Setting colors of visited links

[Jack]

I searched this topic and could not find a solution, so I am asking here.

I would like to change the default setting in FF (v11) for the color of
visited links. The purplish color that is used as the default setting
for visited links is nearly indistinguishable from the black used for
normal text. I would like to do this WITHOUT unchecking "Allow pages to
choose their own colors, instead of my selections above" in
Tools>Content>Colors, as unchecking this option causes websites to
display in weird fashions. I tried adding a proposed fix to
userContent.css, but that did not work:
____
I forced Firefox to use purple as the visited link colour by adding code
to my userContent.css file in the profile directory, subdirectory chrome.

a:visited {color:#990099 !important;}

You can change the number to change the colour.

http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/854065#answer-219795
____

Is there any solution to changing the default color of visited links
WITHOUT unchecking "Allow pages to choose their own colors, instead of
my selections above"?

Thanks, as ever
Jack

[Ron K.]

Jack on 4/26/2012 3:06 PM, keyboarded a reply:

You can try this pref ( browser.visited_color ) by using the Config
Editor and using 'color' as the filter term. I set this years ago and it
seems to still work for me. Right click on the pref and select Modify to
edit the numbers.

--
Ron K.
Who is General Failure, and why is he searching my HDD?
Kernel Restore reported Major Error used BSOD to msg the enemy!

[Jack]

I put the code referred to above in userChrome.css and that didn't work.
Putting it in userContent.css did the trick

[Jack]

Ron, I had that set to #CC0000, but it never took.

[Ken Springer]

Over the years, I've always come across pages where the colors just
don't work for links. Doesn't seem to matter whether I allow pages to
choose their own or not. I've also found this to be somewhat monitor
related. What looked good on one monitor didn't work all that well on
another.

The NoSquint add-on has been working well for me in this regard.


--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 12.0
Thunderbird 12.0
LibreOffice 3.5.1.2

[Desiree]

"Jack" <no...@nohow.com> wrote in message
news:w6idnSXGC9UDAQTS...@mozilla.org...

This ability to choose your own link colors has changed in Fx 11? I have Fx
4 on my host machine and Fx 10 Enterprise on a virtual machine. Fx10 still
has the ability as Fx (going as far back as I can recall to Phoenix days)
has always had to set your own link colors. I never have removed the
checkmark to allow pages to choose their own colors as that does cause
weirdness as most sites will no longer use their style sheet.

In Fx11, you don't have a colors table where you can see many colors and
choose one of them? One main reason I can't stand Chrome browser is because
I can't choose my link colors in it. Chrome is an extremely crude browser.
Surely, Fx is not imitating Chrome now in this horrible manner.

I read the topic you searched and I must say I have always had Use custom
settings for History checked and always had remember my history checked. I
have never used Private browsing. I don't know what Custom history settings
has to do with link colors but a bunch mentioned that in the topic. My link
colors have been honored on just about every site.

[Ron Hunter]

If you want to know if you have visited a link in the past, then,
obviously, deleting that history information would mean the program
couldn't know you had been to that site in the past, only in the current
session. Also, as you probably know, the visited link colors can be
manipulated by javascript, and some sites do impose their own color
choices for various features, this one included.
Perhaps this is the reason it was removed from the GUI.

[Dave Pyles]

It looks to me like it's still there. See:
http://acousticmusic.com/fx11-link-colors.jpg

Dave Pyles

[EE]

You can set whatever colour you want for visited links with a
userContent.css file in the chrome subdirectory of your Firefox profile
directory. You can also set a hover colour, which I find handy.

a:visited {
color:#AA00AA !important;
background-image: none !important;}
/*This line makes links red on hover.*/
a:hover {color:#FF0000 !important;}

Change the hexadecimal numbers if you want different colours.

[Desiree]

"Ron Hunter" <rphu...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:89idnT_2MLjb6wPS...@mozilla.org...

So, do I understand correctly? Users who do the sensible, normal thing, and
ALWAYS keep history FOREVER (years at least now that Fx will keep), are
being punished for doing this and cannot set link colors in the GUI anymore?
That is just plain crazy. I NEVER EVER allow a site to set its own link
colors. If it won't honor mine then I never visit that site again. I don't
use Iron browser partly because of the fact that I cannot set my own link
colors in that browser. It is an extremely crude browser for this and other
reasons. I cannot view BLUE links as my eyes begin to immediately ache and
water and a hideous blue is what Iron uses. I no longer use Opera mail
because the latest version doesn't allow link color changes and it uses a
hideous blue for email titles in the inbox. The howl from Opera users was
huge and a fix is coming with the next version. Opera usually listens to
users. Apparently, Mozilla no longer listens at all if they think users want
them to decide on link colors.

No wonder I just tell folks to use IE these days. IE still lets you (at
least IE 8...I can't get 9 on XP) choose your link colors.

Is Mozilla determined to violate ADA? Because refusing to allow EASY CHANGE
in the GUI of link colors is most certainly an ADA violation.

[Desiree]

"EE" <nu...@bees.wax> wrote in message
news:3vOdnRdbRstecgPS...@mozilla.org...

What about UNvisited? That is the color that is the MOST important.

But I still do not understand why Mozilla has removed the ability from the
GUI. You have a link to a FAQ or blog where Mozilla explains its reasoning?
This is a clear violation of ADA and folks with disabillites should not be
forced to make changes in a difficult manner. Folks without a doctor's
letter saying they have a visual disability should not be forced to change
link colors in a difficult way either. Most aging humans NEED to be able to
change link colors from default which is usually a hideous, very difficult
to read, extremely harsh on aging eyes, garish blue. The ability should be
available in the GUI.

So, how do you make unvisited and visited link colors what you want? NO on
hover crap....just the link color that will show without having to hover.
Where do you find the color tables to get the color code from? (All of this
is outrageous for Mozilla to force on users to have to do especially since
they should know this is a violation of ADA).

[Desiree]

"Dave Pyles" <dnp...@user.invalid> wrote in message
news:8qKdnS1gzcklHAPS...@mozilla.org...

Thank you! It looks like it IS still there. Those are default I assume? That
purple is pale on a white background. I use purple for visited links but I
use a darker, more reddish purple.

So, what is this thread about if the ability to change is still there in the
GUI?

[Ron Hunter]

I believe blue is pretty much an internet standard for unvisited links.
Sorry that is painful for you. As for setting the link colors, I
believe Yahoo does that, although I haven't used it for a 'portal' in
some time, so it might have changed. You might use No Script, which can
give you control of javascripts run by websites. As for keeping
history for ever, why? I keep it for about 3 months, and that is more
than enough for my purposes. I don't think the 'visited links'
information if valid for more than a few days as the website would
probably have been updated by then, so the links would have changed. I
am quite sure someone here can tell you how to regain control of the
link colors, but I am not into that part of Firefox use. I hope someone
will help you with that. Good luck.

[Ron Hunter]

Someone didn't look, I guess. It is, indeed still there under
Options/content/colors. Be sure to uncheck the 'let websites use their
own colors'.

[Dave Pyles]

You click on the color box next to "Unvisited Links" and get a color
selection box just like the one for visited links which is open in the
image I posted at http:acousticmusic.com/fx11-link-colors.jpg You can
also change the text and background colors the same way by choosing the
colored boxes next to their names.
Dave Pyles

[Desiree]

"Ron Hunter" <rphu...@charter.net> wrote in message

news:5uGdnaObxZQBpwLS...@mozilla.org...

No, that is what the original poster asked about. You can't uncheck the "let
websites use their own colors" as that (as the OP says) results in some
weird stuff. Usually the site won't use any of its style sheet if you
uncheck that so you get a very strange looking site. Luckily, the forums I
visit honor my link colors. Forums that don't, I simply don't visit them
again unless absolutely necessary or a forum site that I visit rarely or
just from Googling for an answer on something. dslreports where I spend
about 70% of my time honors my link colors. IE has been allowing the
changes ever since I can remember back to IE3 I think so it would be radical
if Mozilla removed that ability from the GUI. With IE, you can't check the
box to force sites to use your link colors either as that does the same in
IE as in Fx...you get a very weird looking site. You can force your font
choice on all sites but not link colors.

>
>

[Desiree]

"Ron Hunter" <rphu...@charter.net> wrote in message

news:5uGdnaCbxZTCpALS...@mozilla.org...

Fx automatically keeps history now for about two years or longer. There is
no more choosing the number of days for it to keep history like there was
for many years. The length of time it keeps history is determined by the
amount of RAM you have and the amount of disk space. So, essentially, it is
kept for years now.
http://blog.bonardo.net/2010/01/20/places-got-async-expiration

Yes, blue is the internet standard for unvisited links. UGH. OE just put the
link above in blue. I can handle an isolated link here and there in blue but
on forums if all unvisited links are blue, no, my eyes rebell. On sites
that concern me, I have to be logged in to post such as dslreports (where I
use a particular theme when logged in), my antivirus forum, just about any
forum I have to be logged into so my visited links are remembered. On forums
I regularly post on, I never log out and always have tabs open to those
forums.


>
>

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

Sailfish wrote:

>> Jack wrote:
>>> to userContent.css, ...

>>>
>>> a:visited {color:#990099 !important;}
>

> Try prefacing the link rule with "*|*", e.g.: *|*:visited { color: green
> !important; }

Sail, what is the purpose of the asterisk-verticalbar-asterisk? Other
than as a CSS error?

The above CSS: a:visited {color:#990099 !important;}
is a correct construct/syntax.

--
-bts
-This space for rent, but the price is high

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

Sailfish wrote:

> Beauregard T. Shagnasty wrote:
>> Sailfish wrote:
>>>> Jack wrote:
>>>>> to userContent.css, ...
>>>>>
>>>>> a:visited {color:#990099 !important;}
>>> Try prefacing the link rule with "*|*", e.g.: *|*:visited { color:
>>> green !important; }
>>
>> Sail, what is the purpose of the asterisk-verticalbar-asterisk? Other
>> than as a CSS error?
>>
>> The above CSS: a:visited {color:#990099 !important;} is a correct
>> construct/syntax.
>>

> REF: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/grammar.html#grammar
>
> [excerpt quote="
> |: separates alternatives
> " \]
>
> It shouldn't generate a CSS error per above spec. the *|*:visited
> selector means, "match any single element" or, alternatively, "any
> single element with the pseudo class of :visited" as I understand it.

Hmm. That's a w3 page I'd not seen before. However, I am not sure that
the | means what you think it means there. I think it is being used there
to show that alternative parts that can be placed in a rule. Witness:

import
: IMPORT_SYM S*
[STRING|URI] S* media_list? ';' S*

where either STRING or URI (shown separated by |) can be in a rule. I've
seen the vertical bar used in this manner in many different programming
manuals, but not as a literal character itself.

> but mostly because :visited no longer works by itself (tested on Fx12
> and Fx13) and *|*:visited does :)

No, because it should be: a:visited and not just: :visited. In your
example of: *|*:visited the browser is recognizing the parts after the
illegal character | and reading only: *:visited {...}. Since there are
"very few" instances of "visited" in CSS, it will work, but only by
accident. :-)

a:visited { color:#800080 !important; }
works fine for me when placed in userContent.css

At least that is my take on it.

[EE]

Setting that with the userContent.css file still works. I set up the
colour for visited links and the colour for hovered links and it is
still working.

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

Sailfish wrote:

> My bloviated meandering follows what Beauregard T. Shagnasty graced us
> with on 5/1/2012 12:49 PM:

> Which Firefox version are you running AND is Options -> Content tab ->
> Colors.. button -> "Allow pages to choose their own colors, instead of
> my selections above" checked?

Fx 12.0 on Ubuntu 11.04 GNOME, and yes, that checkbox is checked.

> When I visit say, http://news.ycombinator.com, click a link it turns
> beige-ish as per the site's style. With your override, it's still
> beige-ish. With mine, it's #800080-ish.

With my a:visited { color:#800080 !important; } the links turn purple
after visiting, and coming back to that page. Same in SM 2.8. Actually,
it turns purple while the browser is busy fetching the page I selected,
for a tiny instant.

You may have some other custom CSS that is interfering. Try a
userContent.css file with only that one rule in it. (i.e. back up and
place just a:visited {...} in it.)

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

Sailfish wrote:

> ah-HA! I found the reason, I believe. My userContent.css file contains
> the @namespace rule and yours probably does not. That rule is required
> if one plans to use any @import rules (which I do, both for
> userChrome.css and userContent.css files).
>
> My test userContent.css file:
>
> @namespace
> url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul"); /*
> set default namespace to XUL */
>
> *|*:visited { color:#800080 !important; }
>
> It behaves as I stated before. Whereas, removing the @namespace rule
> allows your override to work.

I have that same namespace rule in my *userChrome.css* file, not in the
userContent.css file. :-)

But now that you've figured that out, try it with just a:visited instead
of the vertical-pipe thingy.

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

Sailfish wrote:

> So, it appears that it's needed if a userContent.css has a non-default
> @namespace rule in it.

Okay. Thanks for the follow-up.

[frances...@infoition.com]

I just solved this problem with a Firefox add on - Stylish.

Then, you can add this style to change the visited links on Google to Red:
http://userstyles.org/styles/16842/red-mark-visited-links-as-read-on-unruly-domains

There are a few styles on userstyles.org that produce this effect (changing visited links color) if you search for them, but this one worked well for me. Hope this helps others.

- FG