How to change the background color from the default white to black

Product Support

AI-generated summary

User Muccku seeks help changing their Discourse forum’s background from white to black, noting they’ve tried Appearance > Color Schemes > Dark but found no apply button. NateDhaliwal suggests selecting a dark theme or editing CSS via Admin > Customize, but Muccku reveals they’re on a trial version, which restricts theme editing. Moin clarifies that color schemes must be assigned to the theme via Admin > Themes, and later suggests checking the site setting default dark mode color scheme id Moin. Muccku confirms they see CSS code but no way to apply it, lacking the Customize tab. After some confusion, Muccku discovers the color scheme setting is under user preferences (via hamburger menu > Preferences > Interface), not admin settings — though this only affects their personal view. Moin confirms preferences are user-specific and advises contacting Discourse support for plan-specific limitations. Muccku concludes they likely need to upgrade to Standard plan to change the site-wide background. Additional tips on enabling OS/browser dark mode are offered by Moin and Firepup650.

1

This is something i have researched for awhile, but still no luck.

I went to appearance > color schemes > dark. That’s what i want, with dark background and grey text. However, i don’t find a button to click to make it apply to the site.

I browsed on this forum and it requires css coding change. yet, going through the admin account, i cannot find the place to edit code.

May someone please point me the right direction? It could be a few minutes from your typing but it has been 1 hour of research for me already. Thank you so much!

I want to achieve something like this, as per picture below

4171e5eaa2882b71496afabf7c2cc7d6155ed050_2_1214x1000
4171e5eaa2882b71496afabf7c2cc7d6155ed050_2_1214x10001214×1000 94.8 KB

2

You could either select a theme that is dark, or go to Admin > Customize and change the CSS manually.

3

You need to select the color scheme to your theme
Go to admin → themes and change the color palette

4

Oh that’s why…because i am still using a trial version (for 20 days), so that’s why the admin > theme part is not working. No wonder why i looked into every tabs and has no result. Thanks for the quick reply!!

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5

That’s surprising. Since Discourse didn’t hide the color scheme section, maybe there is a different way to add it :thinking:
What happens if you change the default dark mode color scheme id site setting?

6

That’s how I see your site looks using dark mode:

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7

Hello Moin,

This is what i have. It doesn’t have a button for me to apply the color scheme. It gives me css code, but i don’t know where can i apply the css code. I cannot find ‘customize’ as what NateDhaliwal suggested.

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If i click ‘copy to clipboard’, and i paste it in a notepad. This is what i see.

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8

Woo! That’s what i want (i will change the logo later), but my homepage is stil shown as white background.

9

Did you enable dark mode in your browser or device’s settings?
How to Enable Dark Mode on Your Browser

10

What do you see at https://pu.discourse.group/my/preferences/interface? Are you able to choose color schemes there?

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11

Just checked. I don’t think i have enable dark mode. The color is default blue

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12

You can also select dark mode in your browser

13

I actally don’t see something similar to your picture.

I don’t have the option to choose ‘regular’ or ‘dark mode’. Which tab are you in?

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14

https://meta.discourse.org/my/preferences/interface

But I don’t know the conditions which show or hide the color scheme section in the preferences. So it’s possible that it is hidden on your site.

15

OHHHH, thanks so much for sending me that link, so i know where i need to change. i get it now. It’s in another heading…before going into admin

So you go to the hamburger button (the 3 lines icon), choose preference

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Choose Preferences at first row, and Inferface at second row. Color schemes is the first item for changes.

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16

For windows, dark mode should be under the “Colors” section of the “Personalization” menu.

17

Thank you! I don’t think i am in dark mode

18

Hello Moin, after i logged out and use a visitor account to access the forum, it is in white background. So i believe what the change in preference is only for my ‘account’, not the forum setting.

Nevertheless, we have tried and I guess i have to upgrade to standard mode in order to change background color (i assume).

Thank you for your time once again.

19

Yes. Your preferences are just for you. The default color scheme is usually based on the theme. So I don’t know whether that is possible with your current hosting plan. I don’t know much about the details of different hosting plans. In general, as a hosted customer, you can also contact the Discourse team instead of asking the community for support. They know a lot more about their hosting than random members of this forum.