Bug 515358 - Bad legibility of Kickoff header when Air and Oxygen are used with certain color schemes
Summary: Bad legibility of Kickoff header when Air and Oxygen are used with certain co...
Status: ASSIGNED
Alias: None
Product: Oxygen
Classification: Plasma
Component: general (other bugs)
Version First Reported In: master
Platform: Other Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Filip Fila
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2026-01-31 19:37 UTC by Filip Fila
Modified: 2026-02-02 14:48 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:


Attachments
Wrong colors in Kickoff's header (1.10 MB, image/png)
2026-01-31 19:37 UTC, Filip Fila
Details

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Description Filip Fila 2026-01-31 19:37:02 UTC
Created attachment 189111 [details]
Wrong colors in Kickoff's header

SUMMARY
Oxygen and Air desktop themes don't have a 'Header' section in the .colors file.
This means certain color schemes that set these colors override Oxygen and Air's colors.
This can result in bad legibility if, for example, pairing Air with Breeze Dark or Oxgen with Breeze Light.
Bad legibility means white text and icons in a light theme (Air) or black text and icons in a dark theme (Oxygen).

The solution is to patch Oxygen and Air to have 'Header' colors set so that colors schemes can't override them.
 
STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Set theme to Air [master] or Oxygen [any version]
2. Pair Air with the Breeze Dark color scheme and pair Oxygen with the Breeze Light Scheme
3. Observe bad colors in Kickoff's header.

OBSERVED RESULT
White text/icons in a light theme and dark text/icons in a dark theme = bad legibility.

EXPECTED RESULT
No color scheme affects Oxygen and Air's desired colors

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
KDE Plasma Version: you need master for testing Air, any other version before for Oxygen
Comment 1 Marco Martin 2026-02-02 11:30:35 UTC
this must be a bug in the component used there as air and oxygen are not suppose to follow the system color scheme at all, so that one is getting its colors from the wrong source
Comment 2 Filip Fila 2026-02-02 11:40:46 UTC
(In reply to Marco Martin from comment #1)
> this must be a bug in the component used there as air and oxygen are not
> suppose to follow the system color scheme at all, so that one is getting its
> colors from the wrong source

I'm also seeing the bug in the headers of systray items: bluetooth, audio, notifications, network.
Comment 3 Filip Fila 2026-02-02 11:52:49 UTC
(In reply to Filip Fila from comment #2)
> (In reply to Marco Martin from comment #1)
> > this must be a bug in the component used there as air and oxygen are not
> > suppose to follow the system color scheme at all, so that one is getting its
> > colors from the wrong source
> 
> I'm also seeing the bug in the headers of systray items: bluetooth, audio,
> notifications, network.

And I can reproduce this with the Gently theme + Breeze Light color scheme so it's not just Oxygen and Air, but a broader issue that header colors are getting applied even though the Plasma theme does not use them.

In that sense the patches I submitted to Invent are just a workaround for Air and Oxygen until the ideal fix comes in.
Comment 4 Bug Janitor Service 2026-02-02 14:48:08 UTC
A possibly relevant merge request was started @ https://invent.kde.org/plasma/libplasma/-/merge_requests/1424