I still don’t understand what Default is supposed to be? I really don’t understand the design. Sometimes Default is the same as yellow, sometimes it’s the same as blue (or is it purple? I can’t tell). It’s an incredibly confusing design when the other choices are named after colors but then Default changes the color… honestly I wish I could just disable the new way of doing things.
And even if I wanted to try using it, I still can’t tell the differences between the colors chosen. This feature is not useable for someone with just medium level red-green colorblindness. There are no other circumstances where I find myself challenged by this in my normal day to day using a variety of apps.
For me, this new highlighter stuff has only made the product confusing and complicated which is really a bummer since the whole point of Bear is to be thoughtfully designed and not hindering.
That was my point in the discussion with you among others. The default colour is the theme specific colour from the old implementation. In the context of your criticism I would like to ask what you would expect to see as default colour? The devs decided to implement the multi-color-highlight feature and to keep the old theme specific colour WITHOUT making it an option. Apart from my old criticism here another critical point: I am wondering how the interplay of notes between bear and panda will be. A note created in bear and with highlights in default colour - as panda will not have bears themes the question arises how that highlights are going to be shown in panda. I am still convinced that the best solution would be to remove the themespecific colour completely.
As far as I understood it correctly the devs wanted to offer different colour palettes which addresses different types of colour blindness, or didn’t they?
So the point is for default to be a nice ‘part of the theme’ and the others to always be red, blue, etc?
Well, currently the default colors look to me like they are just one of the other colors randomly selected. If those default colors are actually another color, we have an even bigger issue with delineation than I first though.
Also, the icon next to default adds to the confusion. It looks like it’s trying to tell me “this will be black and white” because it’s uncolored next to the others and shows a black and white shading effect.
Bear Team: macOS has theme coloring options in Settings>Appearance. The option to use app-specific colors is the default, uses the term “Accent Color”, and uses a multicolored swirl. When you choose this, it allows the app to choose the color of your accent colors and they are defined by the apps by default. This is a similar paradigm to the theme-specific highlights.
My suggestion: use this macOS model for your default highlighter. Not only is it clearer, but it’s the same paradigm as macOS, the system your customers are already familiar with. This is usually a good way to reduce friction.
In short:
Change the terminology from Default to “Accent Color” or “Theme Accent”
Change the icon next to it to a multicolored swirl.
Keep the separator between them as you have today.
Work with a professional (or even me) to create colors that work for people with red-green colorblindness. You now have five different colors per theme to space out and to do it right it will take some effort.
Thanks for the thoughtful feedback—it’s clear you’ve put a lot of consideration into this, and we really appreciate it. Here’s where we’re coming from:
The “Default” Option
The idea behind “Default” is to match the app’s theme and provide a consistent, seamless look. It’s definitely not meant to feel random! We actually started without a default option, but the feedback from the community was loud and clear—they wanted something tied to the theme.
Icon and Terminology
The current black-and-white shading on the default icon was meant to convey neutrality or flexibility. We’ve looked at alternatives, like a multicolored swirl, but it runs into its own issues—plus, “Accent Color” already has a specific meaning in Bear, which could make things more confusing.
The Challenge of Implementation
Honestly, this feature has been one of the trickiest things we’ve tackled in a while. Everyone has strong opinions about it, and no approach feels perfect—there are always tradeoffs. That said, with the current setup, we’re not hearing too many complaints, so it seems like we’ve landed in a pretty good place (for now, at least).
Accessibility
Your point about accessibility, especially for red-green colorblind users, is spot on. It’s something we’ve talked about a lot, but we haven’t yet found a great way to test and nail down universally effective solutions. It’s definitely on our radar, though, and we’re open to ideas if you’ve got any!
