The Evolution of Thunderbird's Dark Theme: A Review

The Mozilla Thunderbird dark theme has been a popular choice among users for years, and I've had the pleasure of using it periodically myself. The seashells on the beach theme is one of my favorites, and I often find myself switching to it when I want to give my email client a fresh new look.

However, I recently noticed that the primary toolbar in Thunderbird's dark theme doesn't quite live up to its promise. When you switch to the dark theme, the entire UI should follow suit and adapt to the new color scheme. But what happens instead is that the UI stays stuck on light or dark styling, depending on the theme.

I understand that this might not be a major issue for most users, but I wanted to provide some feedback in case it's useful someday. As a user, I'd like to see Thunderbird adapt better to its themes and switch to the correct color scheme when necessary.

One possible reason for this issue is that the built-in light theme comes from Firefox, so if the color scheme changes, we can't blame Mozilla entirely. Additionally, the Theming engine that Thunderbird inherits from Firefox might be causing some confusion.

I recently tried testing various add-on themes on both 91.10.0 and 102.0b2, and I found that none of them had a black background despite using the same profile for both versions. Even when I selected the built-in light theme before switching to an add-on theme, the background remained light grey.

This might suggest that there's more going on behind the scenes than we initially thought. Perhaps the issue lies with the way Thunderbird handles themes and color schemes, or maybe it's related to the Theming engine itself.

Regardless of the cause, I hope that Mozilla will consider addressing this issue in future updates. As a user, I want to see my email client adapt seamlessly to its various themes and provide an optimal reading experience.

In conclusion, while the dark theme is still one of my favorite options for Thunderbird, there's clearly room for improvement when it comes to adapting to the correct color scheme. Here's hoping that Mozilla will take this feedback into consideration and make necessary changes in future updates.

Mozilla thunderbird dark theme