# Background colour on unread notifications gone
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/background-colour-on-unread-notifications-gone/379818
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [August 22, 2025, 11:21am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/background-colour-on-unread-notifications-gone/379818 "2025-08-22T11:21:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Shauny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Shauny)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2025, 11:21am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/background-colour-on-unread-notifications-gone/379818/1 "2025-08-22T11:21:27Z")
Since the most recent update, the background colour on unread notifications has gone for me, and so it’s impossible to tell which of these are unread:
I can’t seem to find anything in the new colour pallets area to fix this. Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2025, 11:25am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/background-colour-on-unread-notifications-gone/379818/2 "2025-08-22T11:25:40Z")
Hi,
There’s been a redesign of this area, see:
[New header dropdown / notification menu styles](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-header-dropdown-notification-menu-styles/369574)
Is this screenshot from one of the themes here on meta?
If not, my _guess_ is that from the looks of it, your theme uses the same colour var for the whole panel, that is now also being used as the highlight colour.
---
### Author:  [@Shauny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Shauny)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2025, 11:36am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/background-colour-on-unread-notifications-gone/379818/3 "2025-08-22T11:36:06Z")
I’m just using the “Default” theme. I can’t see where to change the highlight colour? I’ve never changed it before!
---
### Author:  [@Shauny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Shauny)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2025, 11:38am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/background-colour-on-unread-notifications-gone/379818/4 "2025-08-22T11:38:23Z")
These are the colour settings that would relate to the notifications, they are all different.
---
### Author:  [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2025, 12:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/background-colour-on-unread-notifications-gone/379818/5 "2025-08-22T12:16:13Z")
Ok, so on your site, I can see the `secondary` var is set to this:
While the default colour would have been: `#ffffff`
Your colour (`eef47f`) is _very close_ to the colour that is now used for the highlight, since the update, and that’s why you no longer see a difference.
What you can do:
### Solution 1
Reset the secondary variable back to its default. This will impact the general look of the site, and turn your light-blue background back to white
### Solution 2
Target the specific highlight variable via CSS and change it to something else with higher contrast.
The variable used is:
`background-color: var(--d-unread-notification-background);`
---
### Author:  [@Shauny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Shauny)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2025, 12:18pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/background-colour-on-unread-notifications-gone/379818/6 "2025-08-22T12:18:22Z")
Thanks, that worked, however the secondary colour was not changed by me. That colour was the default. Now that I’ve changed it to #fff, it has a “Revert” button which changes it back.
So it seems that the default colours are conflicting.
Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2025, 12:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/background-colour-on-unread-notifications-gone/379818/7 "2025-08-22T12:19:26Z")
> [@Shauny](#):
>
> Thanks, that worked, however the secondary colour was not changed by me. That colour was the default. Now that I’ve changed it to #fff, it has a “Revert” button which changes it back.
That’s very strange 😕 Might be something odd going on with the colour palettes, there’s been lots of changes in that area.
Glad it’s solved though!
Maybe you have selected a different colour palette for the default theme? Check your admin theme, or personal interface setting to make sure that isn’t the issue.
---
### Author:  [@Shauny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Shauny)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2025, 12:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/background-colour-on-unread-notifications-gone/379818/8 "2025-08-22T12:21:02Z")
> [@chapoi](#):
>
> Maybe you have selected a different colour palette for the default theme?
No, it’s the default one. I’ve never fiddled with the colour pallets before, except for changing header background.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2025, 12:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/background-colour-on-unread-notifications-gone/379818/9 "2025-09-21T12:21:46Z")
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.