react-dark-theme v1.1.1

react-dark-theme

A dark theme toggle button with CSS variables

Install

npm install --save react-dark-theme

Usage

react-dark-theme uses CSS variables because they are really fast. React doesn't need to re-render your entire application when the style changes.

You can use it if you support modern browsers. In doubt? Check caniuse.com to make sure.

react-dark-theme is a button. Use it as you would any button, and provide it two themes.

Usage with CSS

import React from 'react'

import DarkTheme from 'react-dark-theme'

const lightTheme = {
  background: 'white',
  text: 'black',
}

const darkTheme = {
  background: 'black',
  text: 'white',
}

class Example extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <div>
        <DarkTheme light={lightTheme} dark={darkTheme} />
        Rest of your application
      </div>
    )
  }
}

In your CSS, refer to the names by var(--yourName)

body {
  background-color: var(--background);
  color: var(--text);
}

Usage with CSS-in-JS

Similar to usage in CSS, but you can also create a object that you can refer to your variables in:

import React from 'react'

import DarkTheme, { createTheme } from 'react-dark-theme'

const lightTheme = {
  background: 'white',
  text: 'black',
}

const darkTheme = {
  background: 'black',
  text: 'white',
}

const myTheme = createTheme(darkTheme, lightTheme)

class Example extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <div style={{ backgroundColor: myTheme.background, color: myTheme.text }}>
        <DarkTheme light={lightTheme} dark={darkTheme} />
        Rest of your application
      </div>
    )
  }
}

This technique works with any CSS-in-JS library, and should in theory be much faster than those libraries' "native" way to handle themes.

My page looks weird while it is loading

If you are unable to load the <DarkTheme ... /> component early in your life cycle you might see a few frames where your React components are rendered but the CSS variables are not set. The easiest fix for this is to allow <DarkTheme ... /> to load earlier.

If this isn't an option, you can use applyTheme(theme). Simply invoke this as soon as you define your theme.

import { applyTheme } from 'react-dark-theme'

const darkTheme = {
  background: #BEEFED,
}

const normalTheme = {
  background: #DECADE,
}

applyTheme(normalTheme)

Make sure to apply your light theme if defaultDark is false on your DarkTheme component, and apply your dark theme if defaultDark is true.

Props

DarkTheme:

createTheme:

applyTheme:

How does it work

This library uses react-css-vars. Look at it's section about how it works. If you want something else than a simple toggle button for your theme (or more than a light and a dark theme) I suggest using react-css-vars directly.

License

MIT © karl-run