Admin pointer arrow border color darker than pointer content

[johnjamesjacoby]

Previous to 5.7 and r50025, the pointer arrows were #ccc and the content was #ddd.

Currently, for 5.7, the arrows are #c3c4c7 and the content is #dcdcde.

Looking back at the changelog of wp-pointer.css, they have always been different colors.

I don't think they are different enough to be providing much value, so let's consider making them the same.

Screen shot imminent.

[johnjamesjacoby]

Darker

[johnjamesjacoby]

Lighter

[johnjamesjacoby]

One possibility for the arrow border being darker than the content, is that a diagonal line may be perceived as lighter by human eyes thanks to its pixels being feathered from not being perfectly horizontally or vertically aligned, which my screen shot makes easy to see when zoomed in 800%.

On a more modern display than one from when Pointers were originally introduced (2014?) the trick isn't necessary, and the darker color simply appears erroneous.

I prefer the darker border for everything, as I think the higher contrast of the darker border both looks nicer and makes the pointer UI appear more visually separated from the content underneath it.

[ryelle]

I'm pretty sure you're right about the darker color on the diagonal being perceptually lighter, but I don't think we need to do that anymore for modern browsers/screens.

Added some screenshots from the patches. I agree that the darker border around the pointer looks better, and that's the same border color as the dashboard cards - points for consistency. So my vote is for the approach in 52670.2.diff​

[melchoyce]

Agreed, let's go with the darker border 👍

[SergeyBiryukov]

Just noting that there appears to be some confusion with the patch descriptions, as 52670.diff​ has a description of "Darker" but actually suggests lighter colors. Conversely, 52670.2.diff​ has a description of "Lighter" but suggests a darker color.

Based on the comments above, it looks like 52670.2.diff​ is the way to go.

[ryelle]

In 50551:

Pointers: Make pointer border darker to match arrow tip.

Props johnjamesjacoby, melchoyce, SergeyBiryukov.
Fixes #52670.

[ryelle]

Should this also be backported to the 5.7 branch?

[SergeyBiryukov]

Replying to ryelle:

Should this also be backported to the 5.7 branch?

I think so, good catch :)

[ryelle]

In 50581:

Pointers: Make pointer border darker to match arrow tip.

Props johnjamesjacoby, melchoyce, SergeyBiryukov.
Merges [50551] to the 5.7 branch.
Fixes #52670.