Dark Themes Versus Web Pages That Assume Otherwise

**buzzingrobot** · August 20th, 2014

Here's a question for dark theme users: How do you deal with web pages that are universally designed for dark text on a white/light background?

I've recently found one or two dark KDE themes that appeal to me. But, the contrast between the dark chrome in a browser and the bright white of a typical web page is pretty jarring. I know about Stylish and know enough CSS to craft my own stylesheet, but that seems likely to break page designs because, again, they assume dark text on a light background.

**vasa1** · August 20th, 2014

Originally Posted by buzzingrobot

... I know about Stylish and know enough CSS to craft my own stylesheet, but that seems likely to break page designs because, again, they assume dark text on a light background.

But it's possible to achieve quite a lot for specific sites. See this style for example: https://userstyles.org/styles/18192/nightshift-eye-care. I keep it for YouTube; not perfect but good enough for me.

I have to make quite a few compromises to compensate for my lack of ability to use CSS efficiently but I get along with lighter text on a darker background for the most part. For "mission-critical" stuff, I disable styles and put up with the whiteness.

**pretty_whistle** · August 21st, 2014

This problem just doesnt seem to have a cure IMO, that's why I gave up eventually.

**Cliff_Simonds** · August 21st, 2014

A couple of years ago I was messing around with installing UX themes in windows(very bad idea..Messes up the admin mms programs and system in general) and Chrome noticed it and I had a offer for a dark theme high contrast toggle that worked great..
AH HA found it here. Is this what your looking for.

**vasa1** · August 22nd, 2014

Originally Posted by Cliff_Simonds

A couple of years ago I was messing around with installing UX themes in windows(very bad idea..Messes up the admin mms programs and system in general) and Chrome noticed it and I had a offer for a dark theme high contrast toggle that worked great..
AH HA found it here. Is this what your looking for.

I've used that extension when it just came out. I used it again recently. Ugly. And it's made by Google so the poor quality comes as a surprise.

**buzzingrobot** · August 22nd, 2014

I can see inverting white (#FFFFFF) to black (#000000), but those actually aren't used that often. So, I'm not sure how the extension would handle inverting colors like #F1F1F1 or #323232.

My dark theme experiment is over, though. Seems like it might be fine if you can completely control your environment (as a developer who spends all day inside editors and terminals might). You really can't do that if you have any interaction with the web.