Dark Mode in One Line of Code!

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Dark mode has seemingly become the desired visual mode for websites and mobile apps alike. Dark mode is easier on the eyes, especially for those like me who like to burn the midnight oil by coding and reading tutorials. Unfortunately not all websites offer dark mode, so it's up to me to remedy the situation.

Though it's not a true "dark mode", you can use CSS' filter to create dark mode of your own:

html {
  filter: invert(1);
}

Inverting colors completely via 1 will make that light-themed website much more comfortable on your eyes. It's important to realize that developers shouldn't consider this a long-term solution, as it's a quite lazy remedy and doesn't lend well to branding.

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Discussion

  1. Nice trick !

    I would add exactly the same on all images with

    img {
    filter: invert(1);
    }

    Then you are even closer to a dark mode ;)

  2. Adilbim

    I just tried it here and it worked, Thanks for the info.

    here is the code I used:

    document.querySelector('html').style.filter = 'invert(1)'

  3. Alex

    I love filter for this! You can also make the inversion less harsh by adding to the filter list:

    /* Use hue-rotate for optional color adjustment */
    html { filter: invert(1) contrast(0.95) saturate(0.5) hue-rotate(180deg);
    
  4. Daniel

    Never EVER use this trick other than for a quick preview.

    CSS filters on large areas are really bad for scrolling performance.

  5. This isn’t quite dark mode. This is just an invert which makes images look like crap. Still, neat trick.
    Thanks

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