That's a long shopping list and I don't have any suggestions for other browsers.

In Firefox, you could consider using custom style rules to override default colors for the Options/Preferences page as a partial workaround.

What's the current issue with using the page? Maybe there's a way to get back to a readable display. For example: I changed my background and my text color in black, how to fix it? Reinstalling doesn't help. Can't see options.

jscher2000 said

That's a long shopping list and I don't have any suggestions for other browsers. In Firefox, you could consider using custom style rules to override default colors for the Options/Preferences page as a partial workaround. What's the current issue with using the page? Maybe there's a way to get back to a readable display. For example: I changed my background and my text color in black, how to fix it? Reinstalling doesn't help. Can't see options.

The point of my shopping list being that these were, with the Linux exception, all pretty standard features in browsers just a few years ago. Now finding anything that includes all of them is impossible since Mozilla removed one of them from their browser.

I can't look at white, or light colored backgrounds for more than a few seconds without massive headaches and burning eyes, so the color options are non-negotiable. That was never a problem: light grey on black is my standard. Unfortunately, the options tab in Firefox resembles a line from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. "Every time I press one of these black controls, labelled in black on a black background, a little black light lights up black to let me know I've done it." I can't even find any options with black text and black box outlines with black highlights against a black background, so I cannot change a f****** thing.This was NEVER an issue until the options tab was forced on me.

It's not a problem I have with web pages in any other tabs, but if I have trouble with a page in for some reason, I can't simply tweak a setting, even temporarily. Instead, I have to go to another browser that doesn't have color customization features and look at the page against, almost every time, a blinding white background that leaves me in physical pain for hours after I finally finish with the page.

I know less than nothing about custom style rules, so I can't do anything about that. Still, I somehow suspect I'd have to use the options tab and it's black on black color scheme to even try it, so it's a no option option.

Thanks for the try, though.

You can consider to pin the about:preferences page to have that page available easily.

cor-el said

You can consider to pin the about:preferences page to have that page available easily.

"Every time I press one of these black controls, labelled in black on a black background, a little black light lights up black to let me know I've done it."

When you choose light gray on black, and then set Firefox to Always override page colors, you should see something like the first attached screen shot.

Did you accidentally set black on black? In that case, did you try the steps in the earlier thread I linked to?

As a test, I created a custom style rule for a "dark" options page (second screen shot), but I discovered that if you set your colors to override page colors, that also overrides the custom style, so that won't work for you.

No, I did not try that, because changing anything to a white background, or anything similar, will blind me. That's a major issue with every other browser out there, In addition, I hadn't changed anything regarding my colors since before the issue with the preferences tab instead of a preferences window ever came up. The problem arose when the preferences window option was completely removed. I think I saw somewhere that was version 42 or something, and was released in October or November of last year.

If I had accidentally set black on black, it would have been noticed well before this became an issue, as in well over two years ago, and at a time when it could have easily been fixed.

The ONLY thing that was changed was the version of the browser I was using. This is not a problem of my making, but of Mozilla's. It is one of the reasons I want to find a good replacement for Firefox, because Mozilla broke it.

On top of which, none of this addresses the other issue of not having space on the screen for the additional tab that is now required for the preferences, which is another element of breakage.

I can't solve all your problems, so I probably should just give up on this thread, but I do have three other questions if you'll entertain them:

(1) Do you use the Windows high contrast black theme?

(2) If you open the about:config page, is it readable? (If you are not familiar with this page, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter, then click the button promising to be careful and you should see a long list of preferences.)

(3) Do you use any extensions or themes that modify any built-in Firefox pages?

jscher2000 said

I can't solve all your problems, so I probably should just give up on this thread, but I do have three other questions if you'll entertain them: (1) Do you use the Windows high contrast black theme? (2) If you open the about:config page, is it readable? (If you are not familiar with this page, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter, then click the button promising to be careful and you should see a long list of preferences.) (3) Do you use any extensions or themes that modify any built-in Firefox pages?

1: Yes, but the issue is present on my Linux machine as well, where I am using a custom color scheme, and have, like on Windows, never had problems until around the same time. Maybe a bit later on Linux because of the delay in getting the new versions into the software repositories.

2: See my above response to the other guy. Yes, the issue is identical: Black on black and utterly useless.

3: Not that I know of.

On a side note, I apologize if I seem hard to work with, but I am irascible to begin with, and this issue has been a problem for months, and no one seems to be able to comprehend the problem, much less be able to fix it. I am honestly sick of it, I have come to hate Firefox, and I truly want out of it. At this point, the only fix I am looking for is the door out and a viable alternative that will allow me to do what I need to do, which seems impossible to find.

On top of which, I am just sick of features I rely on being ripped out of software for no good reason, and then having the new, far less useful version, forced on me.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it sounds like a good motto, but so many people take that as an invitation to break it.

What version of Windows is it, and what version of Firefox?

On Windows 7, if I select "High Contrast Black" as my Windows theme (or High Contrast #1, High Contrast #2), Firefox styles the Options page the same whether I choose gray on black, black on black, or black on white -- system colors seem to be used instead of internally set Firefox colors. I am attaching a screen shot of what I see in Firefox 46 for "High Contrast Black".

Similarly with the about:config page.

Have you customized the text color in the Windows theme?