Transparency color too dark

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Level 1

11 points

Transparency color too dark

The window transparency 'feature' introduced a few updates ago is hateful, thankfully it can be turned off in Accessibility->Display->Reduce Transparency.

Apple now have now though changed substituted background color from a perfectly readbale light grey to a grey-blue. Hey presto that makes reading text upon that background most difficult, see Mail notifications and Safari favorite sites for examples.

My clever hack was to have transparency on but have a solid color desktop. This does stop the grey/blue background issue administered by 'accessibility' options, but alas windows stacked on top of each still show each through other, disrupting the legibility of text.

What can I do to have legibility restored?

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Oct 8, 2018 8:13 AM

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Answer 1

fusacon Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 8, 2018 8:49 AM in response to Eau Rouge

The worst example is when Mail notifies me of a new mail, so that is not straightforward to capture. It's worsened by the fact it is animated so there is less time to read the text anyway.

As described originally, Accessibility->Display->Reduce Transparency removes the transparency effect as Apple knows it is no good for visually impaired people. Since Mojave this now means some backgrounds (that would have been transparent) instead of being a light grey are a dark grey-blue. So the black text does not read well over that color. It's a simple design choice that has been done very badly. There is no logical reason to make an 'accessibility' option worse by greatly reducing text contrast. It's not by a small amount it's a huge difference.

Attached is an example from the spotlight menu. That dark grey background used to very light grey.

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Answer 2

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,656 points

Oct 8, 2018 9:02 AM in response to fusacon

So in light mode I get this.

This might be an issue with your Mac not having a Metal capable Graphics Card. It is one of the prerequisites of Mojave that the Graphics card is Metal capable. Click on the Apple top left, click About This Mac click on System Report then Graphics/ Displays and see if the card has the Metal API. This is my listing.

What Mac are you using and what graphics card, if it is not Metal capable then you will get graphics problems like that.

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

135,521 points

Oct 8, 2018 8:55 AM in response to fusacon

fusacon wrote:

What can I do to have legibility restored?

Nothing other than downgrading to a pre-transparency version of macOS.

You can send feedback… Feedback - macOS - Apple

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Answer 4

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,656 points

Oct 8, 2018 8:29 AM in response to fusacon

I don't see the transparency issues you have so how is your Mac set up regards the Display, System Preferences>Display how high is your Brightness set, Macs traditionally come with Displays set far too bright. Then in Displays> Color if you option/alt click the Calibrate button you should get in to Expert Mode here you can adjust the Display more accurately and set the Gamma and Color Temperature for the Display. For me I have it set to Gamma of 2.2 and a Color Temp of 5500k. A warmer Color Temp helps with the eyes, it may look too yellow at first but your eyes adjust rapidly.

Show us some screenshots of your settings.

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Answer 5

fusacon Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 8, 2018 8:32 AM in response to Eau Rouge

It has nothing to do with that whatsoever, this about relative contrast between text and the background it is displayed on. So the background is too dark, someone at Apple has chosen that color, they are an idiot.

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Answer 6

fusacon Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 10, 2018 3:44 AM in response to fusacon

Ok the mystery has been uncovered after a call to Apple.

So what is happening is that the top portion of the desktop image is being used as a background for all of these contextual menus and notifications.

So if you have a desktop where the top portion of the image is not lighter than 50% grey you will run into these illegible menus and notification windows.

Apparently this is a deliberate feature of Mojave and it can't be turned off, make of that what you will.

How do I make this the preferred answer?

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Answer 7

Oct 10, 2018 4:04 AM in response to fusacon

After you have awarded the “solved” to a message you can’t change that.

Now concerning this “top part of the desktop image” notion, I have a few observations:

1) how can this be if you have turned off the transparency?

2) if this is true, then there is an obvious solution in your hands: choose a desktop image that makes the background work for you

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Answer 8

fusacon Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 10, 2018 4:10 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

1) That is what Apple have chosen to do, it looks like and probably is a mistake born out of improper testing i.e using only favourable background images for testing.

2) As I said that is what I have done to solve the issue.

This solution was far from clear and really only discovered by accident. I worry that may people's eyesight is being affected because they are putting up with this. As the effect can depends entirely on the background image the severity will also be highly varied.

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Answer 9

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,656 points

Oct 10, 2018 6:24 AM in response to fusacon

System Preferences> Accessibilty> Display select Increase Contrast (Reduce Transparency will automatically be selected) and the box with the (dis)coloured background will default to light grey.

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Answer 10

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,656 points

Oct 8, 2018 8:39 AM in response to fusacon

What colour are you talking about, show some screenshots of your issue.

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Answer 11

Oct 8, 2018 9:22 AM in response to fusacon

If I may make a suggestion, have you tried the (new in Mojave) “Dark Mode”? I find that the light text over dark background is (for me) more readable and less tiring for my (relatively) old eyes.

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Answer 12

fusacon Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 8, 2018 10:24 AM in response to Eau Rouge

I have a MacBook - it says:

Supported, feature set macOS GPUFamily1 v4

Are you getting that in light mode with the Reduce Transparency option though?

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Answer 13

fusacon Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 8, 2018 10:25 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I have and it is much worse, I find as the white text introduces more glare on the edges of the letters than black on white.

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Answer 14

Oct 10, 2018 5:56 AM in response to fusacon

Sorry, only now I finally had a chance to test this and I confirm your findings.

You're right, changing the desktop image seems to be the only solution available at the moment.

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Answer 15

dialabrain

Level 10

135,521 points

Oct 10, 2018 6:13 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I actually thought everyone knew this. Many Linux flavors were doing the same thing years ago. I spent a few years creating Linux GUIs. Transparencies were a common feature. As were "Dark Modes".

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Transparency color too dark

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