# is it possible to force a web page to display a non white back ground from the user side?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 7, 2010, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019 "2010-02-07T09:57:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2010, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019/1 "2010-02-07T09:57:41Z")
like say the Dope, I absolutely despise the white background, I have a huge monitor and its like turning on a 200w bulb,
is it possible to set your browser to display a moderate grey instead?
---
### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2010, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019/2 "2010-02-07T10:06:30Z")
User Stylesheets are probably the answer.
But you have to know CSS, which is a simple formatting language for webpages. And you’ll have to know each page’s own stylesheet settings, so you can override the right tags.
---
### Author:  [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2010, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019/3 "2010-02-07T10:23:55Z")
Yes, but it will depend on the browser.
Ferinstance, I’m using Camino on the Mac, and there’s an option to set a background color in the Appearance pane of the preference panel.
What browser are you using?
---
### Author:  [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2010, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019/4 "2010-02-07T10:38:39Z")
Firefox
---
### Author:  [@\_Undecided\_Adrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Undecided_Adrian)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2010, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019/5 "2010-02-07T10:52:39Z")
Can’t you just reduce the brightness of the monitor overall?
Otherwise, you can use [bookmarklets](https://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/zap.html), especially the “zap white backgrounds” one. (You can edit it, if you prefer a different color, but you need to know javascript and css for that.)
Just drag the link into your bookmark bar; you need to click it every time after loading a page, though. For automatic use, you can look into firefox’s [greasemonkey addon](https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/748).
---
### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2010, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019/6 "2010-02-07T11:32:11Z")
It is a lot easier than that.
Tools -\> Options -\> Content -\> Colors button
Uncheck “Allow pages to choose their own colors instead of my selections above”
Select the background and text colors you want.
OK
OK
And you are done.
I guess it won’t work on pages with a background image, but it works here.
---
### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2010, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019/7 "2010-02-07T12:01:55Z")
> [@njtt](#):
>
> It is a lot easier than that.
>
> Tools -\> Options -\> Content -\> Colors button
>
> Uncheck “Allow pages to choose their own colors instead of my selections above”
>
> Select the background and text colors you want.
>
> OK
>
> OK
>
> And you are done.
>
> I guess it won’t work on pages with a background image, but it works here.
This is the solution I would go with. Worry about the other ways if this doesn’t work well enough for you.
---
### Author:  [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2010, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019/8 "2010-02-07T12:08:09Z")
> [@njtt](#):
>
> It is a lot easier than that.
>
> Tools -\> Options -\> Content -\> Colors button
>
> Uncheck “Allow pages to choose their own colors instead of my selections above”
>
> Select the background and text colors you want.
>
> OK
>
> OK
>
> And you are done.
>
> I guess it won’t work on pages with a background image, but it works here.
You will need to \*de-\*select the “Allow pages to show their own colors…” checkbox, below the foreground/background color choice, in order for your choices to take effect (Firefox 3.5.7)
---
### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2010, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019/9 "2010-02-07T12:56:57Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#):
>
> This is the solution I would go with. Worry about the other ways if this doesn’t work well enough for you.
This would affect all websites. If you don’t want that, a more precise way to go would be to install the [Stylish](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2108) extension for Firefox and then use this [custom SDMB style](http://userstyles.org/styles/24983); that way, no other websites would be affected.
Let me know if you want the new style any darker or lighter.
---
### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2010, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019/10 "2010-02-07T13:01:50Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#):
>
> This is the solution I would go with. Worry about the other ways if this doesn’t work well enough for you.
This would affect all websites. If you don’t want that, a more precise way to go would be to install the [Stylish](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2108) extension for Firefox and then use this [custom SDMB style](http://userstyles.org/styles/24983); that way, no other websites would be affected.
Compare the [before](http://i47.tinypic.com/4ke4c5.png) and [after](http://i47.tinypic.com/2v1nqll.png) looks. Let me know if you want the new style any darker or lighter.
---
### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019/11 "2010-02-07T13:18:51Z")
> [@Reply](#):
>
> use this [custom SDMB style](http://userstyles.org/styles/24983);
Nice code. I didn’t realize the fix’d be so short.
Wonder what this’d do?
{lightgray! important apply directly! to forehead OK! dilute dilute}
---
### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019/12 "2010-02-07T13:25:50Z")
> [@Reply](#):
>
> This would affect all websites. If you don’t want that, a more precise way to go would be to install the [Stylish](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2108) extension for Firefox and then use this [custom SDMB style](http://userstyles.org/styles/24983); that way, no other websites would be affected.
>
> Compare the [before](http://i47.tinypic.com/4ke4c5.png) and [after](http://i47.tinypic.com/2v1nqll.png) looks. Let me know if you want the new style any darker or lighter.
I take it all white background sites are too bright for Critical1. I personally don’t care what Critical1 uses. It’s nice of you to write Critical1 a changed style for this board.
---
### Author:  [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019/13 "2010-02-07T19:02:13Z")
This is very easy with the Opera browser (version 9.64). Click on the Camera icon and check “Accessibility Layout” and the background turns green. Or check “High Contrast (W/B)” and it displays white text on a black background. Unchecking these options, reverts the display back to normal.
It is also easy to enable/disable Flash and animated GIFs from the F12 key.
---
### Author:  [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019/14 "2010-02-07T19:08:55Z")
> [@'\[Undecided](#):
>
> Adrian;12087594’]Can’t you just reduce the brightness of the monitor overall?
>
> Otherwise, you can use [bookmarklets](https://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/zap.html), especially the “zap white backgrounds” one. (You can edit it, if you prefer a different color, but you need to know javascript and css for that.)
Cant reduce brightness, the issue is I am doing a lot of video editing and need to see the videos clearly and would prefer to not be blinded every time I hit a web page.
> [@njtt](#):
>
> It is a lot easier than that.
>
> Tools -\> Options -\> Content -\> Colors button
>
> Uncheck “Allow pages to choose their own colors instead of my selections above”
>
> Select the background and text colors you want.
>
> OK
>
> OK
>
> And you are done.
>
> I guess it won’t work on pages with a background image, but it works here.
ROCK!!!
the only draw back to this option is it kills all website backgrounds but I can live with that.
> [@Reply](#):
>
> This would affect all websites. If you don’t want that, a more precise way to go would be to install the [Stylish](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2108) extension for Firefox and then use this [custom SDMB style](http://userstyles.org/styles/24983); that way, no other websites would be affected.
>
> Let me know if you want the new style any darker or lighter.
I love it, to be honest I could go a few shades darker but I wouldnt worry about it, I want it for all white pages. unless that is an option.
as usual you guys rule, this is something that has bugged me forever. the latest version of Sony Vegas went with various shades of grey for the programs windows and background and it was probably worth the price for that feature alone.
---
### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-force-a-web-page-to-display-a-non-white-back-ground-from-the-user-side/528019/15 "2010-02-07T23:38:38Z")
> [@Critical1](#):
>
> I love it, to be honest I could go a few shades darker but I wouldnt worry about it, I want it for all white pages. unless that is an option.
If you want it active on all pages, it’s best just to use the other method (Allow pages to choose their own colors instead of my selections above).
(It IS possible to do that with Stylish, but the difficult part is that most pages don’t have just one background; often times they have one shade for the page itself and another shade for each post, table, or layer on the page, etc. You’d have to individually customize it for each website or make an addon smart enough to darken every shade on the page while still making sure the text is readable, blah blah. You could also universally set background and text colors to be exactly the same on every page, but then you just get the same effect as the other method.)
That said, I went ahead and made the SDMB style darker. If you still want to use it, just go back to the [style](http://userstyles.org/styles/24983) and click the update button (or go to “Manage Styles” in Stylish and update from there).