How to Add Dark Mode to Your WordPress Admin Dashboard

Some of our team members prefer working late into the night, and they’ve found that the bright WordPress admin interface can be quite harsh on the eyes. So, we tried to find a way to make the admin area more comfortable for night owls and those who work in low-light conditions.

That’s when we discovered the benefits of dark mode. A darker color scheme can significantly reduce the white and blue light coming from your screen, making it easier on the eyes during those late-night editing sessions.

In this article, we’ll show you how to add dark mode to your WordPress admin dashboard. Whether you’re a night owl, a battery conscious user, or someone who just loves the sleek look of dark interfaces, we’ve got you covered.

What Is Dark Mode and Why Add It to WordPress?

If you often work on your WordPress website late at night or in poorly lit conditions, then the bright light from the computer screen can cause eye strain.

Some people even believe that bright light can disrupt your natural circadian rhythms and make it more difficult to fall asleep.

With that in mind, many apps, websites, and even operating systems come with a built-in dark mode that reduces the amount of white light coming from the screen.

If you have an iPhone or Android smartphone, then you may be able to switch to dark mode using a toggle.

Some popular websites like YouTube even offer a built-in dark color scheme.

Adding dark mode to your WordPress website is great for visitors, but you may also want to add a dark mode to your website’s back-end. WordPress comes with admin color schemes, but none of the default color schemes actually reduce the amount of white light coming through the screen.

With that being said, let’s add a dark mode to the WordPress admin area so you can work comfortably on your site late into the night or in low-light conditions.

Quick and Easy Way to Add Dark Mode to Your WordPress Admin Area

The easiest way to add a dark mode to the WordPress admin dashboard is by using WP Dark Mode. This plugin allows admins to enable and disable dark mode with a single click.

Even better, if you run a multi-author WordPress blog, then each person can toggle dark mode on and off as they prefer. The plugin will remember their preference the next time they log in. To learn more, see our complete WP Dark Mode review.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the WP Dark Mode plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to the WP Dark Mode » Settings page in your WordPress dashboard and then click on the Admin Panel Dark Mode tab.

Then, activate the ‘Enable Admin Dashboard Dark Mode’ button.

You can also activate the dark mode for the block editor if preferred.

Then, scroll down and click the ‘Save Changes’ button.

At this point, you’ll see a new ‘Light / Dark’ switch in the admin toolbar.

You can click on this toggle to enable and disable dark mode in the admin area.

‘Dark Mode’ is not an admin color scheme, so after activating it you may want to try changing the admin color scheme.

By choosing a dark color scheme, you can further reduce the amount of light coming from the screen. Another option is to choose a brighter color scheme, which will make the dark mode dashboard easier to read.

To change the admin color scheme, go to Users » Profile and then choose any of the options under Admin Color Scheme.

You can also enable dark mode on the front end of your website.

To do this, switch to the ‘Frontend Dark Mode’ tab and activate the ‘Enable Frontend Dark Mode’ button.

Like before, make sure to hit the ‘Save Changes’ button when done.

Visitors will still see the regular, light version of your WordPress blog or website. But they can switch to dark mode at any point by clicking on the icon in the bottom-right corner.

For more tips and tricks on customizing your admin area, check out these guides:

• Vital Tips to Protect Your WordPress Admin Area (Updated)
• How to Add Custom Admin Notices in WordPress
• How to Disable WordPress Admin Bar for All Users Except Administrators
• How to Hide Unnecessary Menu Items From WordPress Admin
• How to Add a Notification Center in WordPress Admin
• How to Apply CSS for Specific User Roles in WordPress
• How to White Label Your WordPress Admin Dashboard

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to add dark mode to your WordPress admin dashboard. You may also want to see our expert picks of the best WordPress admin dashboard plugins and our guide on how to deactivate all plugins when wp-admin is not accessible.

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