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I need a bug-free solution to a visibility problem. This contrast problem happens when you browse "up" to a parent directory and look at the top of the file manager image which has a line which is a graphical representation of the path. In both images the current directory is "Desktop". In the "Ambiance" theme the contrast between "Desktop" and "validator" is slight. The contrast in the "High Contrast" theme is acceptable. Examples: ambiance high contrast "High Contrast" is not a good solution because unfortunately there is a bug wherein "High Contrast" causes icons to be lost from the Launcher and System Settings. The contrast would not be a problem if the path ended at the current directory but strangely and needlessly Nautilus wants to show the path to "deeper" places already visited. I need a high contrast theme that isn't broken.

EDIT: The following diagnostics were requested.

> lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS
Release:    16.04
Codename:   xenial

Also:

> uname -r
4.4.0-116-generic

If I recall correctly this problem has been around for months if not since 16.04 was released. It is not related to a recent update.

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  • This is the third complaint about theme contrasts I've heard in as many days. Could you add to your question output of lsb_release -a and uname -r please? Also if you could mention it's always been this way or just after a recent update my prove helpful. Thanks. Feb 22, 2018 at 1:35
  • You probably have Adwaita already on your system. How does that do? I don't use GNOME and so can't test myself.
    – DK Bose
    Feb 22, 2018 at 1:37
  • You could try a different file manager. IMHO pcmanfm is much better than Nautilus. It also shows the explicit file path in a box at the top so this problem wouldn't affect that. blog.lxde.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/pcmanfm-qt.png Feb 22, 2018 at 2:26
  • @OrganicMarble, I did try a different file manager. I like Thunar. When I run Thunar it is fine and it does not show a path to deeper places already visited. Unfortunately people have written things on the internet that sugguest it is difficult to make Thunar the default file manager and indeed I found Nautilus being invoked in some situations. Their solutions for making an alternate file manager default are complicated create concerns for me.
    – H2ONaCl
    Feb 22, 2018 at 21:37
  • @WinEunuuchs2Unix, as requested I made an addendum to the question.
    – H2ONaCl
    Feb 22, 2018 at 21:42

2 Answers 2

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Change to Adwaita. It should already be installed on your system by default.

Adwaita

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  • Adwaita also causes icons to go missing from System Settings and the Launcher and the status bar.
    – H2ONaCl
    Feb 22, 2018 at 23:25
  • Sorry to know that. It's a bit confusing that a gtk theme can affect the presence/absence of icons anywhere.
    – DK Bose
    Feb 23, 2018 at 2:02
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Firstly, avoid the "High Contrast" theme, not only for the problem of the loss of icons but also because it is implemented badly within some applications. For example in the "Beyond Compare" utility hovering the mouse over a high contrast icon causes the text part of the icon to be blacked-out. Not only that, some high contrast icons are a little hard to interpret.

A bug free solution to the visibility problem:

  1. sudo apt install dconf-editor

  2. Use the Launcher search to invoke dconf-editor.

  3. Browse to org.gnome.nautilus.preferences and ENABLE the always-use-location-entry. This is opposite of what is called the "breadcrumb" option. You ENABLE in order to disable breadcrumbs.

The path in Nautilus/Files will no longer show places already visited so it avoids the visibility problem.

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