All Books' Live CSS Show color: rgb(221, 221, 221)

enuddleyarbl · 09-06-2025, 11:33 AM

EDIT: It looks like that color: rgb(221, 221, 221) code is because I'm using a Dark theme. If I switch to a Light theme, it goes away. So, I assume it's there simply so the editor can render the book with that dark theme. It doesn't appear to carry over to the books I send over to my ereader. So, I guess this can be ignored.

OP:I don't remember this being present before. In the Calibre Editor, the Live CSS tab for every book that I've tried (even a basic HTML file that I just added and had Calibre convert to Epub) now contains:

Code:

color: rgb(221, 221, 221)

.
As far as I can see, there's nothing in the book setting that color.

For instance, in the HTML I just imported (nothing but an old bookmark file), the Live CSS says things like:

"Inherited from body @9"

and

"Inherited from html @2"

But, line 2 of this particular file is:

Code:

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops">

and line 9 is:

Code:

<body class="calibre"><h1 class="calibre7" id="calibre_pb_0">Bookmarks</h1>

There's nothing about color at all in the stylesheet.

If I remove all css from the book completely (nothing in the stylesheet and nothing in the HTML file), that color stuff is still there. Is it supposed to be? What's causing it and where is that color supposed to show up?

Karellen · 09-06-2025, 03:40 PM

I would expect it is setting the colour theme for the editor live viewer panel which you can amend in the editor settings.

Now that I check, I only see that when highlighting the <html> tag and the background-colour does match the colour in my preview panel.

enuddleyarbl · 09-06-2025, 05:10 PM

I get that color code in the CSS Live panel no matter where I am in the HTML file. Oddly, my File Preview panel is black and white. I guess that's following my Dark theme, though Edit > Preferences > Editor Settings > Color Scheme is set to pyte-light. I swear that yesterday the whole Editor UI was pyte-light. I'm not sure if I updated to Calibre 8.10 in between the possibly-hallucinated difference or not (I'm on Windows 11).

EDIT: the following site seems to be showing that color matching the background color of the code(?) panel:

https://rgb.to/rgb/221,221,221

JSWolf · 09-06-2025, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by enuddleyarbl

I get that color code in the CSS Live panel no matter where I am in the HTML file. Oddly, my File Preview panel is black and white. I guess that's following my Dark theme, though Edit > Preferences > Editor Settings > Color Scheme is set to pyte-light. I swear that yesterday the whole Editor UI was pyte-light. I'm not sure if I updated to Calibre 8.10 in between the possibly-hallucinated difference or not (I'm on Windows 11).

Would you mind changing your color palate to something readable? You're live CSS is unreadable as the contrast is that poor. Then you can report for screen grab. Thanks.

enuddleyarbl · 09-06-2025, 05:31 PM

I'm actually in the process of trying to figure out how to do change that color scheme. As I mentioned above, I don't think that Live CSS panel looked that way yesterday and I don't know what changed.

EDIT: Well, the only way I could get a reasonable color scheme in Calibre was to change to a Light theme in both the main Calibre program and in the Editor (without spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to set up a custom theme). All the Dark themes have some odd colors and the Live CSS and File Preview panes follow the Dark theme regardless of my setting a light theme in the editor. But, with a Light theme, that color code isn't present in the Live CSS pane. As @Karellen mentioned, I guess that code's there for displaying within the editor. But, it seems odd that code would appear in the Live CSS pane merely for the editor's purpose and not the book's.

kovidgoyal · 09-06-2025, 07:09 PM

Go to preview settings section of the editor preferences and change the background color back to no change.

enuddleyarbl · 09-06-2025, 07:17 PM

Thanks, Kovid. That returned the background color of the File Preview pane to white and got rid of that color: rgb(...) entry in the Live CSS pane. Is there any way to have the Live CSS pane also have a white background?

kovidgoyal · 09-06-2025, 07:25 PM

No, it follows your UI colors. Looking at your screenshot it looks like you have customised those, I suggest you remove that customisation then you will find the default dark mode colors for Live CSS quite useable.

enuddleyarbl · 09-06-2025, 08:30 PM

I'm guessing your screenshot was with the Calibre main program set to use a Dark theme and the editor to use the automatic wombat-dark theme. For my screenshot, I was using a Dark theme at the Calibre level and the pyte-light Editor theme. No custom colors anywhere. For some reason, at least on this Windows 11 installation, the combination of a Dark Calibre theme and any Light Editor theme results in some form of poor readability in some aspect of the editor.

Dark/Dark or Light/Light combinations seem fine. I initially tried a Dark/Dark combo (I'm pretty sure the best was Dark/wombat-dark), but found the main "code" panel to be a tad difficult to work with. So, I went to that Dark/pyte-light combo as the best of the Dark/Light combos. But, then I ran across that color rgb code and started noticing the visibility issues more. Changing over to a Light/Light (Light/pyte-light) theme works fine, though. I've used that for years without problem and just thought I'd give the Dark theme at the Calibre level a try.

kovidgoyal · 09-06-2025, 09:08 PM

Ah yes, I had forgotten that the Live CSS panel does use colors from the code view theme for its text, while its background is the UI colors.

09-06-2025, 11:33 AM	#1
enuddleyarbl Guru Posts: 791 Karma: 1538394 Join Date: Sep 2013 Device: Kobo Sage	All Books' Live CSS Show color: rgb(221, 221, 221) EDIT: It looks like that color: rgb(221, 221, 221) code is because I'm using a Dark theme. If I switch to a Light theme, it goes away. So, I assume it's there simply so the editor can render the book with that dark theme. It doesn't appear to carry over to the books I send over to my ereader. So, I guess this can be ignored. OP:I don't remember this being present before. In the Calibre Editor, the Live CSS tab for every book that I've tried (even a basic HTML file that I just added and had Calibre convert to Epub) now contains: Code: color: rgb(221, 221, 221) . As far as I can see, there's nothing in the book setting that color. For instance, in the HTML I just imported (nothing but an old bookmark file), the Live CSS says things like: "Inherited from body @9" and "Inherited from html @2" But, line 2 of this particular file is: Code: <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops"> and line 9 is: Code: <body class="calibre"><h1 class="calibre7" id="calibre_pb_0">Bookmarks</h1> There's nothing about color at all in the stylesheet. If I remove all css from the book completely (nothing in the stylesheet and nothing in the HTML file), that color stuff is still there. Is it supposed to be? What's causing it and where is that color supposed to show up? Last edited by enuddleyarbl; 09-06-2025 at 11:44 AM.

09-06-2025, 03:40 PM	#2
Karellen Wizard Posts: 1,634 Karma: 9500498 Join Date: Sep 2021 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Libra 2	I would expect it is setting the colour theme for the editor live viewer panel which you can amend in the editor settings. Now that I check, I only see that when highlighting the <html> tag and the background-colour does match the colour in my preview panel. Attached Thumbnails

09-06-2025, 05:10 PM	#3
enuddleyarbl Guru Posts: 791 Karma: 1538394 Join Date: Sep 2013 Device: Kobo Sage	I get that color code in the CSS Live panel no matter where I am in the HTML file. Oddly, my File Preview panel is black and white. I guess that's following my Dark theme, though Edit > Preferences > Editor Settings > Color Scheme is set to pyte-light. I swear that yesterday the whole Editor UI was pyte-light. I'm not sure if I updated to Calibre 8.10 in between the possibly-hallucinated difference or not (I'm on Windows 11). EDIT: the following site seems to be showing that color matching the background color of the code(?) panel: https://rgb.to/rgb/221,221,221 Attached Thumbnails Last edited by enuddleyarbl; 09-06-2025 at 05:16 PM.

09-06-2025, 05:31 PM	#5
enuddleyarbl Guru Posts: 791 Karma: 1538394 Join Date: Sep 2013 Device: Kobo Sage	I'm actually in the process of trying to figure out how to do change that color scheme. As I mentioned above, I don't think that Live CSS panel looked that way yesterday and I don't know what changed. EDIT: Well, the only way I could get a reasonable color scheme in Calibre was to change to a Light theme in both the main Calibre program and in the Editor (without spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to set up a custom theme). All the Dark themes have some odd colors and the Live CSS and File Preview panes follow the Dark theme regardless of my setting a light theme in the editor. But, with a Light theme, that color code isn't present in the Live CSS pane. As @Karellen mentioned, I guess that code's there for displaying within the editor. But, it seems odd that code would appear in the Live CSS pane merely for the editor's purpose and not the book's. Last edited by enuddleyarbl; 09-06-2025 at 07:09 PM.

09-06-2025, 07:25 PM	#8
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,476 Karma: 27757440 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	No, it follows your UI colors. Looking at your screenshot it looks like you have customised those, I suggest you remove that customisation then you will find the default dark mode colors for Live CSS quite useable. Attached Thumbnails

09-06-2025, 07:09 PM	#6
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,476 Karma: 27757440 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Go to preview settings section of the editor preferences and change the background color back to no change.

09-06-2025, 07:17 PM	#7
enuddleyarbl Guru Posts: 791 Karma: 1538394 Join Date: Sep 2013 Device: Kobo Sage	Thanks, Kovid. That returned the background color of the File Preview pane to white and got rid of that color: rgb(...) entry in the Live CSS pane. Is there any way to have the Live CSS pane also have a white background?

09-06-2025, 08:30 PM	#9
enuddleyarbl Guru Posts: 791 Karma: 1538394 Join Date: Sep 2013 Device: Kobo Sage	I'm guessing your screenshot was with the Calibre main program set to use a Dark theme and the editor to use the automatic wombat-dark theme. For my screenshot, I was using a Dark theme at the Calibre level and the pyte-light Editor theme. No custom colors anywhere. For some reason, at least on this Windows 11 installation, the combination of a Dark Calibre theme and any Light Editor theme results in some form of poor readability in some aspect of the editor. Dark/Dark or Light/Light combinations seem fine. I initially tried a Dark/Dark combo (I'm pretty sure the best was Dark/wombat-dark), but found the main "code" panel to be a tad difficult to work with. So, I went to that Dark/pyte-light combo as the best of the Dark/Light combos. But, then I ran across that color rgb code and started noticing the visibility issues more. Changing over to a Light/Light (Light/pyte-light) theme works fine, though. I've used that for years without problem and just thought I'd give the Dark theme at the Calibre level a try.

09-06-2025, 09:08 PM	#10
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,476 Karma: 27757440 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Ah yes, I had forgotten that the Live CSS panel does use colors from the code view theme for its text, while its background is the UI colors.

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