[Bug 160529] Inconsistency on color schemas on each language

[Anders Lund]

On Tuesday 15 April 2008, Matthew Woehlke wrote:
> Taking this out of the bug comments since it has little to do with the
> original report at this point...

Thank you :)

> Anders Lund wrote:
> > The contrast using the activetext background and foreground is so bad
> > that the text rendered is hard to see, and it is hiding rather than
> > standing our from the surrounding normal text. (katepart, using
> > directional word completion, type a letter and press c-8 or c-9 with word
> > completion plugin enabled)
>
> Ok, now that I see what you're looking at... my opinion is that I'm okay
> with how it looks. (Though, as I mentioned on IRC, I prefer subtle
> effects to in-your-face effects). I also assume you're looking at what
> it looks like with Oxygen, which admittedly has one of the worst
> contrast ratios between ActiveText and NormalBackground of our shipped
> schemes to begin with :-/ (feel free to suggest improvements to the
> scheme, btw). Note also that monitor color quality and adjustment will
> make a *huge* difference; that will always be the case with anything
> color-related, and there's not a whole lot we can do about it.

This text should stand out, making the user aware that the text is special. I 
believe that if you want subtle difference, you should be able to, by 
selecting a color scheme that provides that quality. I just don't think that 
the difference between 'normal text' and 'active text' should be subtle pr 
default, which seems to be the case.

> At any rate, FooText on FooBackground (except where Foo == Normal) is
> guaranteed to be the worst contrast of any combination.

Meaning, they are not meant to be used togeather.

> As a side note, these colors really ought to be in katepart's scheme.
> The KCS colors are good in that they are supposed to be legible,
> accessible, etc. (problems in that department would be KCS's fault and
> not katepart's fault), but they may bear no resemblance to katepart's
> color scheme, which potentially is completely unrelated to the system
> color scheme.

I was almost required to use colors from the kde color scheme a while ago, by 
you in fact IIRC. 

The text inserted in the way we discuss here also doe not have to do with 
kates highlight, and I used a background as well as a foreground to guarantee 
that the text would be readable, and the activetext colors as that is what 
that text is: if you pres the shortcut that lead to the insertion, it will 
change, if you leave it the style is given back to katepart. In my 
understanding, the active text should stand out and be clearly readable, as 
it is where the user must point his attention. Correct me if I am wrong.

As you see I do not agree that these colors should be specified by Kate, I 
find that would work against the very good concept of KDE providing colors 
for various purposes.

Suggestion for the default color scheme:
* Do not have a subtle difference in this case.

General suggestion:
* FooText|FooBackground should provide a style with normal contrast.

CCing k-c-d, since this issue is important to KDE in general, not just Kate. 
Background: The example above using the activetext|activebackground colors is 
kates word completion in directional mode: Enable the plugin, type a letter 
commmonly starting words in your text, then press CTRL + [F8|F9] one or more 
times to have matches inserted.

-- 
Anders

www: http://www.alweb.dk
jabber: anderslund at jabber.dk