Newsletters in Dark Mode

Using Ghost
1

My apologies in advance if I have posted this in the wrong category…
I just discovered that my newsletter looks not ideal in dark mode, which seems to happen when a subscriber has the Gmail app set to dark mode. Whereas if they are using the default Mail app on an iPhone in dark mode, the newsletter still shows up on a white background. Is there a way to get the Gmail app to do the same? Some elements of the newsletter switched in dark mode in the Gmail app, but not all of them, which leads me to believe it’s a Ghost issue and not Gmail. Issues I’m flagging: Logo/icon doesn’t change color, Header card does, Accent color meets accessibility contrast standards only in light OR dark but not both…

I’m not sure if this is a bug, or something that Ghost just hasn’t developed anything around? Is there a way to improve the variability of the newsletter appearance no matter whether the recipient has light or dark mode settings on their inbox?

1 Like
2

Follow-up question is whether its tied to specific theme, all themes, or isolated to the newsletter which I believe is run thru Mailgun

3

Newsletter styling (for the email, not a post on a webpage) is in the Ghost core. It’s not going to be theme-specific, and themes can’t change how newsletters look when emailed.

4

I did some digging on Reddit and it sounds like other email service providers (Beehiiv) have a way of forcing the white background within the body of emails delivered to users of Gmail’s Mobile App set to dark mode, mimicking the way it appears on Apple Mail Mobile App dark mode.

That would be one solution, as would more control over how the colors get inverted. For me the biggest problem is the inconsistency of what gets inverted, namely that the Header Cards do, but the accent text and logo doesn’t.

Any insight as to whether this would be considered a Bug or an Idea for new dev?

5

I had a similar problem with the transactional emails in Ghost, but it was solved with the latest Ghost updates this year.