linuxmint / linuxmint/mint-themes

Poor visibility of keyboard focus indicator on buttons in Mint-Y theme

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Dominant language
CSS
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Forks
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Description

Issue: Poor visibility of keyboard focus indicator on buttons in Mint-Y theme

Description:
In the Mint-Y theme (both light and dark variants), the visual indicator that shows which button has keyboard focus is difficult to see. The focus style uses a subtle border or low‑contrast color that does not meet WCAG AA contrast requirements for focus visibility.

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Launch any GTK application that uses the Mint-Y theme (e.g., gnome-control-center with the theme set).
  2. Navigate to a dialog containing multiple buttons using the Tab key.
  3. Observe the focus outline on the currently focused button.

Expected behavior:
The focused button should display a clear, high‑contrast focus indicator (e.g., a 2 px solid outline in a color that contrasts with both the button background and the surrounding UI).

Actual behavior:
The focus indicator is a thin, low‑contrast line (often 1 px, color close to the button background) making it hard to discern which button is focused, especially for users with low vision or in bright lighting conditions.

Suggested fix:
Modify the button focus rule in the theme’s GTK CSS to increase the outline width and/or change its color to a higher contrast value.

Example change in gtk-3.0/gtk.css (and gtk-dark.css if separate):

.button:focus {
    outline: 2px solid @focus_color; /* or a specific rgba value */
    outline-offset: 2px;
}

Where @focus_color could be #0060df (a strong blue) for the light theme and #4a90e2 for the dark theme, or use the symbolic color @theme_focus_color defined elsewhere in the theme.

Additional notes:

  • The same issue may affect other widget types (e.g., entries, tabs) that rely on the generic .button focus style.
  • After applying the change, run gtk-update-icon-cache -f /usr/share/themes/Mint-Y and restart the affected applications to see the update.
  • Testing with accessibility tools (e.g., xrandr --output ... --brightness or high‑contrast themes) is recommended.

Environment:

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the button focus rule in gtk-3.0/gtk.css and, if separate, gtk-dark.css. Test the Mint-Y theme in a GTK application such as gnome-control-center by moving focus with Tab, then verify that the indicator is clearly visible against both the button and surrounding UI in light and dark variants.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
css
Domain
accessibility, design
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
82/100

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