I turned it off, Why still transparent??

[sameerasw]

TL;DR How to fix

If you were using the Transparent Zen mod, it's because you didn't read the clear instructions... Turn off the options in the mod before uninstalling and then re-start the browser to take the disabling transparency to take effect.

If you didn't use transparency before, it's because you have the flag browser.tabs.allow_transparent_browser -> true in about:config .... switch that to false and re-start the browser. Now the web content will not be allowed to be transparent.

If you want other websites to be transparent but not this one, Use the userContent.css or a 3rd party addon to add a simple background body, html{background-color: light-dark(#fff, #222)} to the hody of the webpage manually.
I am working on a workaround from my end which might take a bit of time... :)

Why it happens?

It's because the mod is there to mainly enable this flag browser.tabs.allow_transparent_browser to remove the default colored solid back-plate from the website view of the browser. But usually the page is intact since it got a background color for the body, html etc. But, some websites for some reason skipped this like Google Classroom which automatically achieves transparency since the browser isn't providing a back-plate anymore since we disable it.

So simply it becomes transparent without even an add-on, Turn off the flag to add that website back-plate back.

Why that flag is enabled?

In the Transparent Zen, well... it's said in the name... to allow the websites to be transparent with the Transparent Zen Mod + Zen Internet Addon. If you didn't use it, maybe another mod enabled it for some reason or you might have accidentally done it... These changes in mods aren't automatically reverted upon uninstallation so that's why they persist even after uninstalling.

[sameerasw]

Added a fallback background option when transparency is not enabled so #fff, #111 color will get applied.

Please update the addon to v2.2.5

[amadeus3301]

Hi Sameera, first of all, love your work! thank you so much for your provided modifications!

I wanted to ask, is there a way to mitigate this problem? like, if i turn the Zen Zero extension off, some websites turn back to normal, some don't, as you have discussed in this post. So, with the websites that there is this issue, where they are transparent regardless, is there some way to easily make them look like normal? without me having to go to flags and switching the transparency of the browser on and off each time for this annoyance with those websites.

I mean i know, that this problem has nothing to do with your extension, but i am asking, like perhaps (idk anything about coding) you could inject some "default styling" for websites where we face issues like i mentioned above.

All this is just a humble request, if you're okay with that, or if it's impossible to do from your side then that's okay too. Just wanted to discuss this particular option in detail.

[sameerasw]

I just added a workaround for this yesterday :D

Now after addon version v2.2.5, if you turn off transparency for the website, globally or turn styling of for the website or globally, it will make the addon add a fallback background by default fixing those websites 🥳

[amadeus3301]

Thank you so much! You're a genius, needed this a lot, as this was the ONLY thing that was slightly breaking the Zen Zero experience. Appreciate it!

[solanex0]

Hi Sameera, I hope you’re well. I’ve been using your Transparent Zen mod and really appreciate your work. I encountered an issue I hope you can help with. I uninstalled the mod without first disabling the transparency setting, and now Zen Browser remains transparent even after reinstalling and disabling the mod settings.

I’ve tried the following without success:

• Reinstalled the mod, toggled transparency on/off with restarts
• Modified about:config settings (e.g., browser.tabs.allow_transparent_browser)
• Fully uninstalled Zen and removed related cache/files

Now, transparency behaves inconsistently—for example, on YouTube, sometimes the background is white instead of transparent, and opening new pages often resets the effect. I’d really like to keep using the mod, but I think my previous mistake may have caused this behavior.

If you have any suggestions or a way to fully reset the transparency setting, I’d be very grateful.

[sameerasw]

1. I don't think the file got uploaded.

2. Looking at the screenshot, Zen Internet is not enabled or working properly since it shows the empty icon.
   

   It should look like this when features are working and the current website is not skipped.
   

So I think the backup file may help us figure out the issue.

[solanex0]

Apologies, here it is again:

zen-internet-settings-2025-06-01.json

Thanks for pointing out the icon issue, that makes sense. Hopefully the backup helps clarify what’s going wrong.

[sameerasw]

Apologies, here it is again:

zen-internet-settings-2025-06-01.json

Thanks for pointing out the icon issue, that makes sense. Hopefully the backup helps clarify what’s going wrong.

Ohhh I see, The addon was only installed. Please open the addon pop-up again and click fetch styles and make sure "Global Styling" and "Auto Update Themes" are on.

Or simply continue the guide from step 5 here : https://www.sameerasw.com/zen#addon-fetch

[solanex0]

No, I actually deactivated the addon because when it’s on, the page looks like this:

zen-internet-settings-2025-06-01(2).json

As you can see, the styling isn’t working properly, that’s why I turned it off. I also tested fetching styles and enabling both “Global Styling” and “Auto Update Styles”, but the issue persisted. This all happened after I removed the mod without unchecking transparency in the mod's settings.

[sameerasw]

Final things to check:

1. please check if this is the case with any website like github.
2. If so, please check if the browser.tabs.allow_transparent_browser is true
3. If it is already, and restarting browser didn't fix, please toggle the Cleaner URL bar mod off and test if that fixes since I can't seems to find that mod to test myself.

if all that fails, try creating a new profile in about:profiles and open it once, Sometimes if there's a problem with zen, this fixes. Hope this will lead us to something because at the moment, the addon seems to work just fine hence the background of the page is gone, it's that something behind it is still there we need to remove.