Thunderbird 115: CSS Customization

Wisewiz · Jul 12, 2023

Like Thunderbird 102.x, 115 presents with four address books. Using a .css file in a created Chrome folder in Profile, I was able to dispense with two of those books (All and Address) in 102.x, but that trick isn't working with 115. I'm not yet sure that .css files will work at all with 115.

Ideas?

Wisewiz · Jul 12, 2023

Never mind. I got it. I had forgotten that you have to adjust a value in about:config from False to True.

lafargeotte · Jul 13, 2023

It is a big upgrade.

However, if you have tweaked your existing Thunderbird then virtually nothing is kept when upgrading.
Plus few add-ons work with this new version.
Best staying put for a while until it gets a bit older.

Wisewiz · Jul 13, 2023

Yeah, I had to start over from scratch with the tweaks I had made, but I've almost got it the way I want it now.

lafargeotte · Jul 13, 2023

Do CSS still work?

Wisewiz · Jul 13, 2023

Yes, some of the controls do, but some of my old ones don't.

In order to use them, you have to go to the Config editor at the bottom of the General page in Settings, and type in
toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets
and change false to true with the two-arrow icon.

I got three address books hidden, but I can't BOLD the column heads (From, Subject, Date) I use any more. And I can't get the lines between messages in the messages list to work yet either. Maybe I'll just use the "cards" display, if I can find it again.

lafargeotte · Jul 13, 2023

Hi,
Yes I already have that setting in Config, however not all my CSS settings are accepted.
I have blue backgrounds for all three panes on my 102, but these do not transfer to 115.
Here is what they are on my 102 CSS:
menubar, toolbar, nav-bar, #TabsToolbar > *{
background-color:#87CEFA !important;
}
menupopup {-moz-appearance: none !important; --panel-background: #87CEFA !important }
/* Folderpane & Messagepane */
treechildren {
background-color:#87CEFA !important; }
but 115 does not read them, do you think something should be changed?

lafargeotte · Jul 13, 2023

I would also like to make the header pane smaller on 115, it is great on 102 (the blue picture).

Wisewiz · Jul 13, 2023

Some of my CSS stuff doesn't carry over as well. I don't think the developers are interested in users of CSS, but it might be worth going to the feedback page and saying you're interested in CSS customization.
To request: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org. To feedback: feedback forum https://connect.mozilla.org.

Wisewiz · Jul 13, 2023

I agree completely on the message header: way too large and space-consuming.

ltsnow · Jul 13, 2023

lafargeotte said:
Hi,
Yes I already have that setting in Config, however not all my CSS settings are accepted.
I have blue backgrounds for all three panes on my 102, but these do not transfer to 115.
Here is what they are on my 102 CSS:
menubar, toolbar, nav-bar, #TabsToolbar > *{
background-color:#87CEFA !important;
}
menupopup {-moz-appearance: none !important; --panel-background: #87CEFA !important }
/* Folderpane & Messagepane */
treechildren {
background-color:#87CEFA !important; }
but 115 does not read them, do you think something should be changed?

/* Folderpane & Messagepane */
treechildren {
background-color:#87CEFA !important; }

is exactly the code I am looking for. If you or anyone comes up with the new code I hope you post it here. Also, I am waiting for the Compact Headers extension to be updated. If these two problems are solved I will probably switch to 115.

das10 · Jul 14, 2023

I think the headers font section appears to be controlled by new element names.

eg. This appears to work in the portable Thunderbird beta version 116.0 (hopefully it is the same in version 115 ?).

Code:

#threadTree button:not(.twisty, .button-column-picker), #threadTree button:not(.button-column-picker) img {
  font-size: 16px !important;
  font-weight: bold !important;
  }

Wisewiz · Jul 14, 2023

Please see my images in #6 above: I can't seem to get the column heads (From, Subject, Date) back again after I scrapped them.

Where's the switch?

das10 · Jul 14, 2023

How did you manage to scrap the headers? Do you have any header which you can right click to possibly get them back (although the "Subject" header doesn't appear in that right click menu)?

Wisewiz · Jul 14, 2023

das10 said:
How did you manage to scrap the headers? Do you have any header which you can right click to possibly get them back (although the "Subject" header doesn't appear in that right click menu)?

No effing idea. Now I'll go hunting again. The "choose columns" icon is also missing, of course.

Have you discovered that Search in Settings is absolutely non-functional? Even searching for something on the same page as the search blank doesn't have results!

das10 · Jul 14, 2023

Search appears to be working the same as in Firefox (But remember I am testing T-Bird beta 116) .

Wisewiz · Jul 14, 2023

Worked w/Start, but columns brings this back dynamically (as you type, in this case).

Wisewiz · Jul 14, 2023

I'm still getting "Thunderbird is up to date" in About on 102.13. Since I have 115 up and running in a separate directory, I thought I could run them side-by-side until I got 115 configured completely. Worked for the first day (maybe two days) after installation of 115, but now I get the pop-up below:

But wait, there's more ....

Now they're working happily side-by side. No idea why the pop-up yesterday, and nothing today.

Maybe the absence of column headers in 115 in this shot is because the From and Subject are stacked. But now I can't recall how to get back to Un-cards (table) display.

das10 · Jul 14, 2023

Presumably, you have tried the different options in Menu > Layout > Classic/Wide/Vertical views ?

Wisewiz · Jul 14, 2023

Yeahbut, none of the options includes the cards-table choice. I just can't find it anywhere. If I can get back to the table display, the columns won't be stacked, and maybe the column headers will be available.

Mind you, the column headers are not at all necessary when you have the stacked, two-line display. It's just that with columns, you can switch the order around: Subject, From, Date/Date, Subject, From/Date, From, Subject, etc.