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Some tooltips recently changed to having a dark background with white letters (this happens both on SO where I use dark theme and on MSE where dark theme isn't available). I think this happened after the latest Firefox update (within the last couple of days for me) and I want to ask if the change was caused by the Firefox update or if the change was made by SE?

The following screenshot is how I'm currently seeing the reputation tooltip in the comments using Windows 10 Pro with Firefox 101.0 (64-bit) rev 2022.5.31.42254

screenshot of dark background tooltip

For reference this is how I always saw the tooltip up until recently, (taken with a different browser that still shows the tooltip how it used to be in light colors) Brave browser Windows 10 Pro with Version 1.39.111 Chromium: 102.0.5005.61 (Official Build) (64-bit) rev 2022.5.31.42254

screenshot of light background tooltip

I don't know if SE are aware or have any control over how the tooltip is shown (I'm tagging this question as for now), but I think the tooltip lost readability. If SE does have some control over how the tooltip is shown I would suggest improving the readability. I'm not against a dark tooltip but it should at least have slightly more font weight to be easily readable with the dark background.

Here are two more examples, also happens for Share, Edit, Close, Flag links under posts:

screenshot of two dark background tooltips

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    The tooltips are still white for me: i.sstatic.net/UvHfI.png. I use Chrome (latest version) on Windows 11.
    – Justin
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 9:16
  • @Justin since this happened right after the Firefox update I thought it could be browser specific, however if that's the case SE may want to fix it on their side. (It'd also be good for someone with expertise to confirm what is happening.)
    – bad_coder
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 9:19
  • If you're using any userscripts or custom style sheets, disable them all and see if this still happens. If not, enable one by one until you find which is causing it, and ask its author to fix it.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 10:05
  • @ShadowWizardSaysNoMoreWar no userscripts used, just vanilla Firefox. (I'm also expecting other Win 10+Firefox users to confirm this is happening using these versions.)
    – bad_coder
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 10:12
  • These tooltips are black text on yellow background for me (Firefox 101 on Linux).
    – Emil Jeřábek
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 11:22
  • @EmilJeřábek interesting, if you care to add an answer with a screenshot readers are likely to enjoy it.
    – bad_coder
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 11:27
  • I don't have Firefox to this test this on, but does your browser have the option to change the tooltip background color? Like in this post (see the chosen solution).
    – Justin
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 11:57
  • @Justin it likely does, but I shouldn't have to use a client-side browser specific override to make the site's tooltips consistent and readable (I'm sure my Firefox is using factory defaults, as are the other users experiencing the same issue). So I'll hold-off and wait for more input from the community before trying that kind of solution.
    – bad_coder
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 12:02
  • Yeah I was wondering because 3 people (who use Firefox) here have 3 different colors for their tooltips... But this seems to be varying according to the OS (Windows vs. Linux vs. MacOS).
    – Justin
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 12:04
  • I'm on Windows 10, and I do see light on dark tooltips, but my system is in dark mode. Did you recently change the OS-wide light/ dark setting? It's possible that that could be related.
    – zcoop98
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 17:55
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    @zcoop98 I just noticed (in the past hour) the browser tooltips are also dark (like the Firefox icons)... So the site is actually matching the browser settings. But I've been using the browser in dark mode for many months and SE's tooltips had a white background, so either SE updated the tooltip CSS to match system preferences or Firefox changed...
    – bad_coder
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 18:02

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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I'm using Firefox 98.0.2 (released march 23th) on MacOS and see the same black tooltips, albeit mine being a bit more greyish in background. So it definitely is not something in the browser that changed.

enter image description here

I must note that I'm using my system with a default dark mode setting, which preferences Firefox takes into account automatically. Manually forcing Firefox into a light(er) theme results in different tooltips.

enter image description here

You can check your browser settings under about:addons, and then check the "Themes" tab.

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    Why answer and not comment? This doesn't explain the bug, give way around it, or explains how to fix it. As far as I can see it's something within Firefox itself, as SE using plain title attribute, which can't be styled with CSS.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 10:53
  • Valuable addition to the thread, older Firefox on MacOS!
    – bad_coder
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 10:54
  • @bad_coder well, comment then added to the bug report itself would be better IMHO.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 10:55
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    @sha because it answers the question. The Q stated: "...I want to ask if the change was caused by the Firefox update or if the change was made by SE?", and the answer is, SE changed something, because FF didn't.
    – Luuklag
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 10:56
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    @ShadowWizardSaysNoMoreWar I'm liberal with bug threads, if someone is experiencing the same issue on a different OS and browser version readers using that system spec will want a post specific to their system.
    – bad_coder
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 10:56
  • Oh well, no harm done. I guess. :)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 11:06
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    This answer quotes FF98 on MacOS, whereas OP is asking about FF101 on Win10. It could well be that Win10 FF101 has only just caught up with dark tooltips, and that means that it is a browser change.
    – Andrew Leach
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 13:24
  • What do you think the odds are they fix something on MacOS before fixing it on Windows @AndrewLeach, I'd put it on lower then 5%.
    – Luuklag
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 13:33
  • @Luuklag It may be that MacOS doesn't need fixing. Your screenshots show a reasonable typeface; the Win10 screenshots show a very flimsy typeface not really suited to light-on-dark.
    – Andrew Leach
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 13:49

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