Gnome-terminal tabs: no contrast between active and inactive tabs

Question

In Ubuntu 13.04, I often have multiple tabs open in gnome-terminal. The problem is that, while I can set the title of each tab, it is very hard to tell which tab is active -- the color and rendering distinction between the active tab and the inactive tab is so subtle that one must study the tab bar very carefully.

Is there a way to make this contrast more obvious?

Colorized distinction should be a sane default IMHO. C'mon GNOME! — blong, Sep 21 '15 at 19:21

score 22 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 17 '14 at 10:57

22

I'm running Ubuntu 13.10 with the Ambience theme - had the same problem.

Solution: edit ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css (you might have to create it) and add:

TerminalWindow,
TerminalWindow.background {
        background-color: #6e6e6e;
        color: #000000;
}

TerminalWindow .notebook tab {
        padding: 2;
        background-color: #6e6e6e;
}

TerminalWindow .notebook tab:active {
        background-color: #d1d1d1;
}

edited Jan 17 '14 at 10:57

Luís de Sousa

13,227
26
81
128

answered Jan 17 '14 at 10:31

renedv1

336
2
3

Ubuntu 14.04 has the same issue. Your solution solved it for me. – nomæd Nov 11 '14 at 11:49
Tried the tab:active block alone, no effect. :\ It appears that the file does not get noticed/read by a newly opened gnome-terminal. Could it be in the wrong place, does it have to be referenced from somewhere? – Tomislav Nakic-Alfirevic Nov 14 '14 at 14:58
Forgot to add: I tried switching to another theme and back (as suggested here: http://askubuntu.com/a/221783/32201) and still no effect. – Tomislav Nakic-Alfirevic Nov 14 '14 at 15:05
Perfect solution. Has a few nuances with the way it blends with certain borders, but this is essentially exactly what was needed. – nacitar sevaht Apr 28 '16 at 15:58

Tjunkie · Answer 2 · 2014-11-29T17:27:16.417

11

Here is what worked for me in ubuntu 14.04, I tried to maintain similar overall look, and make the inactive tabs less bright.

edit the file ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css

to contain

TerminalWindow .notebook tab:active {
    background-color: #f5f4f3;
    foreground-color: #000000;
}

TerminalWindow .notebook tab {
    background-color: #d2d1d0;
    foreground-color: #2e2d2c;
}

close ALL terminal windows start and test

EDIT: After using that for a little while it became clear that a pronounced difference between active and inactive tab is not enough.

I think it is necessary to be able to tell an inactive tab at the first glance - without looking to its sides.

So here is the updated configuration (darker inactive tabs):

TerminalWindow .notebook tab:active {
    background-color: #f5f4f3;
    foreground-color: #000000;
}

TerminalWindow .notebook tab {
    background-color: #a2a1a0;
    foreground-color: #1e1d1c;
}

edited Nov 29 '14 at 17:27

answered Nov 29 '14 at 16:33

Tjunkie

241

Thanks... this stretch of my life has passed by, but next time I get the problem I'll try that! – Stabledog Nov 30 '14 at 20:23
Awesome, Tjunkie, this works great on 15.04 – Jean Jordaan Jul 12 '15 at 15:28
It works in 15.10 too. – Marc Belmont Nov 03 '15 at 09:08
no gtk.css file there in ubuntu 14.04 – xkeshav Feb 10 '17 at 04:07
foreground doesn't work on ubuntu 14.04 lts – Tuna Jun 23 '18 at 14:55

Bruce · Answer 3 · 2015-11-13T01:38:44.077

If you wish to make the text of the active tab more obvious you can modify it's label like this,

edit the file ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css

TerminalTabLabel.active-page .label {
    color: cyan;
    font-weight: bold;
}

Tested in gnome-terminal 3.17.91

Here is what I'm using at work on Ubuntu 15.10 with gnome-terminal 3.16.2. The smaller tab size allows more screen area for the terminal to use and I've experimented with the contrast between active and inactive tabs. I think the tab label text looks better without the bold style applied.

/* gnome-terminal */
@define-color term-win-bg           #262626;
@define-color term-tab-inactive-bg  #333333;
@define-color term-tab-active-bg    #424242;
@define-color ubuntu-orange         #fb9267;

TerminalScreen {
    -TerminalScreen-background-darkness: 0.95;
    background-color: @term-win-bg;
}


TerminalWindow .notebook {
    border: 0;
    padding: 0;
}


TerminalWindow .notebook tab {
    border: 0;
    border-radius: 0px;
    border-image: -gtk-gradient (linear, left top, left bottom,
                                from (alpha (shade (@term-win-bg, 0.9), 0.0)),
                                to (shade (@term-win-bg, 0.9))) 1;
    border-image-width: 0 1px;
    border-color: transparent;
    border-width: 0;
    box-shadow: none;
    background-color: shade(@term-tab-inactive-bg, 1);
}


TerminalWindow .notebook tab:active {
    border: 0;
    border-radius: 0px;
    background-color: shade(@term-tab-active-bg, 1);
}


TerminalTabLabel.active-page .label {
    /*color: @bg_color;
    font-weight: bold
    color: @ubuntu-orange; */
    color: cyan;
}

I must admit my text colour choice is nicer with dark tabs :) — Bruce, Nov 12 '15 at 09:54

Radu Rădeanu · Answer 4 · 2013-10-08T12:04:16.750

4

I don't have any problem to distinguish active and inactive tabs in gnome-terminal using the default Ubuntu theme - Ambiance.

Looking on Launchpad, I found that this is a confirmed bug affecting many people: Difficult to distinguish which tab is selected.

If this is affecting you also, you can solve this by changing your Ubuntu theme: right click on the desktop, select Change Desktop Background and in the new opened window change your theme to High Contrast:

change ubuntu theme

Then you can distinguish without problems your active and inactive tabs in gnome-terminal:

terminal tabs

edited Oct 08 '13 at 12:04

answered Oct 08 '13 at 11:16

Radu Rădeanu

169,590

2

Ok, that's an idea. I guess I was hoping for something less global and dramatic than changing the entire desktop theme -- but if that's the only way, I guess it's worth it. Thanks! – Stabledog Oct 08 '13 at 11:17
Any updates on this for 14.04? Changing the whole theme feels like overkill. And High Contrast in particular is very ugly. – a06e Oct 15 '14 at 22:25
@becko The bug is being tracked here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-themes/+bug/762349 . However, renedv1 's solution is very simple and effective: http://askubuntu.com/a/406816/31592 – blong Sep 21 '15 at 19:26

Gnome-terminal tabs: no contrast between active and inactive tabs

4 Answers4

Linked