May relate to MC-195473 and/or MC-170902.
The bug
The sign texture has a texture for the "front" of the sign, which is the base plank type, but lightened slightly as to make it look less "noisy" and improve readability of the text, due to this formerly being the only surface of the sign on which can be written.
This was mentioned by @unknown on this comment in MC-199453: "It's to be more readable for text, the contrast is lowered on the front."
As of 23w12a, functionality was added for writing on the back of signs. However, the back texture of the sign has not been changed to account for this, which seems like an oversight.
How to reproduce
Place a standing sign
Inspect the front
Inspect the back
Expected results
The front texture is slightly "more faded"/"less noisy" than the texture of the plank block used to make it. By extension, this should also apply to the back texture in the latest snapshots.
Actual results
The back of signs remains unchanged, making text slightly more difficult to read there.
Further notes
The Programmer Art resource pack makes this difference much more obvious, as the difference between the front and back is much more significant there than in the current default textures there. Fixing this issue for both the current textures and Programmer Art is unlikely since the latter is not supported to the same extent as current textures, but would be preferable for accessibility.
Linked issues
relates to 3
Attachments
Comments 6
This is NOT a feedback request. It belongs on the bug tracker! That's like saying all the other many texture changes that have been from bug reports were invalid.
Here are a few reasons why this issue should be reopened, or reconsidered
1. There is inconsistent/unexpected behavior
The bamboo sign shares the same texture (specifically contrast) on both sides of the sign, where as all other signs do not.
2. Behavior contridicts word from Mojang on why the feature functioned previously the way it did:
Per the comment by Jappa displayed in the post, the reasonining behind signs having a lighter contrast side was so that the player could more easily read it. Now with multiple sides, one is left unchanged to fit this reasoning.
"It's to be more readable for text, the contrast is lowered on the front."
-Jasper Boerstra
3. This issue negatively impacts gameplay:
Continuing off of the comment by Jappa and the previous reason, with how the sign is currently displayed the back side of the sign could be considered "harder to read" than the front side which should not be intentional as it could be considered to negatively impact gameplay.
I think the signs should remain the same as they are currently on the back side but change to the lower contrast texture only when there's text written on them
In 1.20 Pre-Release 1.