Terminal window has white border

[michalhudecek]

This issue has been reported several times but incorrectly marked as duplicate or just closed with no explanation.

The terminal window should have under no circumstances a white border. Not just in dark mode but NEVER. It is completely inconsistent with all other Windows apps including those from Microsoft.

Terminal border

Any other Windows app

Issues that were incorrectly closed:

• White border when Terminal is dark while Windows is in Light theme #4980
• White border around window #4837

[michalhudecek]

Btw ... aren't there any Microsoft design guidelines? I assume this issue shouldn't be discussed at all per application.

[j4james]

The border color is affected by a number of settings. Typically it uses the accent color, in which case it could be white (or at least a light gray) if that's the accent color you chose. But I suspect in this case you've probably just turned off Title bars and window borders option, and that's what's responsible for the white border in the Light mode.

I think that might be a bug, but it's different from the original white border issue.

[michalhudecek]

Here is my setting:

[beviu]

This is because the Windows Terminal is a Win32 app with a custom title bar and Win32 apps with custom title bars have white borders by default:

Note that when I made the PR #3394 which added a custom title bar by removing the standard Win32 title bar, I did not change the default behavior of having that white border. Because the Windows Terminal wants to look like a UWP app, maybe this should be faked as well, like the title bar, by always making the border dark?

We could do this by chaging _OnNcCreate on NonClientIslandWindow to unconditionally set the black border, something like this:

terminal/src/cascadia/WindowsTerminal/NonClientIslandWindow.cpp

Lines 680 to 696 in d1a074e

	// Method Description:
	// - This method is called when the window receives the WM_NCCREATE message.
	// Return Value:
	// - The value returned from the window proc.
	[[nodiscard]] LRESULT NonClientIslandWindow::_OnNcCreate(WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam) noexcept
	{
	const auto ret = IslandWindow::_OnNcCreate(wParam, lParam);
	if (ret == FALSE)
	{
	return ret;
	}
	// we always want a dark border
	LOG_IF_FAILED(TerminalTrySetDarkTheme(_window.get(), true));
	return TRUE;
	}

I can make a PR that does this if the Windows Terminal team wants the black border.

[j4james]

I don't think it's meant to be black exactly. I suspect it might be version specific, but the border colors I'm seeing on most UWP apps is different on the top and sides, and it's actually a level of transparency, so what you see will depend on the background. I'm talking specifically about the Light mode, with the Title bars and window borders option disabled.

I'm on version 10.0.18362.836. The OP didn't fill in the bug template, so I don't know what version he is using, but his screenshots look different to what I'm seeing.

[michalhudecek]

I am using Terminal 1.0.1401.0 (stable) and 1.1.1671.0 (preview). The issue is the same in both.

Here is my Windows version:

[beviu]

Yes sorry I meant "dark" instead of "black".

j4james, I don't know if you're talking about this when you say that the top and side colors are not the same, but if you are, I think it's a bug because it disappears after a restart:

(see how the top border is dark but other borders are light)

I am on 10.0.18362.900.

[j4james]

j4james, I don't know if you're talking about this when you say that the top and side colors are not the same, but if you are, I think it's a bug because it disappears after a restart:

That makes sense. That's exactly what I'm seeing. I thought it might be a bug.

[beviu]

This is unrelated to the OP but I reported this bug (with the UWP apps, not with the Windows Terminal, again not related to the OP) in the Feedback Hub: https://aka.ms/AA6pqh3.

[DHowett]

Unfortunately, there isn’t a standard here. If somebody wants to remove the theme check around “TrySetDarkMode” in “NonClientIslandWindow.cpp”, I would absolutely accept that pull request.
Thanks for digging up all these counterexamples, @michalhudecek!

[DHowett]

(When I say “there isn’t a standard here,” I mean “terminal even has to use a private API to get its window borders to look like other UWP applications.” It drives me crazy!)

[michalhudecek]

There is no standard even "on paper"? I mean something like a codified design system: https://atlassian.design/guidelines/product/overview or https://material.io/components

[michalhudecek]

That was quick! Good job :)

[ghost]

🎉This issue was addressed in #6624, which has now been successfully released as Windows Terminal Preview v1.2.2022.0.:tada:

Handy links:

• Release Notes
• Store Download

[harristom]

This problem is back in v1.17, I guess due to the recent changes around theming. The grey border is there to start with until you switch to another window and back (presumably it's part of the dark theme and doesn't get repainted until switching). Once you switch back it is white and will stay so even after closing/re-opening.

Steps to reproduce:

• Delete settings.json and state.json
• Open Terminal and switch to light theme
• Border is grey
• Alt tab to another window then back again
• Border is now forever white

[kaecy]

I don't want a border around my terminal. I'm very sensitive to colour.