# Themes too difficult

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [9 November 2021 11:39 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631 "2021-11-09T11:39:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![iomari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/iomari/32/9435_2.png) [@iomari](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/iomari)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 11:39 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/1 "2021-11-09T11:39:36Z")

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Greetings,  
Will Joplin ever have a simple way to change themes?  
It should be as easy as click on a theme and it changes.  
I write code so it's not that I can't change or create a theme but I just don't have the time. I use Joplin for work and I can't justify spending valuable time changing themes.  
I just want a nice dark/black theme without having to start dealing with style sheets.  
Or is it already possible to just change a theme with a click?

Thanks  
iomari

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**Author:** ![Yann1ck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/439d5e/32.png) [@Yann1ck](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/Yann1ck)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 11:54 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/2 "2021-11-09T11:54:12Z")

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> [@iomari](#):
>
> Or is it already possible to just change a theme with a click?

It is. Themes can be distributed in the same way plugins are distributed. So you can just install a theme, restart the app and it works. The macOS theme is doing exactly that. It also has a nice dark theme 😉 I think there are some other themes as well. Just check the forum or check directly from Joplin.

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**Author:** ![dpoulton](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/dpoulton/32/29723_2.png) [@dpoulton](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/dpoulton)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 11:55 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/3 "2021-11-09T11:55:46Z")

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> [@iomari](#):
>
> Or is it already possible to just change a theme with a click?

You mean apart from the built-in themes?

![themes](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/2X/4/4d2e887f833fbfd21d52b2082645258651659ad8.png)

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**Author:** ![iomari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/iomari/32/9435_2.png) [@iomari](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/iomari)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 12:07 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/4 "2021-11-09T12:07:20Z")

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yes, apart from the built in themes

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**Author:** ![laurent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laurent](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/laurent)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 12:09 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/5 "2021-11-09T12:09:28Z")

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> Will Joplin ever have a simple way to change themes?

So if a dropdown is not simple enough, then I guess the answer is "no".

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**Author:** ![iomari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/iomari/32/9435_2.png) [@iomari](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/iomari)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 12:20 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/6 "2021-11-09T12:20:56Z")

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I only have 5 to choose from when there are many I see that require using css files.

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**Author:** ![Daeraxa](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/daeraxa/32/6172_2.png) [@Daeraxa](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/Daeraxa)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 12:21 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/7 "2021-11-09T12:21:56Z")

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There were a few discussions a few months ago on how to improve theming in general but the conversation seems to have stalled on that front recently (although I seem to recall there were some changes to the Joplin theming or background CSS framework in some recent commits)  
It mostly surrounded making it easier to target certain areas of the application with CSS as well potentially setting things up for a simple "theme designer".  
Have a read of these if you are interested:

- [https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/ideas-about-joplin-theming/194](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/ideas-about-joplin-theming/194)
- [Plugin CSS Improvement Ideas](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/plugin-css-improvement-ideas/19099)
- [Talking about Markdown's CodeMirror theme update - #2 by CalebJohn](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/talking-about-markdowns-codemirror-theme-update/19443/2)

As for "installing with a click" - there are already a few themes created as Joplin plugins that you can find and enable.

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**Author:** ![iomari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/iomari/32/9435_2.png) [@iomari](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/iomari)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 12:39 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/8 "2021-11-09T12:39:45Z")

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OK. Thank you for all your replies.

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**Author:** ![iomari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/iomari/32/9435_2.png) [@iomari](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/iomari)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 13:40 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/9 "2021-11-09T13:40:58Z")

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The themes in the dropdown are not changing the colors of the notebooks which are butt ugly.Purple, green, blue and brown with white text.

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**Author:** ![Yann1ck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/439d5e/32.png) [@Yann1ck](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/Yann1ck)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 13:46 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/10 "2021-11-09T13:46:06Z")

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Yeah, those themese dont look too nice. Have you tried plugin themes? They look much nicer.

> [@Plugin List](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/plugin-list/17671):
>
> This topic is no longer updated. A new page has been created to search and browse all available plugins:

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**Author:** ![iomari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/iomari/32/9435_2.png) [@iomari](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/iomari)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 14:06 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/11 "2021-11-09T14:06:31Z")

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Now I can't install plugins from a file.  
The Manage your plugins-\>install from file, doesn't bring any dialog box. Nothing happens when I click it.  
This is the same behavior when I try to import or export fro the file menu.  
What's up?

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**Author:** ![james-carroll](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/james-carroll/32/28844_2.png) [@james-carroll](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/james-carroll)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 14:07 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/12 "2021-11-09T14:07:35Z")

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That was a bug with the `2.5.8` release on Linux, try `2.5.10`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![iomari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/iomari/32/9435_2.png) [@iomari](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/iomari)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 14:08 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/13 "2021-11-09T14:08:04Z")

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thanks

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![iomari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/iomari/32/9435_2.png) [@iomari](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/iomari)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 14:40 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/14 "2021-11-09T14:40:31Z")

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Ok, I updated Joplin, now the dialogs are appearing but they appear behind the main window. It took me awhile to figure out that they were present..  
This happens every time.

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**Author:** ![JackGruber](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/jackgruber/32/3231_2.png) [@JackGruber](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/JackGruber)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 14:46 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/15 "2021-11-09T14:46:40Z")

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Plugins can also installed manual.  
Drop the jpl file into `.config\joplin-desktop\plugins`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![iomari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/iomari/32/9435_2.png) [@iomari](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/iomari)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 15:09 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/16 "2021-11-09T15:09:34Z")

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thanks

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**Author:** ![former\_evernotist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/53a042/32.png) [@former\_evernotist](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/former_evernotist)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2021 23:30 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/17 "2021-11-09T23:30:29Z")

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I second @iomari's suggestion because in my humble opinion there's an issue with lack of contrast in the default settings: When I use the split-screen markdown editor (which I like very much because it gives me a 'centred' experience just like reading mode in Firefox), the font colour (light theme) seems somewhat greyish to me (not black).  
What's even more problematic is the dark grey scrollbar in the notebooks section on the left of the screen: almost indistinguishable from the black background so that I accidentally end up nesting notebooks when I fail to hit the bar for scrolling.  
Customisation is one of the great strenghts of Joplin, but for those unacquainted with CSS (or at least with its practical usage) it's rather hard to tackle with these issues.  
Joplin 2.5.12 (prod, win32): really great app nonetheless!

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**Author:** ![dpoulton](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/dpoulton/32/29723_2.png) [@dpoulton](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/dpoulton)\
**Post date:** [10 November 2021 13:53 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/18 "2021-11-10T13:53:48Z")

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@former_evernotist I too found the default light theme lacking a little bit of contrast.

Below is some css I have collected over the years to put a bit of contrast into the Joplin light theme. It still seems to work and It also makes the scrollbar easier to see.

I have commented the css so you can remove any bits you do not want / need.

**userchrome.css**

> **Click to expand**
>
> ```css
> /* ==Interface modifications== */
> 
> ::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb {
> /* changes the scrollbar slider colour */
> background: #c0c0c0 !important;
> }
> div.note-list-item span {
> /* notelist - note title text */
> color: black !important;
> }
> input.title-input {
> /* note - note title text*/
> color: black !important;
> }
> a > span.icon-back,
> a > span.icon-forward,
> a > span.icon-share,
> a > span.icon-bold,
> a > span.icon-italic,
> a > span.icon-link,
> a > span.icon-code,
> a > span.icon-attachment,
> a > span.icon-bulleted-list,
> a > span.icon-numbered-list,
> a > span.icon-to-do-list,
> a > span.icon-heading,
> a > i.fa-ellipsis-h,
> a > span.icon-add-date,
> a > span.icon-layout,
> a > span.icon-info {
> /* changes toolbar icon colour - inactive icons are a % of this colour*/
> /* these can be broken out into individual entries if a "rainbow" of colours is wanted*/
> color: black !important;
> }
> /* Start - the below section is not required if you do not use the "Menu items, Shortcuts, Toolbar icons" plugin */
> a > i.fa-highlighter,
> a > i.fa-strikethrough,
> a > i.fa-underline,
> a > i.fa-superscript,
> a > i.fa-subscript {
> /* changes the "Menu items, Shortcuts, Toolbar icons" **plugin** toolbar icon size and colour - inactive icons are a % of this colour*/
> /* these can be broken out into individual entries if a "rainbow" of colours is wanted*/
> font-size: 1em !important;
> color: black !important;
> font-weight: 600 !important;
> }
> /* End - the above section is not required if you do not use the "Menu items, Shortcuts, Toolbar icons" plugin */
> 
> /* ==CodeMirror editor modifications== */
> 
> span[role="presentation"] {
> /* editor pane text */
> color: black;
> }
> 
> ```

**userstyle.css**

> **Click to expand**
>
> ```css
> body,
> table th,
> table td {
> /* sets body text, table cell, and header cell font colour */
> color: #000000;
> }
> code {
> /* sets code font colour - fenced code, inline code and pre */
> color: #000000;
> /* stops code boxes extending off the note page */
> white-space: pre-wrap;
> }
> caption {
> /* puts a table caption underneath the table rather than the default (above) */
> caption-side: bottom;
> /* sets the colour of the table caption */
> color: #000000;
> }
> 
> ```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![former\_evernotist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/53a042/32.png) [@former\_evernotist](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/former_evernotist)\
**Post date:** [10 November 2021 14:41 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/19 "2021-11-10T14:41:56Z")

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Thank you very much @dpoulton! It's good to hear that things still work because there's this official warning somewhere else in the forum that every CSS customisation can potentially become unusable after an update…  
Strange thing is that contrast in the markdown editor seems to be better on smaller and sharper screens such as a 12" Surface. Large fonts on a 17" laptop tend to look rather grey and blurry, but maybe I should check first what colours are effectively encoded (after giving up my reluctance to CSS tweaks of course…).

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**Author:** ![dpoulton](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/dpoulton/32/29723_2.png) [@dpoulton](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/dpoulton)\
**Post date:** [10 November 2021 15:48 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631/20 "2021-11-10T15:48:09Z")

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> [@former\_evernotist](#):
>
> ... that every CSS customisation can potentially become unusable after an update…

Yes, that's true and is why I mentioned it! However it's not that common and, of course, the less you customise the less chance there is that something will stop displaying as you wanted it to!

> [@former\_evernotist](#):
>
> Large fonts on a 17" laptop tend to look rather grey and blurry,...

It's possibly not that strange. If the 17" screen has a comparitively lower resolution (pixels-per-inch) the font-smoothing can become more noticeable and make the letters look at bit "greyer / blurry".

Looking into Joplin shows that the default editor text colour is `#32373F` which is noticably lighter than black and can then be made to look a bit lighter again by font-smoothing.

![colours](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/2X/c/c5e6cd24391d160d659170211aa01c66b54a33ef.png)

[Next page](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/themes-too-difficult/21631.md?page=2)