LyX ⇒ dark background on Lyx Mac

[BobCA]

Hello Lyx fans.

I just installed lyx 2.2.3 with mactex on my macbook running OSX 10.11.6 el Capitan.

When I open Lyx documents the background color on the display/edit window is dark gray. This is where I type in stuff.

I tried lyx/preferences/look&feel/colors/background/alter

I set the selected color to a lighter one in the dialog box, click ok, the dialog box disappears but nothing happens. Still dark gray!

Later, I found that when I login as Administrator, then open Lyx, the background of a new document is the usual cream color.

I tried selecting or de-selecting the Use System Colors option in the preferences dialog box but nothing happened.

Any ideas on how to fix appreciated.
Bob

p.s. I tried to post this question on the Lyx mailing list but the server seems to be down.

[scottkosty]

Thanks for the details. Yes, it's unfortunate the lists are down. There was a hard drive failure. We're hoping to have this fixed soon, and also eventually move to a more robust system to avoid similar problems in the future.

As for the bug, is this the same as https://www.lyx.org/trac/ticket/10740 ?

[BobCA]

As for the bug, is this the same as https://www.lyx.org/trac/ticket/10740 ?

Son of a gun, this was it! The change colors dialog was hiding behind the main window when I thought it had closed. Thanks.

Now, as to why the colors are screwed up in the first place for user accounts and not for the admin, this seems like a bug to me but I will leave it to someone more knowledgeable about Macs to post the bug.

Thanks for the details. Yes, it's unfortunate the lists are down. There was a hard drive failure. We're hoping to have this fixed soon, and also eventually move to a more robust system to avoid similar problems in the future.

Well, it will drive more traffic to this site

Seriously, it is a double whammy since the lyx site on the Gmane web interface is also down.

Thanks again

[scottkosty]

Now, as to why the colors are screwed up in the first place for user accounts and not for the admin, this seems like a bug to me but I will leave it to someone more knowledgeable about Macs to post the bug.

Could you open a new trac ticket for this? Also can you post your "preferences" file? Let me know if you need help finding this. Feedback from Mac users is very helpful. Most LyX developers use Linux, so unfortunately it's hard for us to make progress on Mac-specific issues.

[BobCA]

Could you open a new trac ticket for this? Also can you post your "preferences" file? Let me know if you need help finding this. Feedback from Mac users is very helpful. Most LyX developers use Linux, so unfortunately it's hard for us to make progress on Mac-specific issues.

OK but I have not done either of those so could use help. Perhaps links or instructions on how to post a 'trac ticket' and where to find the preferences file.

Searching along the 'User directory' path with terminal:
User directory: ~/Library/Application Support/LyX-2.2/

I found the following preferences file.

This was after I changed the background color so the new color seems to appear below. I will login as the administrator later and try to find the preferences file and post here.

Bob

preferences file for my user account:

USERs-Air:Lyx-2.2 beto$ cat preferences
# LyX 2.2.3 generated this file. If you want to make your own
# modifications you should do them from inside LyX and save.

Format 19


#
# MISC SECTION ######################################
#

\user_name "xxxx" Note: redacted
\user_email ""

#
# SCREEN & FONTS SECTION ############################
#

\screen_font_sizes 5 7 8 9 12 12 14.4 17.26 20.74 24.88
\single_close_tab_button true

#
# COLOR SECTION ###################################
#

\set_color "background" "#c4eaa3"

#
# PRINTER SECTION ###################################
#


#
# TEX SECTION #######################################
#


#
# FILE SECTION ######################################
#


#
# PLAIN TEXT EXPORT SECTION ##############################
#


#
# SPELLCHECKER SECTION ##############################
#


#
# LANGUAGE SUPPORT SECTION ##########################
#


#
# 2nd MISC SUPPORT SECTION ##########################
#


#
# FORMATS SECTION ##########################
#


#
# CONVERTERS SECTION ##########################
#


#
# COPIERS SECTION ##########################

[BobCA]

I logged in as administrator and searched for the preferences file in the Lyx directories but did not find it. Apparently, Lyx only saves a file if the user changes any settings.

I did look for the background color in the Lyx preferences and the default color was the usual cream color not the dark gray as it was in my user account.

So, my problem was a combination of two factors. The first was that Lyx accepted the default background color specified by the operating system, which is my case was a dark gray. I do not know why this choice. I do not recall changing it in another program. The second factor is the loss of focus of the set preferences dialog box as noted in previous posts.

This second factor is a real bug and has to be fixed. The first factor is a design decision. Should Lyx override the system default background color with a choice of its own? I can see arguments on both sides. Given my experience, I think the design should override the color choice and I am willing to post a bug notice but I can see how reasonable people could disagree.

Scott, if you think this is worth a bug notice, please provide a link to instructions of where and how to post the notice.

Bob

[scottkosty]

I logged in as administrator and searched for the preferences file in the Lyx directories but did not find it. Apparently, Lyx only saves a file if the user changes any settings.

I did look for the background color in the Lyx preferences and the default color was the usual cream color not the dark gray as it was in my user account.

So, my problem was a combination of two factors. The first was that Lyx accepted the default background color specified by the operating system, which is my case was a dark gray. I do not know why this choice. I do not recall changing it in another program. The second factor is the loss of focus of the set preferences dialog box as noted in previous posts.

This second factor is a real bug and has to be fixed. The first factor is a design decision. Should Lyx override the system default background color with a choice of its own? I can see arguments on both sides. Given my experience, I think the design should override the color choice and I am willing to post a bug notice but I can see how reasonable people could disagree.

Scott, if you think this is worth a bug notice, please provide a link to instructions of where and how to post the notice.

Bob

Bob, thank you very much for taking the time to write up all of those details! I appreciate your efforts. As for having LyX override system defaults, that is usually a difficult argument to win and I haven't seen anyone else mention this issue. That's not to say you should not make a trac report, I just wanted to warn you before you spend time.

For the preferences dialog, we've fixed a few similar issues recently, but I'm not sure if this one is fixed. If you see the problem with LyX 2.3.0 or with 2.3.0rc2, then please do make a bug report.

As for how to create a bug report, you have to register at https://www.lyx.org/trac and then go to "New Ticket".