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

[wael-zwaiter@gmx.com]

> 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?".
> 
> 
>