Wikipedia:Dark mode - Wikipedia

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikipedia information page

Vector 2022 (desktop) dark mode

Minerva (mobile) dark mode

Appearance dropdown menu in the personal tools section at the top right, used to switch between dark and light mode.

A light-on-dark color scheme, colloquially known as dark mode or night mode, has been available on Wikipedia's desktop and mobile websites since July 2024. These are available to both logged-out and logged-in users using the Vector 2022 skin, which is applied by default. Logged-in users who have changed their skin must switch to Vector 2022 in order to use dark mode. The Wikipedia mobile apps also have similar features.

In addition, logged-in users on English Wikipedia may activate the WikimediaUI dark mode gadget, and various volunteer-written CSS files allow for further or alternative customization.

A compatibility guide for editors provides guidance on making pages and templates work well in dark mode.

A dark mode feature is available since July 2024 as part of the mw:Reading/Web/Accessibility_for_reading project for the default Vector 2022 (desktop) and Minerva (mobile) skins:

  • On desktop click the Dark radio button on the right side of the screen or under the spectacles icon in the top right.
  • On mobile, tap the "hamburger menu" in the top left, choose settings, and in the Color section select Dark.

For both, you can also select "Automatic" to have the mode change based on your operating system's settings.

  • Desktop dark mode setting

    Desktop dark mode setting

  • Desktop dark mode setting (on smaller screens, or when menu has been hidden)

    Desktop dark mode setting (on smaller screens, or when menu has been hidden)

  • Finding mobile dark mode setting (1)

    Finding mobile dark mode setting (1)

  • Finding mobile dark mode setting (2)

    Finding mobile dark mode setting (2)

  • Finding mobile dark mode setting (3)

    Finding mobile dark mode setting (3)

The official Wikipedia mobile apps for Android and iOS have multiple themes available, including light-on-dark.

  • Wikipedia Android app white theme

    Wikipedia Android app white theme

  • Wikipedia Android app sepia theme

    Wikipedia Android app sepia theme

  • Wikipedia Android app dark theme

    Wikipedia Android app dark theme

  • Wikipedia Android app black theme

    Wikipedia Android app black theme

There are browser extensions for popular browsers that offer a Wikipedia-specific dark mode, and browser extensions that allow you to set custom CSS for a given domain, which could be used with the CSS available above. However, all browser extensions need to be carefully screened for security issues. Some inject advertising, and customization may be more difficult than editing a single CSS file.

There are several add-on/extension offerings on Firefox which work well. The most popular is Dark Mode for Wikipedia which uses only a single css style sheet to enable dark mode on Wikipedia. Do not install any extension or add-on that you don't trust.

If you use Chrome, there is also a built-in experimental/beta setting to force dark mode, set through chrome://flags/ with the description "Force Dark Mode for Web Contents - Automatically render all web contents using a dark theme". This is provided by Chrome's development team, so security should not be a concern, but this will render all web pages in dark mode. This feature is also available in Microsoft Edge, through the edge://flags/ menu.

Dark mode gadget screenshot
WikimediaUI Dark mode gadget

There are two Gadgets that can be enabled in Preferences:

Once checked, dark mode is available to toggle in the preferences portlet, located in the Upper Right-Hand corner of the page. The link to click is named "Dark mode", and is to the left of the "Watchlist" link.

Apart from gadgets, an alternative way to get a dark mode is adding custom CSS to your user style page(s). This is more complex than activating a gadget, but more flexible, allowing, for example: custom colors, custom fonts, or hiding unused UI elements. Help:User style describes the process of adding custom CSS in general. For dark mode-specific CSS, a number of options are available including:

  • Dark mode CSS screenshot

    Dialectric's darklands theme

  • Dark mode CSS screenshot

    DavidL's DarkTheme

  • Dark mode CSS screenshot

    Tollens's dark theme

  • Dark minimal theme by Vitaly Zdanevich

    Dark minimal theme by Vitaly Zdanevich

Compatibility
Timeless Vector (2022) Vector legacy (2010) MinervaNeue MonoBook
WikimediaUI Dark mode checkY checkY checkY checkY checkY
Darklands dark theme ☒N checkY checkY ☒N ☒N
DavidL's DarkTheme checkY checkY checkY checkY checkY
Tollens' dark theme ☒N checkY checkY checkY checkY
Vitaly Zdanevich's dark theme ☒N ☒N checkY ☒N ☒N

If you manage your own wiki and have access to its files, you can install extensions and skins that support dark mode.