`code` is invisible, solely when directly inside `small`

zogstrip · August 17, 2026, 12:29pm

Thanks for the report @roke_julian_lockhart

It’ll be fixed by

github.com/discourse/discourse

FIX: Make inline `code` and code blocks visible inside quotes (#42649)

main ← fix-code-visibility-in-quotes

merged 01:25PM - 17 Aug 26 UTC

ZogStriP

+45 -54

Previously, inline `code` only got its chip styling when its direct parent was `…p`, `li`, `strong`, `em` or `a` — every other container (`small`, `b`, `i`, `sub`, `sup`, `span`, `del`, headings, table cells, …) fell through to the code-block rule, whose light-mode background is a 3% blend of primary over secondary and is therefore indistinguishable from a quote's 5% blend, and *exactly identical* inside a nested quote. Fenced code blocks sat on the same collision, so they vanished in quotes too. This change makes the inline style the default for `code` and scopes the block style to `pre > code`, and derives `$hljs-bg` from `$inline-code-bg` so the two code surfaces match by default and neither disappears against a quote background. `--hljs-bg` and `--inline-code-bg` both keep their names and meanings, so themes that differentiate them are unaffected. Reported in https://meta.discourse.org/t/code-is-invisible-solely-when-directly-inside-small/410078 ### Screenshots <img width="3200" height="1538" alt="comparison-dark" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/28263913-6d94-46b5-a8e6-4178a601521f" /> <img width="3200" height="1538" alt="comparison-light" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/86ab9405-f53e-423c-8e31-6b438bf2e5c5" />

Topic		Replies	Views
Change styling of inline code blocks so they stand out more UX	19	4307	June 8, 2022
Inline code is hard to see Product Support	8	981	August 20, 2019
Inline code dificult to Identify Product Support	10	1699	December 3, 2021
Quotes containing code block must start with newline Bug	9	3588	May 14, 2020
Keyboard HTML tag sometimes suppressed in CSS Product Support	6	901	June 13, 2018

`code` is invisible, solely when directly inside `small`

Related topics