Re: [csswg-drafts] [mediaqueries] Effect of <meta name=color-scheme> on the (prefers-color-scheme) MQ (#10249)

> > Some sites have pages that are dark or light mode only. I.e. a video-streaming page or custom made pages or articles.
> 
> My expectation here would be that those pages have `color-scheme: dark`/`color-scheme: light` set on `:root` in CSS, or have a `<meta name=color-scheme content=dark>`/`<meta name=color-scheme content=light>` in the markup. In that case, a user-requested override should have no effect here, as the author has indicated that that page only supports the one `color-scheme` they have defined.
> 
> It is only when `light dark` is the value for `color-scheme` (in CSS on `:root` or via the meta tag) that a user can override the value passed down from the OS.

Yes, but I don't think that was @johannesodland's point. 🙂 I think he's saying it would still be nice to set `<meta name=color-scheme content=dark>` and not have to change any existing CSS code like `(prefers-color-scheme)` MQs respond to the _used color scheme_ (which is Tab's original proposal).

But my opinion on this now is: now that #10577 and #12681 are resolved, we have two new ways of getting the _used color scheme_. I think that we should discourage authors from using the `(prefers-color-scheme)` MQ in favour of `if(color-scheme(dark): foo, else: bar)` and `@container color-scheme(dark)`.

(Even though, sadly, that means they will have to change their code.)

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Received on Wednesday, 21 January 2026 11:18:31 UTC