that, since the default label text color, which is black, works well with the default label background, it should NOT be overridden by the list text color, because the latter can be customized to a light color, which would render the label text unreadable. What do you think? And I hope I clarified what I was trying to say?

[Huidong]

There is a bug though in this list:
Configuration | Information | Tags | Customize up to 31 Label captions and colors
Also here the bright default color should be shown, right?

Oh yeah, I was indeed confused by that behavior: it showed the dark list background, but kept the default label text color as black.

[admin]

The "default label text color" is nowhere explicitly defined, right? But internally/implicitly this color = the text color defined for the list (in Browse mode). So the "default label text color" is actually set here: Configuration | Colors and Styles | Colors | Text. Should it "overwrite" the color you see in Configuration | Information | Tags | Customize up to 31 Label captions and colors? Well, there is the current bug which I just have fixed: In the next version you will see the correct color in that Labels list, so you will see what you get (WYSIWYG). So nothing is "overwritten", it's just used as it's meant to be used.

[Huidong]

Thanks. So you are working in Light Mode with a dark list? Pretty unusual...

Here's what happened: I did try the Dark Mode at first (of course I did, I'm a lazy guy!), but there're two details that upset me:

1. The menu bar stays light, and it (in my taste) spoils the whole dark-mode vibe (OK maybe I'm overstating it a little, but it's true that a light menu bar at the top of a dark world is the opposite of "immersive", but I know it's the limitation of my Windows 7)

2. I have some pinned tabs using some custom icons that are monochrome (black), and in dark mode those icons are almost invisible.

So I opted back into the default light "chrome" of Windows 7. For me I just want ease on my eyes, and I mostly stare at the lists, not other UI elements, and I feel that this hybrid approach feels more natural, hence this unusual setup...

[admin]

Well, to each his own.

That light menu color is still one of my targets. One day I will kill it...