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How to Create a Dark Mode Color Scheme in a Postcards Email Template

In this tutorial, we’ll be taking an email template created in Postcards and adding code to the HTML file to enable dark mode for users who have dark mode activated.

How to Create a Dark Mode Color Scheme in a Postcards Email Template

Not all email clients have the dark mode feature but chances are, it will come to all email clients in the future.

Prerequisites

  • A Designmodo account
  • Ability to edit HTML code

Video Version

Steps

1. Understand what dark mode color theme means

Dark mode means inverting the typical color scheme from dark text, images, and elements on a light background to light text, images, and elements on a dark background.

There are a few reasons why this is useful including reducing eye strain, saving battery life, and personal preference. This mode is becoming more popular and providing this option to users who prefer this mode will be appreciated.

To provide the dark mode option in code, it’s not about manually updating all the parts that need to change in one place. The method is to use certain CSS selectors that change the styles depending on the user’s preference.

The CSS selectors are prefers-color-scheme, [data-ogsc], and [data-ogsb] and we will be using these selectors to update the dark mode theme in this tutorial.

2. See what needs to be changed in your template

The template we will be working with looks like this:

See what needs to be changed in your template

Since this is a white background with dark text and logos, we need to change:

  • The logo at the top
  • The social icons
  • The title color
  • The subtitle color
  • The white background.

3. Create and export a template in Postcards

The template I’ve created in Postcards consists of a Menu 1 and a Header 5.

Create and export a template in Postcards

We need the Menu 1 because that is where the light logo and icons come from.

Export this template as an HTML file by pressing “Export” at the top right and then “Download as Zip” and make sure you have the “Host images online” option selected like this:

Download as Zip

Download the zip and extract the file into a folder you want to work in like this:

Download the zip and extract the file

Now we have everything we need to start changing the code.

4. Extract the dark mode icons from the Menu

Since our template looks off with a menu that doesn’t fit, let’s extract what we need and then delete it.

Open your index.html file in a text editor and search for “<!– BEGIN MODULE: Menu 1 –>” like in this image:

Extract the dark mode icons from the Menu

I’m using Notepad++ so that’s what my screen looks like. I opened my find tool by pressing “control + f” or “command + f” if you’re on a Mac.

Next, we want to take the image sources and save it somewhere like in a notepad. There are 4 total and they look like:

Image sources

Place these links somewhere for later and then delete all the code from the opening <!– BEGIN MODULE: Menu 1 –> and closing <!– END MODULE: Menu 1 –> indicators.

Your code should now look like:

Save the file

Save the file and then open it in a browser. You should see just the Header section now.

5. Enable dark mode in email clients

To tell email or browser clients that dark mode is available in this HTML file, we need to add some lines of code to the <head> and <style> sections.

Here is what the HTML section looks like where it needs to be updated:

Enable dark mode in email clients

In the <head> tag where all the <meta> tags are defined, add these lines of code:

<meta name="color-scheme" content="light dark">
<meta name="supported-color-schemes" content="light dark">

And under the <style> tag add:

:root {
color-scheme: light dark;
supported-color-schemes: light dark;
}

Your code should now look like:

Code

6. Add the dark background code

Let’s start off with a basic one which is the background color.

We want to change the background from light to dark when the mode is set to dark mode, so let’s use the color “#262626” which isn’t pure black, but a slightly lighter shade of black.

The way to add new CSS styles in dark mode is to add a new media query “@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark)” in the <style> tag like this:

Add the dark background code

Within the brackets of the media query is where you define all your styles that get read by email and browser clients to apply dark mode styles.

To find out which element defines the background color, open your template in the browser and right-click the element you want to see and press inspect like this:

Press inspect

This opens up the developer tools and you can edit the CSS directly in the browser here. I changed the background to red to see if this is indeed the element we need to target.

CSS directly

To find this element in the code, open the find command by pressing “control + f” or “command + f” and search for the class in the developer tools like this:

command + f

Add a class to this element called “background-dark” like this:

background-dark

Back in the dark mode media query, we need to add this CSS class and style it.

CSS class

Here I’ve set the background-color to be #262626 and added an !important keyword because this helps ensure that the style gets applied.

I’ve replicated the class code using “[data-ogsc]” as a prefix because this is how Microsoft Office email clients render dark mode themes.

To test if your dark mode code is working, activate dark mode in your browser. Visit this link to learn how to turn your dark mode on or just search how to activate dark mode in whatever OS/browser you’re using.

I’m using the Brave browser so in it, I can just go to settings -> appearance -> Brave colors -> Dark.

This will activate the dark mode setting which will then apply the dark mode styles we just added.

If I open my file in my browser I’ll see:

Dark Browser

And there you have it, we’ve successfully activated one style change with dark mode!

If I switch my browser’s mode back to light, the browser will automatically render the light mode colors:

Light mode colors

Next up is the logo.

Since the logo is an image and not a CSS color change, the method is slightly different.

We need to add both light and dark logos next to each other, set one to “display: none”, and then add classes to change the display depending on which color mode the user has.

To find the element that needs to be changed, right-click the logo and press “Inspect.” This will open the developer tools with the <img> highlighted. Right above the <img> is the <a> tag that wraps it.

Right-click the <a> tag and press “Copy” -> “Copy element” like in this image:

Add dark mode to the logo

Go to your text editor and paste the text you just copied into the find command like this:

Text editor

This is where we need to duplicate.

Copy and paste that <img> tag just under where it is. Update the source of one to be the white logo. Your editor should now look like:

Copy and paste

If you save the file and open it in the browser, you should see 2 logos side by side.

Open it in the browser

For Microsoft Office purposes, we need to wrap the dark mode logo <img> in a <div> tag with some properties and a special comment.

Microsoft Office

The exact code is here:

<!--[if !mso]><! --><div style="display:none; overflow:hidden; float:left; width:0px; max-height:0px; max-width:0px; line-height:0px; visibility:hidden;" align="center">
	<img src="https://designmodo-postcards-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/logo-white.png" width="130" height="22" alt="" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; border: 0; line-height: 100%; outline: 0; -ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; font-size: 14px; color: #1B1B1B;">
</div><!--<![endif]-->

Next, we need to add “light-logo” and “dark-logo” classes to the appropriate places.

Since the default logo is light, add the “light-logo” class to the first image and the “dark-logo” class to the <div> tag like this:

light-logo

Next, we need to add styles in the dark mode media query.

We want to set the “light-logo” class to “display: none” and the “dark-logo” class to the opposite of all the styles applied to it in the current style.

Your media query should now look like:

Light Logo

The full code for the dark-logo styles is here:

 .dark-logo {
		display:block !important; width: auto !important; overflow: visible !important; 
		float: none !important; max-height:inherit !important; max-width:inherit !important; 
		line-height: auto !important; margin-top:0px !important; visibility:inherit !important;
}
	  
[data-ogsc] .dark-logo {
	  display:block !important; width: auto !important; overflow: visible !important; 
		float: none !important; max-height:inherit !important; max-width:inherit !important; 
		line-height: auto !important; margin-top:0px !important; visibility:inherit !important;
}

Save your file and open it in the browser. You should see:

Dark Logo Style

And:

Light Logo Style

We’re well on our way to making this theme dark mode!

8. Add dark mode to the social media logos

Since the social media logos are <img> tags, we have to replicate what we did in the earlier step except in a different place.

A few lines under the logo code is where you’ll find the social media logos.

Add dark mode to the social media logos

We want to do the same thing as before so:

  1. Duplicate the <img> tag and replace the source with the dark mode logo.
  2. Wrap the new <img> tag in the <div> and comment for Microsoft Office email clients.
  3. Add a “light-social” and “dark-social” class to the appropriate tags.

Do the same thing for every social media <img> but replace the source with the correct logo.

Your code should look like:

<tr>
  <td valign="middle" style="padding: 10px;">
    <a href="http://example.com" style="text-decoration: none;">
     <img class="light-social" src="https://designmodo-postcards-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/facebook-dark.png" width="15" height="15" alt="" style="border: 0; line-height: 100%; outline: 0; -ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; color: #1B1B1B;">
     <!--[if !mso]><! --><div class="dark-social" style="display:none; overflow:hidden; float:left; width:0px; max-height:0px; max-width:0px; line-height:0px; visibility:hidden;" align="center">
	<img src="https://designmodo-postcards-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/facebook-white.png" width="15" height="15" alt="" style="border: 0; line-height: 100%; outline: 0; -ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; color: #1B1B1B;">
     </div><!--<![endif]-->
    </a>
  </td>
  <td valign="middle" style="padding: 10px;">
    <a href="http://example.com" style="text-decoration: none;">
      <img class="light-social" src="https://designmodo-postcards-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/twitter-dark.png" width="16" height="14" alt="" style="border: 0; line-height: 100%; outline: 0; -ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; color: #1B1B1B;">
      <!--[if !mso]><! --><div class="dark-social" style="display:none; overflow:hidden; float:left; width:0px; max-height:0px; max-width:0px; line-height:0px; visibility:hidden;" align="center">
	<img src="https://designmodo-postcards-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/twitter-white.png" width="16" height="14" alt="" style="border: 0; line-height: 100%; outline: 0; -ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; color: #1B1B1B;">
     </div><!--<![endif]-->
    </a>
  </td>
  <td valign="middle" style="padding: 10px;">
    <a href="http://example.com" style="text-decoration: none;">
      <img class="light-social" src="https://designmodo-postcards-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/instagram-dark.png" width="16" height="15" alt="" style="border: 0; line-height: 100%; outline: 0; -ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; color: #1B1B1B;">
    <!--[if !mso]><! --><div class="dark-social" style="display:none; overflow:hidden; float:left; width:0px; max-height:0px; max-width:0px; line-height:0px; visibility:hidden;" align="center">
    <img src="https://designmodo-postcards-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/instagram-white.png" width="16" height="15" alt="" style="border: 0; line-height: 100%; outline: 0; -ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; color: #1B1B1B;">
    </div><!--<![endif]-->
   </a>
  </td>
</tr>

Now we go back to the media query and add the necessary changes like before.

Copy and paste the “light-logo” and “dark-logo” styles and replace the “logo” with “social” like here:

Light social code

Save the file and open it in your browser. You should be seeing:

Dark logo

And:

Light logo

Alright, almost done!

9. Add dark mode to the title text

Next, we have to change the font color of the title text.

To find the title in the code, search for the text which in our case is “Bushwick meh Blue”

Add dark mode to the title text

Since there is a <br> element in between the text, you have to search for only the first part to find it.

Now add a “dark-title” class to the <td> tag that wraps the title like this:

Dark title

In the media query, we want to do the same thing we did to change the background color except change the color. Let’s use #eaeaea for the color because it’s a slightly darker version of white.

Dark title code

Save the file and open it in the browser.

Dark color title

And:

Light color title

Just the subtitle is left!

10. Add dark mode to the subtitle text

Search for the subtitle text by copying a part of the text and searching for it like this:

Add dark mode to the subtitle text

Add a “dark-subtitle” class to the <td> element that wraps the text.

Dark subtitle

In the media query, copy and paste the “dark-title” class code but change the title to the subtitle. Let’s also choose a slightly different color like “#dbdbdb” like this:

Dark subtitle

Save the file and view it in your browser.

Dark mode preview

And:

Light mode preview

And there you have it, we’ve updated this theme to work with dark mode!

Here are the total differences between our light mode theme and dark mode theme:

Dark mode:

How to Create a Dark Mode Color Scheme in a Postcards Email Template, image083

Light mode:

Light mode email newsletter

What we covered

  1. What dark mode themes are and how they work.
  2. How to create and export a Postcards email template.
  3. How to add code that tells emails and browsers that dark mode is available in this HTML file.
  4. How to use the “prefers-color-scheme: dark” media query to change the styles depending on the user’s color preference.
  5. How to add classes, divs, and special comments to conditionally render styles for dark mode.
Updated on February 3, 2020
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