Allow users to revert to default themes with FF color installed

[weivicky]

For example, I change my theme back to default and exit my browser. When I reopen my browser, it changes back to my last used Firefox Color theme

[lmorchard]

I think this is more-or-less expected behavior for dynamic themes - which is basically what the Firefox Color add-on is. If you tried something like VivaldiFox, you'd probably see something similar. The dynamic theme add-on takes precedence over built-in & lightweight themes

[weivicky]

How difficult it is to change the hierarchy?

We can leave it if it's difficult to fix but I think we should fix it if we can. Users in this case are basically forced to uninstall this app to get back the default theme.

But then... there's the question of whether or not users are better off with the extension uninstalled if they are going back to the default theme. I can think of a couple instances where users would have to go back to the default (ex. maybe they're in the middle of designing a new theme from scratch but haven't finished...so they're planning to finish it later) but they might not be common.

[lmorchard]

How difficult it is to change the hierarchy?

As far as I understand, it's impossible to change from Firefox Color or any other dynamic theme. It's an upstream issue with how things are implemented within Firefox itself. Last I heard, it was an under active consideration within the add-ons team

[johngruen]

I think there could be a fix for this if we bring back some kind of restore default button that would call browser.theme.reset() we'd have to add a prop that would override theme colors and backgrounds.

[johngruen]

Okay this might not work

[lmorchard]

I think there could be a fix for this if we bring back some kind of restore default button that would call browser.theme.reset()

That was issue #44, closed because browser.theme.reset() doesn't do what we want here.

[johngruen]

KK, maybe we can just write an FAQ and call it

[nt1m]

There's going to be a discussion at the all hands about dynamic themes (and Firefox Color is one of them), and how it interacts with other built-in themes in Firefox. There's also going to be a meeting pre-all hands, so let me know if you're interested in joining.

[caitmuenster]

Hey @nt1m (or @lmorchard or @johngruen) do you know if this is technically doable?

[nt1m]

It's probably possible by watching the management events and then storing a value everytime the theme changes. Then if that value is found in storage when Firefox color starts up, we can avoid calling browser.theme.update().

[nt1m]

There should probably be an easier way to do this, but that should work fine.

[caitmuenster]

Here's the current plan for moving forward with this issue:

Plan A
Note: this represents the "ideal" path forward and assumes that Color can use the theme that had been active prior to installing Color as the starting point for modifications.

1. User installs Color
2. Onboarding modal runs
3. At the end of the modal, the user's active theme does not change until the user starts interacting with the Color UI.
4. User can click a "Revert All" button at any time to revert back to last active theme.

Plan B
If Color can't use the last active theme before install as a starting point, we'll go with this flow.

1. User installs Color
2. Onboarding modal runs
3. At the end of the modal, the user's active theme changes to the "starting canvas."

4. The theme changes when the user interacts with the Color UI.
5. User can click "Revert All" to return to the last theme that had been active before they installed Color.

Sparkles files
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[rebmullin]

@caitmuenster, thanks for the above:)

I have a few follow up questions:

1. Do you have the image for the paint brush icon - the center image in the last slide?

2. Regarding the "revert all" placement -
   - is this where we want to add this?

[caitmuenster]

1. Do you have the image for the paint brush icon - the center image in the last slide?

Yes! I grabbed it from src / images / logo-white.svg. :)

2. Regarding the "revert all" placement -

Yeah, I think it makes sense to put it there! We can also use the Forget button from the Photon style guide for the button.

[rebmullin]

Yes! I grabbed it from src / images / logo-white.svg. :)

🤦‍♀

Yeah, I think it makes sense to put it there! We can also use the Forget button from the Photon style guide for the button.

thank you:) 👍

[caitmuenster]

This is currently blocked by https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1592831.

[rebmullin]

hey @caitmuenster, do you still want me to update the onboarding slides or should we keep that update with this work?

[caitmuenster]

@rebmullin Let's still update the onboarding slides and push them when they are ready. Once the Firefox bug is fixed, we can come back to the bits about reverting themes. :)

(Sidenote for anyone who is interested in contributing code to Firefox: bug 1592831 is a good first bug and @Rob--W is onboard to mentor it! Check out the bug for details on how to get started.)

[rebmullin]

looks like bug 1592831 is fixed. I am unblocking this :)

NOTE: I am able to revert to the default FF color theme:

NOTE: I am able to revert to FF's default theme: