jeremyfairbrass@ Thanks for the issue.

Able to reproduce this issue on Windows 10 on the latest Stable 71.0.3578.80 and latest Canary 73.0.3638.0.

Bisect Information:
====================
Good Build: 69.0.3472.0
Bad Build : 69.0.3473.0

By running the per-revision bisect script,error was coming up. Hence below is the Changelog URL by running the Chromium bisect.
https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+log/3c16d9d466102e0839cad4e70cea850107143ca4..64c540a750df6adb453c0f8e6e63800d8948d04c

From the above Changelog, suspecting the below Change.
Reviewed-on: https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/1102821

As the owner kylixrd@ is not available, assigning the issue to reviewer bsep@.
bsep@ Please check and confirm if this issue is related to your change, else help us in assigning to the right owner.

Thanks...

Thanks susan.boorgula@ - glad you can also reproduce it!

Using frame color on inactive tabs is working as intended. We're aware of the resulting poor contrast with favicons, it's something that bothers me too. 

Bug 856345 discusses doing this for default favicons, but it doesn't fix the general case (like the dell logo in the screenshot). I wonder if we should do something like drawing a gray circle behind the favicons, but that's a bit of an extreme solution.

I don't see an existing bug for this, so repurposing this one. It's not really a regression per se, so lowering priority.

There's also bug 902276 on a subset of this problem.

As noted, this isn't really a regression, because custom themes have always presented the same problem -- favicons can be drawn atop any color or image, and ideally websites make them stand out in all cases.

Respectfully, I would argue that it meets the definition of a regression because previous versions of Chrome (with the old tab design) did not use the Windows title bar colour on the inactive tabs, whereas the new tab design does.

Custom themes shouldn't matter, as the user understands that using a custom theme results in non-standard behaviour.

I would also argue that most web designers have created favicons with the understanding that they will be shown on a light-coloured tab (active or inactive), as light-coloured tabs have been the norm for many years. Therefore the majority of existing favicons will be best suited for a light-coloured tab.

I would like to ask why the use of the title bar colour on inactive tabs is considered intended behaviour now? Why has this changed? In my view, it's not correct to use a title bar colour on something that isn't the title bar. The checkbox in the system settings specifically says "Title bars" and therefore that should be the only place the chosen colour should be used.

If I unselect "Title bars" in the system settings, so that Windows doesn't use the selected colour in any title bars, the Chrome inactive tabs go back to being medium-grey, as shown in Screenshot-4 here. In other words, they revert back to the same colour scheme used with the old (non-Material) tab style: medium-grey inactive tabs and a light-grey active tab.

As Screenshot-4 shows, the favicons are much easier to see (as they were in the past), and the tabs themselves are also a little easier to distinguish from one another.

My question is this: why not use this colour scheme also when "Title bars" is selected too? What's the harm in keeping it that way? You can set the actual title bar behind/around the tabs to use the system colour (eg. blue), but keep the inactive tabs using the grey colour as they do in Screenshot-4, and as they did with the old tab style. It's win-win!

Doing this would also resolve Bug 902276 and Bug 856345.

Surely you would agree, when you compare Screenshot-2 and Screenshot-3 in my original post, that the blue inactive tabs are incredibly hard to distinguish from one another due to the way they blend into each other and into the title bar area above them? I honestly don't understand how Screenshot-3 can be considered easier to view and use compared to Screenshot-2. It's especially hard for people with contrast-impaired vision (including myself) to distinguish the tabs for this reason. And the thin white vertical line that separates each tab is too faint too, which doesn't help.

I really wish and hope you would reconsider this change in colour for the inactive tabs, and only use the title bar colour on the actual title bar and nowhere else.

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Windows colored titlebars are nonstandard (i.e. not the default behavior) to the same degree that Chrome custom themes are.  Both are supported-but-opt-in.

Debating whether to use the title bar color on inactive tabs is out of scope for this bug; this is about what, if anything, to do with favicons on arbitrary background colors.  If you find that the contrast in tab dividers is too low, or other similar issues, please file separate bugs for those.  You might want to consider installing a custom theme, which can do exactly what you want (force distinct colors for background tabs and window frame, with visible background tab shapes).  There are tradeoffs to doing this.

To be fair to the reporter, the bug was originally about the frame color being used on the inactive tabs. It's intended behavior because that was the point of the design we implemented: to make the inactive tabs seamless with the titlebar/frame. Going back to gray tabs with a custom titlebar color is certainly one way to fix the favicon contrast, but we haven't made any decisions yet.

Mea culpa.  I looked at the screenshots and read comment 4, and did not completely read comment 0.  I apologize, reporter, for telling you the comments you made in your original report were out-of-scope :(

No problem at all pkasting@ - and thanks for clarifying it bsep@. :)

It looks like someone changed the title I used for this bug report. My original title was:
"Windows 10 title bar accent colour not respected by Chrome 71"
Perhaps someone can change the title back (or reword it again) so that it accurately reflects what my bug report is about?

Due to the fact that the old tab design did not use the Windows title bar colour on the inactive tabs, I'm not sure that I agree (or understand) that Windows coloured title bars are "non-standard behaviour". They were not non-standard with the old tab design, and they're also not non-standard inasmuch as setting a title bar colour is a standard thing to do via the Windows settings panel, ie. Windows allows and supports the user to do this. :)

From Comment 8 above, I understand that this change of behaivour was by design. I guess all I can do now, is hope that you would still reconsider this and make further changes. I'm glad to hear that you haven't made any final decisions about it yet. I actually don't mind the new Material Design tab shape myself (I know there've been a lot of negative comments about it from other users eg. on Reddit), but it's the lack of distinction between the tabs that I find the most difficult to cope with visually - the row of inactive tabs looks like one big, long tab to me, rather than the mulitple tabs that it really is - I have to concentrate a lot more to find the tab I'm looking for, compared to in the past - and this is due to several factors - using the title bar colour on the tabs, plus the thin, faint vertical line between each tab, and making the inactive tabs seamless with the titlebar/frame. (Yes, I know some of those points are out of scope).

For the record, I have tried to search for a custom theme that would give me what I want (distinct colours for tabs, window frame, visible background tab shapes, as pkasting@ suggested), but so far I couldn't find any themes that fit the bill and looked decent. :(

Right, I don't actually think colored titlebars are nonstandard -- I was saying the opposite, that they're standard, and custom themes are standard too, because in both cases the product provides a supported, built-in way to adjust your color scheme, and that has an (unpredictable by web designers) effect on the favicon.  Anyway, that's a bit tangential; it's only about whether the effect here is a "regression" or not.  The more relevant issue there, of course, is that as comment 8 mentions, the change to make background tabs not have a visible shape by default was the design intent of Material Refresh.  :/

Regarding a custom theme -- it's actually fairly easy to make your own theme by hand, as it's just a JSON file.  You might try creating your own if none of the oned in the store work well for you.

Got it - thanks for clarifying what you meant about them being standard. :)

Yeah I just started doing some reading up on how to create my own theme a few minutes ago - might have to resort to that!

Can I at least sleep easy knowing that you guys are still considering or discussing the new tab design (particularly in regards to their distinctiveness), and that it's not set in stone yet?! :D

Oh, and the title of this bug report still needs fixing/reverting... ;)

Hi pkasting@,

I've now created a theme for myself, which uses the same blue colour on the title bar that I've defined in my Windows Settings. I've attached a screenshot of it here. I hope you will agree that it's a big improvement over the default colour scheme currently used by Chrome when "Title bars" is checked in the Windows Settings (as shown in "screenshot-2" in my original post above). In my theme, the inactive tabs are much more distinct and discernable from each other, and contrast is greatly improved (better accessibility for low-vision users) - yet the tabs and title bar are still using the same grey colours as default.

The only problem I encountered with this, is that it's not possible to create a theme that still allows the user to specify their own title bar colour in the Windows Settings. Even if the theme does not specify any title bar colour at all, it will force the title bar to be grey, and not use the Windows Settings colour. The only way around this is to hardcode the title bar colour into the theme (eg. set the theme's frame colour to blue), but that removes the ability of the user to change the title bar colour themselves.

I created a separate issue for this to explain in more detail how I see this as problematic:  Bug 915494 .

I feel like this adds further weight to my request here, to allow inactive tabs to NOT inherit the Windows title bar colour, but rather for inactive tabs (with no theme applied) to use the default grey colour and only the title bar itself should use the Windows colour. This would result in Chrome looking like my new theme, by default. And if this were implemented, it would resolve the issue I raised in  Bug 915494  and make theme design more flexible (theme designers could optionally decide to allow the user to set their own title bar colour via the Windows Settings).

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You aren't the first person to run into that bug that themes ignore the system titlebar color -- I duped against our existing bug on that.  We should fix so people can do more like what you want.

As for the rest, it feels very unlikely to me that the design team will accede to your core request (visible tab shapes by default), since not having visible tab shapes by default was a primary design goal.  I'm telling you so you don't get your hopes up :/

Thanks for your honesty about that! Although I sincerely can't understand the logic behind the design team not wanting to have visible inactive tabs - it makes no sense to me whatsoever. In any case, at least I will hope that the bug about themes ignoring the system titlebar colour will be resolved - then I can use a theme as a workaround for this issue.

pkasting@ I'd still be grateful for you to change the title of this issue back to the original title. It's current title is misleading and not at all descriptive of the issue I'm reporting here, and I think it's only fair that it be changed!

I think the original title is also misleading (since Chrome does, in fact, respect the system titlebar accent color, which is part of the problem).  So changed to one that hopefully is clearer and more agreeable.

I'm assigning this to the relevant PM for the final call here but I would be surprised if this is other than WontFix.  Mark, the request here is that if Chrome's frame color is changed, e.g. due to respecting a Win 10 titlebar accent color, that background tabs not inherit that change (i.e. they behave more like on Win 7 and acquire visible shapes).  The motivation for this request is tab differentiation and contrast.

Thanks pkasting, I'm good with the new title!

I'm going to take a whack at this.

@20: Do we have a UX/PM direction on this?  Codewise this isn't challenging, but this was the key design feature/constraint of MD Refresh (and has deep ramifications for things like custom themes etc.), so I would be truly stunned to see Alan approve reversing.

Hi pkasting, I'm curious what ramifications this would have on custom themes? AFAIK, changing Chrome's behaviour such that background tabs don't inherit the frame colour should not affect custom themes - the tab colour set by the theme would always take priority over everything else, and so the theme would continue to work as expected. Right?

I've made a change that, when there is no theme color and the frame color is different from the default inactive tab color, blends the frame color towards the default tab color.

An example screenshot with blue favicons like the ones above is attached.

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Any theme that explicitly sets inactive tab color would be unaffected.

dfried@ - that looks really great! With the added benefit that the inactive tabs will also reflect the Windows accent colour, but in a lighter hue, which I think will look nice. And the favicons are easier to see as well. Thanks for this!

Also, as an improvement, if the frame is sufficiently light or dark and sufficiently grey, we could forego blending as well, but this is a first pass. 

General consensus after showing to my team is that this is a significant improvement over existing behavior for custom Windows titlebar colors.

If we have PM/UX concerns, we should add the affected parties.

Yes - if you compare it to my "Screenshot-2.png" in the top post, the difference is night and day!

@22: The majority of themes rely on implicit behaviors, such as what the default background tab colors and tints are.  After much debate, we changed the default background tab tint in Refresh so that themes which say nothing at all about how background tabs get handled (which is many of them) get frame-colored background tabs.  We'd want to reverse that, and modify the code that handles contrast calculations for custom titlebar colors and themes as well.

@23: Right, doing something like that explicitly got rejected during the Refresh discussions -- IIRC, I raised it early on and Alan/Mark rejected it as outside the Refresh design intent.  There's also been recent sentiment that the Refresh tab shape wasn't really designed to be visible on all background tabs and if we wanted visible background tabs we'd want a different shape. 
 The upshot of all this is, definitely do not land without enthusiastic approval from bettes@ (who usually doesn't reply on bugs and often needs a direct ping) and markchang@ :).  And if you do get that approval please make sure I'm looped in so I can figure out how themes and the core color and contrast systems here need to be updated.

I'll ping bettes@.

In the meantime, anyone who wants to play with the code can look at:
https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/c/chromium/src/+/1406135

 Issue 921292  has been merged into this issue.