How to use Confluence's dark mode (and create dark mode-friendly content)

[#1]

Dark mode has finally made its way to Confluence! Are your pages ready for it?

If your content isn't designed for Confluence's dark mode, users will struggle to navigate. In a worst-case scenario, they might not be able to read it at all.

In this post, we'll guide you through the simple process of enabling Confluence Cloud’s Dark Theme and help you create pages that work for dark and light mode users alike. Let's dive in!

How to enable Dark Theme in Confluence

1. Tap your profile photo in the upper right corner to reveal your Account menu.
2. Navigate to Theme and choose Dark.

It’s that simple 🙌

 

How to create pages that work for both Confluence Themes

If you're a Confluence content creator, it's important to make sure your pages are suitable for all users. We spoke with Kolekti UX Designer Anya Poluianova for tricks to make pages that work for every screen.

Tip 1: Ensure your pages are easy to navigate, even in the dark

Dark mode's decreased contrast can make it hard to distinguish between different font weights and sizes. To improve your page structure:

1. Use varied Confluence heading styles (accessed via the editor toolbar) to help structure your content.
2. Use emojis to help minor headings stand out from regular text on the page.
3. Pick a more neutral font colour for less important text (e.g. text that adds context rather than a title).

⚡️ Hint: Use Numbered Headings for Confluence to automatically create a consistent hierarchy that helps users navigate. It's quick and easy to get started!

Tip 2: Use macros to highlight key text in Confluence 

The Table and Info Panel have Atlassian Design tokens applied, so they'll automatically look great in both Light and Dark Themes.

When using the Table macro, add a coloured background to add extra separation between your title and supporting text. A darker background colour with lighter text colour works well in Confluence Dark Theme - these reverse in Light Theme.

Using the Panel macro is another great way to highlight Confluence text, and you can even add an emoji (or four!) to draw attention.

Tip 3: Check your page before you publish!

To be inclusive of all your users, it's important to preview your page on a dark and light background. That way, you know your content will be readable by everyone.

Unfortunately, you can't change themes while editing a Confluence page, so you'll need to Publish the page and switch themes from the Account settings. 

The good news is with Content Formatting Macros, it's easy to preview how macros will look without leaving your Confluence page. Just toggle between the sun and moon icons in the macro editor - it's that easy!

So now you know how to create dark mode-friendly Confluence pages, it's time to get out there and build them!

What are your top tips for creating accessible Confluence pages? Let us know in the comments below 👇

[David]

Hi,

Will this ever be available to DC users?