New Themes! 🎨 [2026]

[Snowbird]

We are happy to announce that there are all new themes and color schemes available for your forum browsing enjoyment.

Firstly, a huge anumodana to Ven. Pasanna for all their hard work on this. They have such a great eye for design and we are lucky to have them offering their talents and experience.

We have tried to set your theme to match best your previous selection but you will want to try them out on your interface settings to see what you like:

What’s New

Now instead of three themes (two light and one dark) there are two themes and many color pallets of both light and dark. You can mix and match themes and color palettes.

Because there are now light and dark palettes, you can also set the mode to Auto and the software will try to match whatever your system settings are.

Themes

SC Classic

This is based on the old SC Legacy, which itself is based on the original appearance of SuttaCentral. It’s main features are

• Serif font (Skolar)
• The SuttaCentral.net banner at the top of every page (only the logo links!)
• Header accent bar
  
  

SC Modern

This is based on the old SC Accessibility light and dark themes. It’s major features are

• Sans-erif font (Source Sans)
• No SuttaCentral.net banner!

Palettes

Now we have palettes to suit almost every possible taste.

Defaults

Classic Default Light

Classic Default Dark

Modern Default Light

Modern Default Dark

Modern Classic Dark

Ākāsa (light)

Classic Ākāsa

Modern Ākāsa

Veluvana (light)

Classic Veluvana

Modern Veluvana

Añjanavana (dark)

Classic Añjanavana

Modern Añjanavana

Jenta (dark)

Classic Jenta

Modern Jenta

Pathavi (light)

Classic Pathavi

Modern Pathavi

Samuddha (dark)

Classic Samuddha

Modern Samuddha

Suriya (light)

Classic Suriya

Modern Suriya

Soreya (light)

Classic Soreya

Modern Soreya (light)

Interface

Now, depending on your settings you will have some new interface elements to control all this after you update your interface settings.

Changing settings here might require a page refresh.

Theme picker

Open up the sidebar menu and look at the bottom. You will now see a theme picker:

Light/Dark picker

Depending on your settings, next to it you will see a light/dark/auto picker. This can also be set in your interface settings.

“But wait! I want my old settings back!”

The old themes are no longer available. However, if you want to get close to the old settings try this:

Old Theme	New Theme	New Palette
SC Legacy	SC Classic	Default
SC Accessibility Light	SC Modern	Default
SC Accessibility Dark	SC Modern	SC Classic Dark

“But I want X, Y, and Z changed!”

Feedback is welcome, but if you are very particular about the appearance, we encourage you to install a style plugin like Stylus. This will give you complete control over the CSS/layout you see on the forum.

---

Please feel free to ask questions and point out any bugs you find.

[Bion]

Thanks everyone for your great work on this!

[Khemarato.bhikkhu]

@Snowbird

Changing settings here might require a page refresh.

Also, don’t forget to hit “Save” at the bottom of the page like it’s 2006!

[sabbamitta]

Wow, that’s amazing! Thanks Ven. @Pasanna and everybody who helped with this!

[Sumana]

It’s a gorgeous new look! I really like the colour scheme! It feels like…Thai Forest Tradion robe colour comes together with Theravada and EBTs’ robe colour. Thank you so much for all your hard work, all the Bhante!

[sujato]

OMG thanks so much! Been wanting this for years.

[sabbamitta]

@Snowbird

Please feel free to ask questions

Yes, I am wondering about one thing.

This morning when coming to the forum I found “SC Modern” with “Theme default”. While I generally like it, the overview page somehow looks a bit overwhelming.

It turns out that the orange color marks those threads that I have already read, while the white marks the unread ones. Intuitively, I would have expected it the other way around. To my eye, the orange color looks so much more “important” and “attracting attention” than the white, and I would assume this to be for what I haven’t read yet. While the white looks rather a bit “boring”, if I may put it like this; which would of course fit for what I have already read.

I am sure you have a reason why it is the way it is, and am curious to hear what that is!

And I am sure I can get used to it over time.

[Dheerayupa]

Very interesting. I chose blue tone and then apricot tone, but they hurt my eyes. Could be my cataract. so, will report in three months what I think about the colour options.

As for the language, I chose Thai and most of the text on the setting page is Thai. Question: where do you get the Thai translation? Would you want some help to translate the rest or anything else?

[Pasanna]

Thanks for the feedback.
Annoyingly this is how discourse does the colour palette. It wants to use the main text color as the ‘unread’ and its own made up algorithm color for the read links. I did some tweaking for dark themes but I agree that it’s probably still too bright orange on this theme.

[Pasanna]

@Dheerayupa

Very interesting. I chose blue tone and then apricot tone, but they hurt my eyes. Could be my cataract. so, will report in three months what I think about the colour options.

The mildest contrast themes are ‘sc classic dark’ and possibly’ākāsa’ or ‘pathavi’ for light themes. I have a vision condition that dislikes brightness too, so I snuck some gentle ones in.

[Dheerayupa]

Thank you. Will try.

[Snowbird]

@sabbamitta

To my eye, the orange color looks so much more “important” and “attracting attention”

I really like SC Modern with SC Classic Dark as the dark theme. Solves that issue.

@Dheerayupa

Question: where do you get the Thai translation? Would you want some help to translate the rest or anything else?

I actually didn’t realize it was internationalized. This is part of the software itself. You can sign up here if you like to help: Translations - Discourse Meta

[sabbamitta]

@Snowbird

I really like SC Modern with SC Classic Dark as the dark theme. Solves that issue.

Indeed it does! Thank you!

That would have been my next step, try some other color combinations.

[Jasudho]

Thanks very much for all the hard work and effort in creating this!

[Bion]

I don’t know if SC Classic Dark has always existed, I have to admit I never bothered to adjust any interface settings, and didn’t know there was a dark theme. While most of the dark theme palettes seem to be quite difficult on the eyes, the SC Classic Dark is excellent, especially for someone like me, who’s only used to the regular light aspect of the forum. This is all to say that it does a fantastic job at making the dark theme usable.

[Snowbird]

@Bion

if SC Classic Dark has always existed

Not exactly. There used to be a theme called SC Accessibility Dark. What is different now is that instead of having light and dark themes, we have a variety of palettes that can be assigned to either theme. Even mixing and matching palettes that were official designed for one theme.

Enjoy!

[Stacie]

Oooohhh, they all look sooo nice.

I love dark mode, it’s much nicer for my eyes. I also love green, so I think I’m going with Anjanavana.

Thank you everyone.

[sabbamitta]

SC Modern with SC Classis Dark: a horizontal line is not visible in this theme. Like here:

This is above the horizontal line.

---

This is below the horizontal line.

Well, including a typo!

[Pasanna]

Ayyā, I am confused.
—————-

I see a line in your screenshot and I am using classic dark and see a line in your post too