[Tags] Can't see grayed-out entries in dark theme

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1

On my Ubuntu 25.10 system with Gramps 6.0.1, some entries appear with black text and are very difficult to read – see the screenshot.

Is there a way to make those entries easier to see?

Also, what does that black text / dimmed / grayed-out entry even mean? I don’t know why some people, families, events and so on appear that way.

Thanks!

Screenshot From 2026-01-03 17-17-29
Screenshot From 2026-01-03 17-17-29384×216 11.3 KB

2

Those are actually “Tag” colors.

The topmost tag for those People is still the default color: black.

Go into Edit:Tags:Organize Tags and change any Black tags to other colors

3

Feature request: 0006300: Organize Tags be able to select a background color also for visability

Approved by @Nick-Hall who mentions:

No, it will need an extra column in the tags table. This change is quite easy to code, I don’t know if we really want it though.

and

I don’t know if such a change would be accepted. It is best to ask on the list first.

You would have to do the following:

  1. Add a field to the Tag object.

  2. Create a database upgrade.

  3. Modify the XML import/export.

  4. Change the interface in the Tag Organiser and Edit Tag dialog.

  5. Add an extra field to all the listview models.

  6. Modify listview to display the new field.

I think that the default background colour should be ‘None’.

I’m unable to find the previous discussion on the list.

Happy new year.

4

Ah, that’s helpful. Thanks!

Is there a way to configure the default color for those import tags?

5

No. But such an enhancement has been requested.

0011974: Add Preference option to Colorize new Tags

Hasn’t caught the interest of a developer though.

Maybe we ought to try exploring how to hack the default tag color? Black is not a good default

6

We haven’t had a “hunt the code and hack” thread for awhile.

The default Tag color seems like it’d be a very small and isolated tweak.

7

Yes, indeed. PR with fixes: https://github.com/gramps-project/gramps/pull/2164

8

Thanks @dsblank !

This is a nice change … and much more powerful than the simple “non-black” default change I was considering for the hack.

A rotating pallette of 16 colors vivid colors? And smart enough to skip colors in use? Nice!

Now I need to paste in the patched modules and do some testing. (Like whether the new tag is added at top or bottom of the list since re-ordering with a long tag list is painful. And what happens if all 16 colors are already in use.)

Thanks for the code!

9

You’re welcome!

I can tell you what will happen:

  1. New tag placement is not changed, but we can change that
  2. When we run out of colors, they repeat
10

BTW, if you do test the changes, please “Approve” the PR with a note saying so. That will help moving the PRs along to being merged.