7.5 KiB
title, date, description, tags, css
| title | date | description | tags | css | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How To: Add Dark Mode to a Website 🌓 | 2020-04-29 12:14:09-0400 | Simple dark mode switching with local storage & OS setting detection. |
|
div#content iframe#example { height: 200px; width: 100%; max-width: 650px; margin: 0 auto; display: block; border: 2px solid #cccccc; } |
Love it or hate it, it seems that the dark mode fad is here to stay, especially now that more and more devices have OLED screens that display true blacks... which means that these trendsetters might go blind from your site's insanely white background if you're behind the curve and don't offer your own dark mode.
It is possible to use pure CSS3 media queries to do this by reading a user's system and/or browser preference, which might be enough if you're okay with only supporting the latest, cutting-edge browsers and OSes. But if you want your own button on your website that switches back and forth between the two modes, there's no avoiding getting your hands a little dirty with some JavaScript.
I've written a simple implementation below, which...
- Defaults to a user's system preference (until they press your toggle and set it themselves)
- Remembers this setting between visits using the local storage of the user's browser (not cookies, please don't use cookies!)
- Listens for clicks on an element of your choosing --- just set the class to
dark-mode-toggle. For example:
<button class="dark-mode-toggle">💡 Switch Themes</button>
- Switches your
<body>'s class betweenlightanddark...
...meaning that any CSS selectors beginning with body.dark or body.light will only apply when the respective mode is active. A good place to start is by separating any color rules --- your background, text, links, etc. --- into a different section of your CSS. Using SASS or SCSS makes this a whole lot easier with nesting but is not required; this was written with a KISS mentality.
A very barebones example is embedded above (view the source here) or you can try it out on this site by clicking the 💡 lightbulb in the upper right corner of this page. You'll notice that the dark theme sticks when refreshing this page, navigating between other pages, or if you were to return to this example weeks from now.
Minified JS:
/*! Dark mode switcheroo | MIT License | jrvs.io/bWMz */
(function(){var e=window,t=e.document,i=t.body.classList,a=localStorage,r="dark_mode_pref",c="true",d="false",o=a.getItem(r),s=!1,n="light",m="dark",l=function(){i.remove(n);i.add(m);s=!0},f=function(){i.remove(m);i.add(n);s=!1};o===c&&l();o===d&&f();if(!o){var h="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)",u="(prefers-color-scheme: light)";e.matchMedia(h).matches?l():f();e.matchMedia(h).addListener((function(e){e.matches&&l()}));e.matchMedia(u).addListener((function(e){e.matches&&f()}))}var v=t.querySelector(".dark-mode-toggle");if(v){v.style.visibility="visible";v.addEventListener("click",(function(){if(s){f();a.setItem(r,d)}else{l();a.setItem(r,c)}}),!0)}})();
Full JS:
/*! Dark mode switcheroo | MIT License | jrvs.io/bWMz */
(function() {
// improve variable mangling when minifying
var win = window;
var doc = win.document;
var bod = doc.body;
var cls = bod.classList;
var sto = localStorage;
// check for preset `dark_mode_pref` preference in localStorage
var pref_key = 'dark_mode_pref';
var pref_on = 'true';
var pref_off = 'false';
var pref = sto.getItem(pref_key);
// keep track of current state (light by default) no matter how we got there
var dark = false;
// change CSS via these body classes:
var cls_light = 'light';
var cls_dark = 'dark';
var activateDarkMode = function() {
cls.remove(cls_light);
cls.add(cls_dark);
dark = true;
};
var activateLightMode = function() {
cls.remove(cls_dark);
cls.add(cls_light);
dark = false;
};
// if user already explicitly toggled in the past, restore their preference
if (pref === pref_on) activateDarkMode();
if (pref === pref_off) activateLightMode();
// user has never clicked the button, so go by their OS preference until/if they do so
if (!pref) {
// check for OS dark mode setting and switch accordingly
var prefers_dark = '(prefers-color-scheme: dark)';
var prefers_light = '(prefers-color-scheme: light)';
if (win.matchMedia(prefers_dark).matches)
activateDarkMode();
else
activateLightMode();
// real-time switching if supported by OS/browser
win.matchMedia(prefers_dark).addListener(function(e) { if (e.matches) activateDarkMode(); });
win.matchMedia(prefers_light).addListener(function(e) { if (e.matches) activateLightMode(); });
}
// use an element with class `dark-mode-toggle` to trigger swap
var toggle = doc.querySelector('.dark-mode-toggle');
// don't freak out if page happens not to have a toggle
if (toggle) {
// toggle re-appears now that we know user has JS enabled
toggle.style.visibility = 'visible';
// handle toggle click
toggle.addEventListener('click', function() {
// switch to the opposite theme & save preference in local storage
if (!dark) {
activateDarkMode();
sto.setItem(pref_key, pref_on);
} else {
activateLightMode();
sto.setItem(pref_key, pref_off);
}
}, true);
}
})();
HTML & CSS Example:
<!doctype html>
<head>
<style>
/* rules that apply globally */
body {
font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, sans-serif;
text-align: center;
}
a {
text-decoration: none;
}
.dark-mode-toggle {
cursor: pointer;
padding: 1em;
/* hide toggle until we're sure user has JS enabled */
visibility: hidden;
}
/* theme-specific rules -- you probably only want color-related stuff here */
/* SCSS makes this a whole lot easier by allowing nesting, but is not required */
body.light {
background-color: #fff;
color: #222;
}
body.light a {
color: blue;
}
body.dark {
background-color: #222;
color: #fff;
}
body.dark a {
color: limegreen;
}
</style>
</head>
<body class="light">
<h1>Welcome to the dark side</h1>
<p><a href="https://github.com/jakejarvis/dark-mode-example">View the source code.</a></p>
<button class="dark-mode-toggle">💡 You know you want to click this</button>
<script async defer src="dark-mode.min.js"></script>
</body>
</html>