[BeckyEbook]

2. The second issue concerns the possible adjustment of the active tab in Code View (and, incidentally, in other places).

Question:

— In Light Mode, the active tab has a paler color and stands out quite a bit. But in Classic Sigil Dark Theme, it is only distinguished by its slight elevation. In dawn, my tired old eyes take a while to find it. Would it be possible to give a more prominent visual cue? If its name were, say, italicized or underlined, it would be more easily recognizable.
(If there is a way to do this via qt_styles.qss, that would also work... but I think doing it “by default” would help a lot).

The answers were as follows:

@KevinH:
- the active tab highlighting is quite clear on MacOS, and Manjaro Linux under both Light and Dark modes on my machines. So this must only be an issue for Windows 11 using the classic dark mode which probably would require internal qss changes. If other Windows users report the same issue, we can treat it like a bug instead of a suggestion. Have you tried just using normal Windows light and dark mode? You know you can right click on any tab in the tab bar and remove the clutter by auto closing all other tabs with a single click.

@DiapDealer:
in addition to the elevation, the active tab is paler in the Classic Sigil Dark theme. Maybe not a lot, but the color IS different. I've never had any trouble immediately identifying the active tab. I think the qss method to allow individuals to tweak (or not) is the best solution here. Changing defaults for everyone after this much time has passed (without complaints) isn't usually the best idea.

Indeed – when I was developing Sigil’s dark mode a few years ago, I was too keen on making it ‘look nice’ and overlooked the fact that this interface element is crucial for maintaining the UI’s accessibility.
The situation is therefore as follows.
If we were to remove the styling from the close button in Sigil’s classic dark mode, the active tab would get the default red close button, which would certainly stand out more.

This is how it looks now:


This is how it looks after disabling the close button styling:


This is a good solution, but at the same time a bad solution. It’s not just about my personal feelings, but those red and grey buttons do clash a bit with the classic dark theme.
If someone really wanted to, they could disable the classic dark theme in the preferences and have those red close buttons for tabs.
However, I see another solution here, which I hope will be of interest.
Admittedly, styling bookmarks via QSS is a bit of a pain, as almost every modification forces you to restyle numerous elements. I’ve been wrestling with this issue for ages and thought to myself:
I’ll share my suggestion, and if anyone finds the topic important, they can modify QSS to suit their preferences.

Here’s my suggestion (add to file qt_styles.qss):

QTabWidget::tab-bar:top {
    top: 1px;
}

QTabWidget::tab-bar:bottom {
    bottom: 1px;
}

QTabBar::tab:top {
    border-top: 1px solid #242424;
    border-left: 1px solid #242424;
    border-right: 1px solid #242424;
    border-top-left-radius: 4px;
    border-top-right-radius: 4px;
}

QTabBar::tab:bottom {
    border-bottom: 1px solid #242424;
    border-left: 1px solid #242424;
    border-right: 1px solid #242424;
    border-bottom-left-radius: 4px;
    border-bottom-right-radius: 4px;
}

QTabBar::tab:selected {
    background: #242424;
}

QTabBar::tab:!selected {
    background: #353535;
}

QTabBar::tab:!selected:hover {
    background: #242424;
}

QTabBar::tab:top:!selected {
    margin-top: 3px;
}

QTabBar::tab:bottom:!selected {
    margin-bottom: 3px;
}

QTabBar::tab:top, QTabBar::tab:bottom {
    min-width: 8ex;
    margin-right: -1px;
    padding: 5px 10px 5px 10px;
}

QTabBar::tab:top:selected {
    border-top: 3px solid #308CC6;
    border-bottom-color: none; 
}

QTabBar::tab:bottom:selected {
    border-bottom: 3px solid #308CC6;
    border-top-color:  none;
}

QTabBar::tab:top:last, QTabBar::tab:bottom:last,
QTabBar::tab:top:only-one, QTabBar::tab:bottom:only-one {
    margin-right: 0;
}

And here’s the result: