Dim white background in preview pane: how?

DeepVoid · 08-31-2023, 08:30 AM

I have a little issue I think could be of interest for many Sigil users: I use my computer (Win11Pro) in dark mode; Sigil follows the system settings and adapts its interface to the dark mode. The preview pane, instead, always sports its white background, and this is a major issue (for me at least) because it's so blinding!

I would really love to have a way to dim the white background and make the interface a little more comfortable, especially for long working sessions... I know there is a setting to simulate a black background on the preview pane when the dark mode is enabled, but its contrast is too high, I just would like to have a grey background, and not a full black one.

Currently I adopted a dirty workaround to dim the white page background during editing sessions: I apply a background-color: grey statement to the main css of the book I'm working on, but I always have to disable the rule before deploying the final epub file, very annoying...

Could a dimming function for the preview pane be a useful feature for a future release of Sigil?

Thank you all for any hint

Turtle91 · 08-31-2023, 08:55 AM

It’s been awhile since I looked at the preferences section for the preview pane. Does it not have a background color setting??

DiapDealer · 08-31-2023, 09:28 AM

Yes. There's a preference setting for Preview to try and match dark mode (dark background/light text). But it won't always work well if the epub's css specifically sets text colors. Prefs=>Appearance=>Preview tab=>"Make Preview simulate a dark appearance in dark mode"

There's also the custom preview css that can be configured if you want to choose your own colors. This feature is documented in the user guide, I'm pretty sure.

Turtle91 · 08-31-2023, 12:42 PM

I didn’t see the custom css explained in detail, just a quick reference of files one may see in the preferences folder. Perhaps I need to keep looking in the guide.

In any case, you can create a custom css file and place it in the Sigil Preferences Folder. Name it: custom_preview_style.css
You can add whatever styling you want (background-color: grey) to that file. You may need to restart Sigil for it to take effect.

DiapDealer · 08-31-2023, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turtle91

I didn’t see the custom css explained in detail, just a quick reference of files one may see in the preferences folder. Perhaps I need to keep looking in the guide.

I merely said it was "documented". "Explained in detail" were your words.

08-31-2023, 08:30 AM	#1
DeepVoid Member Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Rome, Italy Device: Kindle Paperwhite 11th Gen	Dim white background in preview pane: how? I have a little issue I think could be of interest for many Sigil users: I use my computer (Win11Pro) in dark mode; Sigil follows the system settings and adapts its interface to the dark mode. The preview pane, instead, always sports its white background, and this is a major issue (for me at least) because it's so blinding! I would really love to have a way to dim the white background and make the interface a little more comfortable, especially for long working sessions... I know there is a setting to simulate a black background on the preview pane when the dark mode is enabled, but its contrast is too high, I just would like to have a grey background, and not a full black one. Currently I adopted a dirty workaround to dim the white page background during editing sessions: I apply a background-color: grey statement to the main css of the book I'm working on, but I always have to disable the rule before deploying the final epub file, very annoying... Could a dimming function for the preview pane be a useful feature for a future release of Sigil? Thank you all for any hint Last edited by DeepVoid; 08-31-2023 at 08:49 AM.

08-31-2023, 09:28 AM	#3
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,341 Karma: 203719646 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	Yes. There's a preference setting for Preview to try and match dark mode (dark background/light text). But it won't always work well if the epub's css specifically sets text colors. Prefs=>Appearance=>Preview tab=>"Make Preview simulate a dark appearance in dark mode" There's also the custom preview css that can be configured if you want to choose your own colors. This feature is documented in the user guide, I'm pretty sure. Last edited by DiapDealer; 08-31-2023 at 09:36 AM.

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08-31-2023, 08:55 AM	#2
Turtle91 A Hairy Wizard Posts: 3,295 Karma: 20171067 Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Charleston, SC today Device: iPhone 15/11/X/6/iPad 1,2,Air & Air Pro/Surface Pro/Kindle PW & Fire	It’s been awhile since I looked at the preferences section for the preview pane. Does it not have a background color setting??

08-31-2023, 12:42 PM	#4
Turtle91 A Hairy Wizard Posts: 3,295 Karma: 20171067 Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Charleston, SC today Device: iPhone 15/11/X/6/iPad 1,2,Air & Air Pro/Surface Pro/Kindle PW & Fire	I didn’t see the custom css explained in detail, just a quick reference of files one may see in the preferences folder. Perhaps I need to keep looking in the guide. In any case, you can create a custom css file and place it in the Sigil Preferences Folder. Name it: custom_preview_style.css You can add whatever styling you want (background-color: grey) to that file. You may need to restart Sigil for it to take effect.

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