Message list background colors

[chumley]

AM 1.15.0-916

Not sure if this is truly a bug, but it seems like one to me. The default background colors in the message list are inconsistent between the light and dark themes.

With light material theme:
- Unread messages have lighter background
- Read messages have darker background

With full dark theme:
- Unread messages have darker background
- Read messages have lighter background

This is inconsistent, and causes confusion when switching between light and dark themes. I'm aware of the "switched backgrounds" option in the message list settings, but when enabled it swaps in both light and dark themes, so they are still inconsistent.

Suggested solution:
Swap the default background colors in dark theme, so read messages have the darker background. This would then be consistent with the light theme. (Users who prefer the opposite behavior can use the "switched backgrounds" option.)

Thanks

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Well, yes you're right but the idea here is that

"read" messages have more "faded" background (less contrast)

"unread" messages use more "sharp" background (more contrast)

Either way, the text items (subject / sender) are *bold* if unread and "normal" if read.

[chumley]

Hmm, that sounds like a logical approach, but in practice it is not intuitive to me. My brain sees the lighter background color as a highlight (i.e. this message needs attention) regardless of whether the theme is light or dark.

It's easy enough to change this behavior using the "switched backgrounds" option. My only concern is that if I switch between light and dark theme, then I have to go change the "switched backgrounds" option also. If I use the option to auto-switch to dark them at night, then this wouldn't work very well.

Maybe the real answer would be to store color preferences per-theme. I haven't explored custom colors yet.

Thanks

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Re: Maybe the real answer would be to store color preferences per-theme. I haven't explored custom colors yet.

That would work - but would also complicate settings even more.

Re: My brain sees the lighter background color as a highlight (i.e. this message needs attention)

Well, sure, I understand but - does your brain see "bold" (and brighter) subject line, I'm guessing it doesn't? Have you tried enabling bold for the "sender" line too? Perhaps that'll make the unread messages stand out more (enough) for you?

[chumley]

Re: That would work - but would also complicate settings even more.

I understand that adding per-theme settings would be a lot of work, and may not be worthwhile. It would only benefit people who like to switch between themes. If you do ever decide to add this, maybe you could treat it as a "theme editor", and move the related customization options out of the main settings UI.

Re: does your brain see "bold" (and brighter) subject line

The distinction between bold and non-bold is not enough for me, especially if not using the "thin fonts" option. I prefer to also use the message background and/or the line 1 color to help differentiate between read/unread. For now I just plan to use the dark theme all the time, and I will use the message backgrounds and switched backgrounds options.


I noticed another issue with the dark theme in the message list. When dividers are enabled, they aren't visible between 2 adjacent messages that have the dark background. In that case, maybe you could draw the divider line using the lighter background color?

Thanks

[Kostya Vasilyev]

I noticed another issue with the dark theme in the message list. When dividers are enabled, they aren't visible between 2 adjacent messages that have the dark background. In that case, maybe you could draw the divider line using the lighter background color?

Umm, for me they're visible using default color settings (and dark theme). They don't stand out that much but - there isn't a large spectrum of "grays", and the dark theme is all dark grays.

[chumley]

With these settings I do see dividers in the account list, but not in the message list.

- Color theme: Dark, including messages
- Black background: disabled
- Use backgrounds: disabled
- Dividers: enabled
- All message list color options at default

If I enable the "Black background" option, then I do see dividers in the message list, but they are very faint. They probably just blend into the background when using the non-black background.

The divider style used in the account list is more visible, and works with both black and non-black background. If you use the same divider style in the message list, than that should resolve the issue.

[chumley]

Back to the original subject of the background colors, I played with some other email apps to see how they handle read/unread message backgrounds.

Samsung email:
Doesn't have dark theme. In light theme, they use a lighter background for unread messages.

K-9:
Uses a lighter background for unread messages in both light and dark theme. This is what I prefer.

MailDroid:
Doesn't use backgrounds by default, but can be enabled in the style settings. When enabled, they use a darker background for unread messages in light theme, and a lighter background for unread messages in dark theme. This is similar to AM with "switched backgrounds". It seems inconsistent, as I mentioned in the first post.

Nine:
Doesn't seem to support different backgrounds for read/unread messages.