Default Theme Should Respect System Accent Color

[vincentj]

(Copying this over from the Ideas site.)

Windows provides users with the ability to customize an accent color for window titlebars.
Firefox should support this accent color for the tab strip.

On Windows 10, the option is enabled under:
Settings > Personalization > Colors > Show accent color on the following surfaces > Title bars and window borders

The color for inactive windows can also be adjusted via the registry, and Firefox should also use that color when it has a value to support better accessibility.
(HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\AccentColorInactive)

[MintMain21]

For what it's worth, the default theme on Linux Firefox is derived based on the GTK theme, I don't see why the Windows version shouldn't incorporate the Windows Them Color as well.

[eddiebriskett3]

Windows version color is not available

[Jon]

Hey all,

Here with an exciting update…

Your idea has been upgraded to a “Trending idea.” This means it’s now one step closer to reaching our internal teams for review—learn more about The Idea Journey.

Please keep the conversation going (the more details, the better) and stay tuned for updates 😃

-The Community Team

[KERR]

Yes please! The accent colour helps identify which window is focused/active.

Both Chrome and Edge utilise the Windows accent colour (with dark theme too) support this, BUT their title bars remain coloured, even when they're inactive, which is non-standard:

The only clue that Firefox is the focused app is a very fine 1px border (which doesn't show when maximised):

Thanks team!

[xerces8]

This is basically firefox bug 1704131

See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1704131

[Tilo]

Hard to understand that it needs a bugzilla entry (with many dupes) and an "idea" with many votes to (hopefully) finally fix something again that has willingly been broken...

[vincentj]

@JonWhat do we need to do to get this promoted from "Trending" to "In development"?  This had hundreds of votes on the old Crowdicity site, and that Bugzilla link above is 2 years old.  It's incredibly frustrating to see other ideas with way fewer votes getting development priority above this.

[AshenPaladin]

Seeing that other browsers like Chrome seem to support the Windows accent color by default, or at least give the users the ability to easily customize said color, like Vivaldi, I do think that it's important for Firefox to also support this. It might not seem to be much, but the use of this default cyan color makes Firefox stand out, and not everyone wants or is able to use increasingly convoluted UserChrome.css files to try to fix this.

[mozzy]

Firefox active tab color should match Windows active window title color

So I can see if my Firefox window active tab has keyboard focus or not.

[Jon]

Potentially related idea here: Default Theme Should Respect System Accent Color 

@mozzy if this aligns with what you're asking, we can merge the threads together to keep the conversation focused in one space.

If not, all good.

Thanks again for joining Connect and sharing feedback 🙌

[mozzy]

@Jon Yes that idea looks the same - please merge 🙂

[Jon]

(Note: similar ideas have been merged into this thread)

[AshenPaladin]

Now that Chrome natively supports the Windows accent color through its new Material You design scheme, I think that it's more important than before for Firefox to also support it. Edge supports it, in Vivaldi you can edit the theme to use the system accent color.

Why not use themes from the store? Well, to begin with, you'd have to spend considerable time trying to find a theme that matches your accent color.

Why not use Firefox Color? It is pretty comprehensive, but it has been last updated four years ago. It also forces you to spend time manually trying to change as many different color fields as possible. The system behind it could perhaps be integrated into Firefox to serve as the basis of Firefox's response to Chrome's Material You customizations though.

Why not use Firefox CSS? It's complicated. I have no knowledge in the field, and I've spent literal months trying to look into it and I still haven't managed to find a proper way to either make Firefox use my Windows accent color, or to manually be able to replace all accent colors in Firefox with my system accent color.

There's also the fact that themes and UserChrome CSS can't change the accent color shown in Firefox Settings (about:preferences).

So, in order for Firefox to be viewed as a truly modern browser, I think that it really needs to take a few steps forward in regards to its appearance and to user customization - by allowing the user to replace the default cyan accent color and the other various shades of blue that litter Firefox's interface with the accent color set in Windows settings.

[mozil]

When will this feature be added?!! I'm tired of adjusting through css scripts!

[Windows_Vista]

The decision to remove MozWinTitlebar with the release of Firefox 117 was a huge mistake that should be reconsidered. While I understand this was tied to dropping support for Windows 7 and 8.1 this feature still has immense value and deserves to be reinstated not just for legacy systems but for the current and future Windows environment.

Windows 11 with its evolving user interface and design language would greatly benefit from having Firefox integrate seamlessly with its native titlebars. This feature is not just about aesthetics it is about functionality accessibility and user experience. Native titlebars give users a consistent and cohesive visual design while also retaining access to system level window controls that match the rest of their operating system. It enhances usability and ensures Firefox feels like a natural part of the Windows ecosystem regardless of the version.