Author colors are the same for different authors

[q-wertz]

Describe the bug
The author colors of the written texts are the same.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Create a file
2. Share it (directly or via link)
3. Write and let others write
4. Different authors have the same color (in my and my colleagues case blue)

Expected behavior
It looks like the color is derived/somehow depended on the user name.

Client details:

• OS: Ubuntu, Arch
• Browser: Firefox, Brave
• Version: 90.0.2, 1.27.111
• Device: desktop

Server details

Text app version: 3.2.0

Operating system: Ubuntu 20.04

Web server: nginx

Database: mariadb

PHP version: 7.4

Nextcloud version: 21.0.3

[juliusknorr]

Yes, colors are generated from the display name to match the color of the avatar placeholder: https://github.com/nextcloud/server/blob/9124c69cf6ca7cf7551112f19a9e5431f9cb6f13/lib/private/Avatar/Avatar.php#L292-L319

While I agree that a different color per connected user would be good it would then no longer fit the avatar if no custom avatar is set. Though we could certainly do this for guest user sessions.

[q-wertz]

Thanks for the information.

We had the problem that 3 users had the same color (which is quite surprising) and first I thought I misconfigured something.

Would really be good if the highlighting colors are spread over the color range as far as possible.

[max-nextcloud]

I remember that colors used to be blue more often then anything else.
My understanding is that this was fixed in the meantime for avatars and colors are now more evenly distributed.
@juliushaertl , @jancborchardt you might remember this.
I'll close this issue. Please reopen if this has not been fixed.

[q-wertz]

I cannot confirm that this is fixed.

First author color (me) and second one who joined are both blue.

Text version: 3.5.1

[susnux]

It looks like the color calculated here:

text/src/extensions/UserColor.js

Line 37 in 5aeca92

return '#' + Math.floor((Math.abs(Math.sin(clientID) * 16777215)) % 16777215).toString(16) + 'aa'

So it is derived from the clientId which is the current session id. It is a somewhat pseudo random function, e.g. the first 100 values would look like this:

As you can see there are some cases where two users might get the same color.

Edit
Sorry I have to revoke my answer, as that code is never used but the default nextcloud avatar color.

But I can confirm this is still a bug, e.g. the first two users created on my local machine (user1 and user2) are blueish (only minor color differences).

[q-wertz]

Do you remember with which release this fix was published?

Can I find out what the clientID is? According to juliushaertels comment above it was derived from the display name. sessionID sound like something that changes with every login.

A third user now has a slightly different color (but also blueish)

Color User1: #99cde9
Color User2: #99cde9
Color User3: #a7d2e1

[mejo-]

I'll close this as we no longer have author colors in Text.