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Help wanted: Firefox 73+ background image handling

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A change was introduced in Firefox 73.0 that makes it display background images contained in web pages, even if a Windows High Contrast color theme is in use and even if the "Override the colors specified by the page" option in Firefox is set to "Always." Is there a way to override this behavior and make Firefox suppress background images the way it did in version 72? As a low-vision user, I find that the new behavior interferes a lot with the readability of some web pages, and I haven't come across a page yet where the new behavior actually helps me. Note that I don't want to suppress ALL images, only the background images, the way it works in version 72. For now, I have reverted to version 72 of Firefox, but I don't like that as a permanent solution, since it would mean giving up on all future upgrades to Firefox.

A change was introduced in Firefox 73.0 that makes it display background images contained in web pages, even if a Windows High Contrast color theme is in use and even if the "Override the colors specified by the page" option in Firefox is set to "Always." Is there a way to override this behavior and make Firefox suppress background images the way it did in version 72? As a low-vision user, I find that the new behavior interferes a lot with the readability of some web pages, and I haven't come across a page yet where the new behavior actually helps me. Note that I don't want to suppress ALL images, only the background images, the way it works in version 72. For now, I have reverted to version 72 of Firefox, but I don't like that as a permanent solution, since it would mean giving up on all future upgrades to Firefox.

Chosen solution

Try to set this pref to false on the about:config page.

  • browser.display.permit_backplate = false

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

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All Replies (2)

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Chosen Solution

Try to set this pref to false on the about:config page.

  • browser.display.permit_backplate = false

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

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Thank you. That seems to do what I want -- much more to my liking!