[Marzaan]

The #949494 input border in Twenty Twenty-Four does not reach 3:1 contrast with the page background in most style variations. This PR adds one color setting for input borders. The fix also covers the Search block "Button inside" layout, where the border is on the wrapper and not on the input.

This PR continues #13764 and addresses the review comments on that PR:

• This PR does not change Twenty Fourteen.
• This PR uses the textInput element, so the color also applies to the comment form and to other text inputs.

Changes

• theme.json adds settings.custom.inputBorderColor with the value #757575.
• The textInput element, the core/loginout input, and the core/search "Button inside" wrapper use this setting.
• styles/maelstrom.json overrides the setting with the contrast-3 color.

The setting keeps each color in one place. Maelstrom changes one value and does not copy the block CSS.

Maelstrom color

#757575 has only 1.33:1 contrast on the Maelstrom background, #38629F. The ticket discusses two lighter colors:

Color	Contrast with #38629F
#b9b9b9	3.13:1
#D5E0F0 (contrast-3)	4.61:1

This PR uses contrast-3, because the color is already in the Maelstrom palette and has the higher contrast. If you prefer #b9b9b9, change the one value in styles/maelstrom.json.

Test results

The test measured the computed border color in a browser, as a logged-out visitor, on these elements:

• The Search block input, with the button outside.
• The Search block input, with no button.
• The Search block wrapper, with the button inside.
• The Login/out block input.
• The comment form textarea and text input.

WordPress 7.1.4: All six elements had the same border color in each style variation.

Style	Background	Before	After	Contrast before	Contrast after
Default	#F9F9F9	#949494	#757575	2.88	4.38
Ember	#F9F8F5	#949494	#757575	2.86	4.34
Fossil	#D6D2CE	#949494	#757575	2.02	3.06
Ice	#EBEBEF	#949494	#757575	2.55	3.88
Maelstrom	#38629F	#949494	#D5E0F0	2.03	4.61
Mint	#E4EFEB	#949494	#757575	2.58	3.92
Onyx	#272727	#949494	#757575	4.92	3.24
Rust	#F3F0E7	#949494	#757575	2.66	4.04

The "Before" color is the measured value for the default style. For the other styles, "Before" is the value from theme.json and the block styles. The "Contrast before" values are calculated from these colors.

Onyx has less contrast after this change, but it stays above 3:1.

WordPress 6.4.14 (the theme requires 6.4): The test covered the default and Maelstrom styles. No PHP errors occurred.

• The Login/out input and the "Button inside" wrapper use the new color.
• The Search input and the comment form keep #949494, because the textInput element requires WordPress 6.9.

Not tested:

• trunk. The results above use the released versions.
• The block editor and the Site Editor.

Reviewer notes

• WordPress 6.9 added the textInput element. This is later than the theme's $schema version (6.5). WordPress 6.4.14 showed no errors with the element in theme.json.
• The core/loginout CSS applies to all input elements in the block, as it did before this PR. This includes the submit button.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/66190

Use of AI Tools

AI assistance: Yes
Tool(s): Claude Code
Model(s): Claude Opus 5.5
Used for: The code change, the browser tests, and the draft of this description.

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