Color picker - Darkness is affected by the choice of theme options selectable themes

[jnzd]

Preliminary Checks

• I have read and understood the important section above.
• I have searched existing issues and avoided creating duplicates.
• I am not filing an enhancement request.
• I have checked that this issue cannot be reproduced on Mozilla Firefox.
• I have checked that this issue can be reproduced once I removed all my Mods and Custom CSS.

What happened?

See the two screenshots with approximately the same colors selected, or at least what one would reasonably expect to be the same colors due to being in the same spot on the color space. (The background gradient is thanks to this mod: https://zen-browser.app/mods/03a8e7ef-cf00-4f41-bf24-a90deeafc9db). On the second screenshot I had selected the left-most and very dark colors on the row of colors at the bottom above the saturation (?) slider and on the first one I selected a lighter color further right. I did manually move the colors to be roughly in the same spot on the color space.

This is one particular issue I am having with this updated version of the color picker. This one, I think actually constitutes a bug and should be addressed. Possibly with a brightness/darkness slider.

My other (subjective) issues with the updated theme picker include:

• more saturated colors are in the center making small spacial movements in the spectrum result in large color differences
• the slider at the bottom is unlabeled and I am unsure of its purpose
• if the slider is for saturation, why does the color space include less saturated colors on the outside of the color space?

Expected behavior

When I add a color on a specific location in the color space it should have a unique shade.

Actual behavior

I can click in the same spot on the color space and depending on whether I selected a darker or a lighter color from the suggested theme options the shade can be drastically different.

Steps to reproduce

1. Go to "Edit Theme"

2. Choose the darkest color from the suggested colors
3. Move the colors around on the color space and see how they are all dark
4. Select a lighter color from the suggested color (or alternatively remove colors via the "-" and re-add them with the "+" sign)
5. notice how the colors of the theme and on the color space are noticeably lighter even when in the same spot on the color space as before

Screenshots and videos

Version

1.14.7b

What platform are you seeing the problem on?

Windows - x64

What component is this issue related to?

Mods / Themes

Relevant log output if applicable

[Propheticus]

The position of the ball on the colour space only determines Hue & Saturation.
Different presets have different lightness values (going from left, light > right, dark)
Depending on the preset you start from you get lighter or darker colours.

This is a little 'hidden' and there's currently no direct way (e.g. by means of a slider) to change lightness.
Unless you enable custom colours by setting zen.theme.gradient.show-custom-colors in about:config

[jnzd]

@Propheticus Thanks for the insight. I will have a look at custom colors. I still don't understand why it is designed this way and my opinion remains that from a user perspective it feels like a bug, if nothing else because it is quite un-intuitive.

[dosubot]

Hi, @jnzd. I'm Dosu, and I'm helping the desktop team manage their backlog and am marking this issue as stale.

Issue Summary:

• You reported that the updated color picker’s darkness depends on the previously chosen theme, leading to inconsistent color shades.
• You suggested adding a brightness/darkness slider and noted confusion about the slider’s purpose and saturation distribution.
• Propheticus clarified that the color space controls hue and saturation, while lightness varies by preset, and mentioned a hidden option to enable custom colors via about:config.
• You acknowledged the explanation but still find the design unintuitive and feel it behaves like a bug from a user perspective.

Next Steps:

• Please let me know if this issue is still relevant with the latest version of the desktop repository by commenting here to keep the discussion open.
• Otherwise, this issue will be automatically closed in 10 days.

Thanks for your understanding and contribution!

[jnzd]

Hey, the theme picked seems to be largely unchanged since I made this issue and therefore I believe it is as relevant as on the day I made it.