Sumatrapdf: Selected tab needs more contrast when SumatraPDF window has the focus

[suckerstate]

When another program's window has the focus, the SumatraPDF tab colors become lighter and the selected tab is very distinct from the other tabs. But when SumatraPDF has the focus, the tabs become darker and, on my monitors, it is difficult to discern which tab is selected. I wish there was some way to get more contrast in the tab colors when SumatraPDF has the focus.

I am using SumatraPDF reader for Windows, v3.1.1 64-bit, on a Windows 10 computer.

This is the only PDF reader I have found that will automatically restore the same tabs that I was using when I closed it. I am very happy that I found it.

[Poddster]

related: #343

On default Windows 10 theme I'm having a hard time telling apart the tabs.

Configurable tab colour would be nice, if possible?

[paulri]

I would like to make the same feature request. The selected and background tabs are all blue, and the selected tab is only a bit lighter, making it hard to see which one is selected. It woudl be nice if we could choose a color scheme, or simply adjust the colors for either tab. If this isn't practicable, then at least have the default color scheme be more contrasting, so it is more clear which tab is selected.

[ofaurax]

I would say that this has to do with the values in https://github.com/sumatrapdfreader/sumatrapdf/blob/master/src/Tabs.cpp#L326

[paulri]

I would say that this has to do with the values in https://github.com/sumatrapdfreader/sumatrapdf/blob/master/src/Tabs.cpp#L326

OK--so is this something that end users can insert into the Advanced Options text file, and tinker with?

[ofaurax]

No, it seems the value are hard-coded. I was pointing the code line to ease the search for someone knowing how to hack it.

[paulri]

OK thanks anyways.

[Cantello]

Same here, on win7 it is also hard to tell, which tab is currently selected.

[ofaurax]

Ok, some I found how to modify this in the code, so I'll propose a patch.
Which color do you want for the selected tab?
Do you want to keep the current color and make it even lighter?
Or do you want another color, like yellow?

[ofaurax]

Which one do you prefer?

[7ko]

For me, the last one, darker tab is the active tab.

[paulri]

I agree, having the active tab in a darker blue seems to make the most sense, and the yellow kind of grabs my attention.

I like what you've done here, especially with the third option.

[kjk]

My plan was to go with gray and use light gray for active and possibly simplify the drawing code by using a simpler shape (get rid of rounded corners).

The simplest way is to copy some other popular program (IE Edge, Chrome etc.).

Here's how chrome looks:

Here's style of Visual Studio Code:

For simplicity, I would go with Visual Studio Code-like scheme.

[ofaurax]

It works for VS because they have a grey background, but sumatra has a white one:

In any case, I think grey is better than blue for this case.

[ofaurax]

So, do I propose the 3rd blue option, or another white/grey possibility?

[kjk]

The gray/white variant looks good. The outside could be changed from white to darker gray to provide contrast for gray of un-selected tab.

[ofaurax]

The outside could be changed

I need your help to locate the code responsible for that.
This way, I could propose a pull request with the full change.

[kjk]

I'm afraid I don't know this off the top of my head. I didn't write the tab rendering code.

[ofaurax]

I spent some time trying to understand how this works... and failed. 😢

If someone can help to locate the code responsible for the color of the background behind the tabs, this would be appreciated. I'm currently stuck.

Perhaps this background is the default one, and code should be added to change it, but I don't use MS technologies usually so I can't help.

[BOT-Man-JL]

I suppose that you are right. The background is in default color... When the window is inactive state, the background behind the tabs would change to inactive color (set by windows settings) 😅

To implement this feature, there are two possible methods, I suppose:

• Use a window without border... (Many code to be modified...)
• Perhaps this will help. 😉

Longing to see a better tab solution. 😄 (current one is not modern enough)

[SumatraPeter]

Some might prefer the active tab to be lighter, while others might prefer it to be darker (in any case it's currently theme-dependent when ideally it shouldn't be).

Perhaps it's overkill but I'd love to see this added to Advanced Options. Something like the following perhaps (with appropriate default values of course):

TabColor [
    ActiveTabActiveWindow = #000000
    InactiveTabActiveWindow = #000000
    HoverTabActiveWindow = #000000
    ActiveTabInactiveWindow = #000000
    InactiveTabInactiveWindow = #000000
    HoverTabInactiveWindow = #000000
]

[leafcutterant]

I too am finding this very problematic. Please, amke the selected tab lighter, or as @SumatraPeter proposed, make it a used-definable value.

The closing "X" on each tab is also barely visible when you have a dark theme and the SumatraPDF window is active.

[jimporter]

One way to minimize the confusion of which tab is active is for the active tab to visually meld with the toolbar below it, as seen in the Chrome screenshot earlier in this issue. Most of the tabbed UIs that I can think of do this, and then the inactive tabs are usually a more neutral color (e.g. grey).