Cannot see what is written on modeline

Cannot see what is written on modeline

[wael-zwaiter]

When I call "emacs27 -q", the mode line has both background and foreground white.

I thus cannot see what is written on the modeline.

RE: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Drew Adams]

> When I call "emacs27 -q", the mode line has both background and
> foreground white.
> 
> I thus cannot see what is written on the modeline.

It costs extra to be able to read the mode-line. ;-)

Re: RE: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[wael-zwaiter]

Does it really!  The modeline is as expected when the cursor is on another window.
The problem is the colour contrast when one looks at the working buffer.  The background
in light grey, and the foreground is white.  The display looks all white on some screens.



> Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 10:47 AM
> From: "Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com>
> To: "wael-zwaiter@gmx.com" <wael-zwaiter@gmx.com>, "Help Gnu Emacs" <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
> Subject: RE: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline
>
> > When I call "emacs27 -q", the mode line has both background and
> > foreground white.
> >
> > I thus cannot see what is written on the modeline.
>
> It costs extra to be able to read the mode-line. ;-)
>

Re: Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Óscar Fuentes]

wael-zwaiter@gmx.com writes:

> When I call "emacs27 -q", the mode line has both background and foreground white.
>
> I thus cannot see what is written on the modeline.

Do you observe the problem if emacs is started with -Q instead of -q ?

Re: Cannot see what is written on modeline

[wael-zwaiter]

It happens when using "emacs27 -q".

> Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 11:38 AM
> From: "Óscar Fuentes" <ofv@wanadoo.es>
> To: wael-zwaiter@gmx.com
> Cc: "Help Gnu Emacs" <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
> Subject: Re: Cannot see what is written on modeline
>
> wael-zwaiter@gmx.com writes:
> 
> > When I call "emacs27 -q", the mode line has both background and foreground white.
> >
> > I thus cannot see what is written on the modeline.
> 
> Do you observe the problem if emacs is started with -Q instead of -q ?
> 
>

Re: Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Óscar Fuentes]

wael-zwaiter@gmx.com writes:

> It happens when using "emacs27 -q".

You already stated that on your original message. What about answering
my question?

>> wael-zwaiter@gmx.com writes:
>> 
>> > When I call "emacs27 -q", the mode line has both background and foreground white.
>> >
>> > I thus cannot see what is written on the modeline.
>> 
>> Do you observe the problem if emacs is started with -Q instead of -q ?
>> 
>>

Re: Cannot see what is written on modeline

[wael-zwaiter]

> Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 11:44 AM
> From: "Óscar Fuentes" <ofv@wanadoo.es>
> To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: Cannot see what is written on modeline
>
> wael-zwaiter@gmx.com writes:
> 
> > It happens when using "emacs27 -q".
> 
> You already stated that on your original message. What about answering
> my question?

With "emacs27 -Q" the contrast is not so bad and I can see the mode line text.
 
> >> wael-zwaiter@gmx.com writes:
> >> 
> >> > When I call "emacs27 -q", the mode line has both background and foreground white.
> >> >
> >> > I thus cannot see what is written on the modeline.
> >> 
> >> Do you observe the problem if emacs is started with -Q instead of -q ?
> >> 
> >>
> 
> 
>

Re: Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Óscar Fuentes]

wael-zwaiter@gmx.com writes:

>> wael-zwaiter@gmx.com writes:
>> 
>> > It happens when using "emacs27 -q".
>> 
>> You already stated that on your original message. What about answering
>> my question?
>
> With "emacs27 -Q" the contrast is not so bad and I can see the mode
> line text.

Ok. So try one after another these combinations:

-q --no-x-resources

-q --no-site-file

-q --no-site-lisp

and note which one causes the problem go away.

I suspect your distro installs some customization that affects the
modeline appearance.

Re: Cannot see what is written on modeline

[wael-zwaiter]

> Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 12:12 PM
> From: "Óscar Fuentes" <ofv@wanadoo.es>
> To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: Cannot see what is written on modeline
>
> wael-zwaiter@gmx.com writes:
> 
> >> wael-zwaiter@gmx.com writes:
> >> 
> >> > It happens when using "emacs27 -q".
> >> 
> >> You already stated that on your original message. What about answering
> >> my question?
> >
> > With "emacs27 -Q" the contrast is not so bad and I can see the mode
> > line text.
> 
> Ok. So try one after another these combinations:
> 
> -q --no-x-resources  Problem goes away
> 
> -q --no-site-file  Problem exists
> 
> -q --no-site-lisp  Problem exists
> 
> and note which one causes the problem go away.
> 
> I suspect your distro installs some customization that affects the
> modeline appearance.
> 
> 
>

RE: [External] : Re: Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Drew Adams]

> > -q --no-x-resources  Problem goes away

So it sounds like it's your X Resources.

But here's another thought, since you said
that it happens only (or more strongly?) when
the window with the mode-line is selected:

`M-x customize-face mode-line'

For the mode-line when the window is _not_
selected:

`M-x customize-face mode-line-inactive'

Re: RE: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[wael-zwaiter]

Could emacs internally figure out the colour settings and determine if the contrast
between the foreground and background is high enough.  And if not high enough to change
the foreground and background colour.  Particularly when user supplies the -q option
whilst debugging. 

Wael

> Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 4:28 PM
> From: "Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com>
> To: "wael-zwaiter@gmx.com" <wael-zwaiter@gmx.com>, "Óscar Fuentes" <ofv@wanadoo.es>
> Cc: "help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org" <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
> Subject: RE: [External] : Re: Cannot see what is written on modeline
>
> > > -q --no-x-resources  Problem goes away
> 
> So it sounds like it's your X Resources.
> 
> But here's another thought, since you said
> that it happens only (or more strongly?) when
> the window with the mode-line is selected:
> 
> `M-x customize-face mode-line'
> 
> For the mode-line when the window is _not_
> selected:
> 
> `M-x customize-face mode-line-inactive'
>

Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[tomas]

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On Mon, May 17, 2021 at 10:47:52PM +0000, Drew Adams wrote:
> > When I call "emacs27 -q", the mode line has both background and
> > foreground white.
> > 
> > I thus cannot see what is written on the modeline.
> 
> It costs extra to be able to read the mode-line. ;-)

This is sooo 2000s. Nowadays you pay to /disable/ a (dis?)service [1].
To be fair, it seems to have been a bug [2]. Nonetheless, somewhat...
Freudian.

Cheers

[1] https://nitter.cc/moyix/status/1388586550682861568
[2] https://github.com/docker/roadmap/issues/183

 - t

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Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[wael-zwaiter]

Currently the colours are

foreground: #ffffff
Background: #bfbfbf (grey75)

The contrast ratio for such combination is 1.8,

This level does not even reach the minimum contrast of 3.0 for large scale text.

Emacs should start caring about colour contrast by itself.

> Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 7:55 PM
> From: tomas@tuxteam.de
> To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline
>
> On Mon, May 17, 2021 at 10:47:52PM +0000, Drew Adams wrote:
> > > When I call "emacs27 -q", the mode line has both background and
> > > foreground white.
> > >
> > > I thus cannot see what is written on the modeline.
> >
> > It costs extra to be able to read the mode-line. ;-)
>
> This is sooo 2000s. Nowadays you pay to /disable/ a (dis?)service [1].
> To be fair, it seems to have been a bug [2]. Nonetheless, somewhat...
> Freudian.
>
> Cheers
>
> [1] https://nitter.cc/moyix/status/1388586550682861568
> [2] https://github.com/docker/roadmap/issues/183
>
>  - t
>

Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: wael-zwaiter@gmx.com
> Date: Tue, 18 May 2021 10:02:41 +0200
> Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> 
> Currently the colours are
> 
> foreground: #ffffff
> Background: #bfbfbf (grey75)
> 
> The contrast ratio for such combination is 1.8,
> 
> This level does not even reach the minimum contrast of 3.0 for large scale text.
> 
> Emacs should start caring about colour contrast by itself.

Where did those colors come from? they are not the default colors.

Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[wael-zwaiter]

> Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 11:59 PM
> From: "Eli Zaretskii" <eliz@gnu.org>
> To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline
>
> > From: wael-zwaiter@gmx.com
> > Date: Tue, 18 May 2021 10:02:41 +0200
> > Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> >
> > Currently the colours are
> >
> > foreground: #ffffff
> > Background: #bfbfbf (grey75)
> >
> > The contrast ratio for such combination is 1.8,
> >
> > This level does not even reach the minimum contrast of 3.0 for large scale text.
> >
> > Emacs should start caring about colour contrast by itself.
>
> Where did those colors come from? they are not the default colors.

I took them from calling

   M-x customize-face mode-line

Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: wael-zwaiter@gmx.com
> Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Date: Tue, 18 May 2021 14:12:48 +0200
> 
> > Where did those colors come from? they are not the default colors.
> 
> I took them from calling
> 
>    M-x customize-face mode-line

So you your self asked Emacs to use these colors? then I think Emacs
shouldn't second-guess you.

There could be a place to warn the user that these colors mean low
contrast, when the user is about to save the changes.  Would that be
good enough?

Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[wael-zwaiter]

> Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 12:29 AM
> From: "Eli Zaretskii" <eliz@gnu.org>
> To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline
>
> > From: wael-zwaiter@gmx.com
> > Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> > Date: Tue, 18 May 2021 14:12:48 +0200
> >
> > > Where did those colors come from? they are not the default colors.
> >
> > I took them from calling
> >
> >    M-x customize-face mode-line
>
> So you your self asked Emacs to use these colors? then I think Emacs
> shouldn't second-guess you.

I did not ask Emacs for them, they were populated there somehow, and
simply reported on their values.

Was using "emacs27 -q" (--no-init-file) to debug some problem with some
.el files I was working on.  I agree with you that if the user insists,
they should take effect.  Although a remark would help a user think more
about the options he uses.

> There could be a place to warn the user that these colors mean low
> contrast, when the user is about to save the changes.  Would that be
> good enough?

That would be good enough.  But the case of using "emacs -q" should impose
good contrast by default.  Some have suggested that it could have been
the X Environment that set up the mode-line that way.

Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Óscar Fuentes]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: wael-zwaiter@gmx.com
>> Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
>> Date: Tue, 18 May 2021 14:12:48 +0200
>> 
>> > Where did those colors come from? they are not the default colors.
>> 
>> I took them from calling
>> 
>>    M-x customize-face mode-line
>
> So you your self asked Emacs to use these colors? then I think Emacs
> shouldn't second-guess you.

I think that the OP is saying that he looked up the colors through M-x
customize-face, not that he *setted* them.

I asked him to make some experiments to determine the source of those
colors, but his last message in our exchange contained only quoted text
from previous messages.

> There could be a place to warn the user that these colors mean low
> contrast, when the user is about to save the changes.  Would that be
> good enough?

In general, that feature could avoid the scenario where by accident or
ignorance the user sets a background and foreground so similar to each
other that the customize-face interface itself becomes unreadable.

Instead of asking before applying the changes, is could be better to ask
after the changes are visible, using a temporary "safe" color
combination on the minibuffer: "your changes look like this, do you want
to keep them?".

Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Stefan Monnier via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor]

> Could emacs internally figure out the colour settings and determine if
> the contrast between the foreground and background is high enough.
> And if not high enough to change the foreground and background colour.

It could but that would prevent such settings being made on purpose.
AFAICT your current problems are due to Xresource settings, which are
usually things the user sets explicitly, so it would be odd for Emacs to
ignore/override explicit user settings.

> Particularly when user supplies the -q option whilst debugging. 

`-q` is not for debugging: `-Q` is.


        Stefan

Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Óscar Fuentes]

wael-zwaiter@gmx.com writes:

> Could emacs internally figure out the colour settings and determine if the contrast
> between the foreground and background is high enough.  And if not high enough to change
> the foreground and background colour.  Particularly when user supplies the -q option
> whilst debugging. 

When you reply to a message please don't edit the quoted text as a
response.

Emacs is doing what is asked for, as it should. Edit your .Xresources
file (usually located in your home directory) and remove or change the
color specifications for Emacs.

Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: wael-zwaiter@gmx.com
> Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Date: Tue, 18 May 2021 15:01:32 +0200
> 
> > There could be a place to warn the user that these colors mean low
> > contrast, when the user is about to save the changes.  Would that be
> > good enough?
> 
> That would be good enough.

Then I suggest to file a feature-request bug report asking for such a
feature.  Although I now understand that it wasn't you, but some X
resource on your system that requested this color combination, in
which case adding such a warning will not help.

RE: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Drew Adams]

> > > Currently the colours are
> > >
> > > foreground: #ffffff
> > > Background: #bfbfbf (grey75)
> > >
> > > The contrast ratio for such combination is 1.8,
> > >
> > > This level does not even reach the minimum contrast of 3.0 for
> large scale text.
> > >
> > > Emacs should start caring about colour contrast by itself.
> >
> > Where did those colors come from? they are not the default colors.
> 
> I took them from calling
> 
>    M-x customize-face mode-line

Then you (or something you loaded) customized that face.

The point in telling you about `M-x customize-face' was
that you can use that to revert to the uncustomized
(default) appearance, and you can use it to customize
faces to any appearance you like.

Re: RE: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[wael-zwaiter]

> Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 2:03 AM
> From: "Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com>
> To: "wael-zwaiter@gmx.com" <wael-zwaiter@gmx.com>, "Eli Zaretskii" <eliz@gnu.org>
> Cc: "help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org" <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
> Subject: RE: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline
>
> > > > Currently the colours are
> > > >
> > > > foreground: #ffffff
> > > > Background: #bfbfbf (grey75)
> > > >
> > > > The contrast ratio for such combination is 1.8,
> > > >
> > > > This level does not even reach the minimum contrast of 3.0 for
> > large scale text.
> > > >
> > > > Emacs should start caring about colour contrast by itself.
> > >
> > > Where did those colors come from? they are not the default colors.
> >
> > I took them from calling
> >
> >    M-x customize-face mode-line
>
> Then you (or something you loaded) customized that face.
>
> The point in telling you about `M-x customize-face' was
> that you can use that to revert to the uncustomized
> (default) appearance, and you can use it to customize
> faces to any appearance you like.

Should emacs allow X-Resource customisations when the result is not good
because it does not take into account computations based on the contrast
ratio?

I am of the view that emacs should by default set such things as the mode-line
itself and not allow X-Environment to take over.

Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Óscar Fuentes]

wael-zwaiter@gmx.com writes:

>> Then you (or something you loaded) customized that face.
>>
>> The point in telling you about `M-x customize-face' was
>> that you can use that to revert to the uncustomized
>> (default) appearance, and you can use it to customize
>> faces to any appearance you like.
>
> Should emacs allow X-Resource customisations when the result is not good
> because it does not take into account computations based on the contrast
> ratio?

Yes, of course. Why Emacs should ignore what it is requested to do?

The user is always in power.

> I am of the view that emacs should by default set such things as the mode-line
> itself and not allow X-Environment to take over.

The purpose of .Xresources is to take over the default colors of Emacs
(or any other X application).

Better ask yourself why do you have an .Xresources file with settings
you don't like.

Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[tomas]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 827 bytes --]

On Tue, May 18, 2021 at 04:45:27PM +0200, Óscar Fuentes wrote:
> wael-zwaiter@gmx.com writes:
> 
> >> Then you (or something you loaded) customized that face.
> >>
> >> The point in telling you about `M-x customize-face' was
> >> that you can use that to revert to the uncustomized
> >> (default) appearance, and you can use it to customize
> >> faces to any appearance you like.
> >
> > Should emacs allow X-Resource customisations when the result is not good
> > because it does not take into account computations based on the contrast
> > ratio?
> 
> Yes, of course. Why Emacs should ignore what it is requested to do?

Definitely.

How should a program know whether some config is intentional?
Given the dazzling diversity of displays out there, "not good"
can depend on many factors.

Cheers
 - t

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Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[wael-zwaiter]

> Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 1:09 AM
> From: "Óscar Fuentes" <ofv@wanadoo.es>
> To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline
>
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> >> From: wael-zwaiter@gmx.com
> >> Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> >> Date: Tue, 18 May 2021 14:12:48 +0200
> >> 
> >> > Where did those colors come from? they are not the default colors.
> >> 
> >> I took them from calling
> >> 
> >>    M-x customize-face mode-line
> >
> > So you your self asked Emacs to use these colors? then I think Emacs
> > shouldn't second-guess you.
> 
> I think that the OP is saying that he looked up the colors through M-x
> customize-face, not that he *setted* them.
> 
> I asked him to make some experiments to determine the source of those
> colors, but his last message in our exchange contained only quoted text
> from previous messages.

I replied with the following

-q --no-x-resources Problem goes away

-q --no-site-file Problem exists

-q --no-site-lisp Problem exists

It was then determined that X Resource was doing that.
 
> > There could be a place to warn the user that these colors mean low
> > contrast, when the user is about to save the changes.  Would that be
> > good enough?
> 
> In general, that feature could avoid the scenario where by accident or
> ignorance the user sets a background and foreground so similar to each
> other that the customize-face interface itself becomes unreadable.

It isn't practical to set resources that are used by every application.
You'll need to add or override some settings for particular applications. 
 
> Instead of asking before applying the changes, is could be better to ask
> after the changes are visible, using a temporary "safe" color
> combination on the minibuffer: "your changes look like this, do you want
> to keep them?".
> 
> 
>

RE: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Christopher Dimech]

> Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 1:09 AM
> From: "Stefan Monnier via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor" <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
> To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: [External] :  Cannot see what is written on modeline
>
> > Could emacs internally figure out the colour settings and determine if
> > the contrast between the foreground and background is high enough.
> > And if not high enough to change the foreground and background colour.
>
> It could but that would prevent such settings being made on purpose.
> AFAICT your current problems are due to Xresource settings, which are
> usually things the user sets explicitly, so it would be odd for Emacs to
> ignore/override explicit user settings.

If they want them on purpose, could they not do them within their init file,
and let emacs use accessibility criteria when not set explicitly in the emacs
init file.

> > Particularly when user supplies the -q option whilst debugging.
>
> `-q` is not for debugging: `-Q` is.

Because only -Q avoids processing X resources.

Usually used -q to see what happens when no init file is loaded.  Was
not aware that emacs relies on X Resources, but that emacs handles
customisations internally, not picking things for mode line from
X Resources.  I am of the point of view that emacs should take care
of mode-line, because the emacs mode line should not form part of the
window environment.  The mode-line is there to assist the user with
important buffer specific details related to emacs.  In that regard,
accessibility considerations should trample other things, unless reset
from emacs customisation or by modifications to emacs init file.

Many people do not fully understand the ramifications emanating from the
setting of the X Environment Resources that applies to all window environments.

Most likely he installed Emacs later on, without bothering with the X Resource
Settings during OS installation.

>         Stefan
>
>
>

Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Christopher Dimech]

> Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 3:11 AM
> From: tomas@tuxteam.de
> To: "Óscar Fuentes" <ofv@wanadoo.es>
> Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline
>
> On Tue, May 18, 2021 at 04:45:27PM +0200, Óscar Fuentes wrote:
> > wael-zwaiter@gmx.com writes:
> > 
> > >> Then you (or something you loaded) customized that face.
> > >>
> > >> The point in telling you about `M-x customize-face' was
> > >> that you can use that to revert to the uncustomized
> > >> (default) appearance, and you can use it to customize
> > >> faces to any appearance you like.
> > >
> > > Should emacs allow X-Resource customisations when the result is not good
> > > because it does not take into account computations based on the contrast
> > > ratio?
> > 
> > Yes, of course. Why Emacs should ignore what it is requested to do?
> 
> Definitely.
> 
> How should a program know whether some config is intentional?
> Given the dazzling diversity of displays out there, "not good"
> can depend on many factors.

The contrast ratio is a good metric to determine suitability.  For instance,
the AAA requirement constitutes a contrast ratio of 7:1 to compensate for
contrast sensitivity loss by low-vision users with a vision loss of 20/80
or more. 

> Cheers
>  - t
>

Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Robert Thorpe]

I think there is some confusion about X resources here.

By default the X windowing system doesn't set any of the things that
we've been talking about.  If you start with X and no special
configuration then Emacs uses the Emacs default settings.

X resources are something that someone sets.  In this case you have set
an X resource for some reason that has interferred with Emacs'
functioning.  The X windowing system itself has not created that
setting.  Someone doing configuration has created that setting.

Maybe you copied an X resource snippet from the internet and that has
caused this.

At an outside chance it may be the distro that you are using that has
added this X resource.  If so, that is a bug in the distro and should be
reported to the distro maintainers.

To check whether that is the cause you can create a new user account.
If "emacs" is run from that new account it should look like "emacs -Q".
If it does then a user-added X-resource is the problem.  If the same
contrast problem occurs then the the distro probably has a bug.

This is the first time I've heard of a problem like this for Emacs.  I
don't think it warrants a change to the way Emacs works.

BR,
Robert Thorpe

Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[michael-franzese]

I will check.

> Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 7:53 PM
> From: "Robert Thorpe" <rt@robertthorpeconsulting.com>
> To: michael-franzese@gmx.com
> Cc: "Christopher Dimech" <dimech@gmx.com>, help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: [External] :  Cannot see what is written on modeline
>
> I think there is some confusion about X resources here.
>
> By default the X windowing system doesn't set any of the things that
> we've been talking about.  If you start with X and no special
> configuration then Emacs uses the Emacs default settings.
>
> X resources are something that someone sets.  In this case you have set
> an X resource for some reason that has interferred with Emacs'
> functioning.  The X windowing system itself has not created that
> setting.  Someone doing configuration has created that setting.
>
> Maybe you copied an X resource snippet from the internet and that has
> caused this.
>
> At an outside chance it may be the distro that you are using that has
> added this X resource.  If so, that is a bug in the distro and should be
> reported to the distro maintainers.
>
> To check whether that is the cause you can create a new user account.
> If "emacs" is run from that new account it should look like "emacs -Q".
> If it does then a user-added X-resource is the problem.  If the same
> contrast problem occurs then the the distro probably has a bug.
>
> This is the first time I've heard of a problem like this for Emacs.  I
> don't think it warrants a change to the way Emacs works.
>
> BR,
> Robert Thorpe
>
>

Re: [External] : Cannot see what is written on modeline

[Emanuel Berg via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor]

wael-zwaiter wrote:

> Does it really! The modeline is as expected when the cursor
> is on another window.

Face Off:

  mode-line                
  mode-line-buffer-id      
  mode-line-emphasis       
  mode-line-highlight      
  mode-line-inactive       

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