I have a Gmail. I need its colors to be other colors. Help?

April 30, 2019 4:34 PM

I know about Themes. Themes change the background. I need the foreground colors changed. Where it's white-ish with black text telling me who the email's from and what the subject line is. I'd like to make it dark gray or black with some lighter color, maybe neon green for easier readability. Help?
posted by The Almighty Mommy Goddess to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

You can read gmail in a terminal with Pine/Alpine.

Maybe not for everyone but it will easily give you that neon-green-on-black look.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:04 PM on April 30, 2019

It sounds like at least a few of the themes will change the foreground colour, as well - Terminal or Dark would work. It only works on the message list, though - it doesn't look like it works on the body of the message once you've opened it.

If you're looking to change that, it should be pretty easy to find a css theme to alter the body - the link above suggests one.
posted by sagc at 6:13 PM on April 30, 2019

Looks like this theme should work with the stylish plugin?

So, if you let us know what browser you're using, we can direct you to a plug i which can help you display it.
posted by jessamyn at 6:24 PM on April 30, 2019

Response by poster: I'm using Chrome, not sure if it's 100% updated, but should be reasonably close.

(Windows 10, Dell Inspiron, just in case either of those are relevant, too. Apologies, should've remembered browser info before.)
posted by The Almighty Mommy Goddess at 6:27 PM on April 30, 2019

Here's your Chrome Add-on. I don't have Chrome so if adding a style after that doesn't make sense, come back here and we can walk you through it.
posted by jessamyn at 6:35 PM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'm using the plain black theme in Gmail, and this results in black background, black foreground (where the sender/subject line is), and light grey text. It's in Settings > Themes > scroll down until you see the solid black rectangle.

Or is there something about that choice that doesn't work for you?
posted by Questolicious at 11:26 PM on April 30, 2019

In addition to styling, you can install the new Simplify Chrome extension, made by a former Google engineer frustrated with Gmail's poor design, it's amazing for readability.
posted by rada at 6:44 AM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

I use the Teahouse Fox theme, and its email listing is grey with white text for new emails and black with grey text for old emails. (Also, you get to check in on what Teahouse Fox is up to--right now he's doing tai chi.)
posted by hydropsyche at 8:39 AM on May 1, 2019