Alternative base colors for dark theme

GitHub Help Dark Mode
#1

Hi,

Thanks for implementing the dark theme in GitHub, much appreciated.

I’m not fond of that much blue though (blue light has bad rep., for a few good reasons) and I’m wondering if it would be possible to have switchable base colors, since the theme is done with CSS custom properties it looks like it could be pretty quick/easy to implement.

I GitHub users could select a theme and base color that would be awesome. The base colors could be a limited set with fundamentals like blue, green, red, yellow, pink, purple… (see seti-UI base color set for example, they are super nice)

Seti-UI theme colors
Seti-UI theme colors1398×341 114 KB

12 Likes
Provide selection for color in dark mode
Theme color customize
#2

Oh, this is so nice! What a great idea.

#3

Thanks for the awesome feedback and suggestion @quilicicf! Dark mode is really just the beginning so feedback like this helps us as we look to what’s next for themes

#4

Pay attention to the WCAG contrast ratio when choosing colors. Is Bill Gates not budgeting for designers? https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/

1 Like
#5

Hi @hazarek - we appreciate the passion for accessibility! While we are in beta we will be continuing to improve contrast in our current dark mode. Shipping dark mode meant rebuilding and redesigning core foundations of our design system, and finding ways to refactor parts of GitHub that were never designed with themeability in mind. We started this process with accessibility as our north star. Our initial dark mode is not perfect for contrast and we acknowledge that. But behind the scenes we have been working on additional themes to make GitHub more inclusive:

  • Light and dark high contrast themes that would meet WCAG 2.1 SC 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum) requirements.
  • Colorblind themes starting with a red-green Deuteranomaly theme.
  • Photophobia (light sensitivity) themes with lower contrast.

Let me know if you’d be interested in chatting with me about any of these or being included in a future closed beta!

#6

I think it is necessary to include this at the top of the list. This is the only thing I have been eagerly waiting for. more important to me than contrast;

1 Like
#7

I wish I could customize the title color, code color, and contribution color.

Because it is not the color of the code (font) of the theme that I used often, the readability of the code is poor.

1 Like
#8

Appreciate the feedback and suggestion @gowoonsori! We’ve heard quite a bit of feedback from the community on this so I’ll take this back to the team for us to discuss further

2 Likes
#9

seems like a great idea!
I also don’t like the chosen colors too much. For now i’m using stylus with this extension which worked perfectly fine and also looks really good!

I’ll probably continue using it for now, at least till that blue tint is gone. maybe i’ll continue using it nevertheless since I really like the asthetics

2 Likes
#10

Hey @XilefTech, have you tried Dark Reader ?

It’s an (open source) extension that dynamically darkens any website you visit.

The results are pretty stunning and it works almost everywhere. I used to use Stylus & co but once I tried Dark Reader, I never looked back. You should give it a spin :slight_smile:

You can deactivate it for websites that already look great in dark, an integrated theme is often better but they are so rare…

Disclaimer: I do not work for Dark Reader, just love it

#11

@quilicicf yes, I’m using darkreader too for other websites, but that stylus style is looking better than the darkreader version of the page, that’s why I keep on using it.

#12

The “Dark Reader” and “Chrome’s dark mode feature” don’t always work perfectly. It also slows down sites.
chrome://flags/#enable-force-dark

dark
dark1454×434 52.5 KB

Dark mode needs to become widespread and become the web standard. People should not be forced to use plugins.

#13

I would love being able to select each element color, especially for code too. I love so much IntelliJ Darcula theme :slight_smile:

#14

@hazarek I do agree that dark theme should become more standard (and it is).

Unfortunately, implementing a dark mode costs a lot, even more so when the app was developed without it in mind.

New products should have it more and more but for legacy apps? Your best bet is often plugins unfortunately. The ROI isn’t there for every dev team, far from it.

1 Like
#15

If the user can select dark mode color selection, it better for the user.