GitHub Repository

Browser extension which makes it easer to follow comment threads on Hacker News across multiple visits, allows you to annotate and mute users, and other UI tweaks and mobile UX improvements

40 starsJavaScript

Themeable HN

Name: Themeable HN
Availability: InStock
Author: insin

by insin·Apr 20, 2026·8 points·1 comment

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AI Analysis

●MidCozy

CSS variable extraction for HN theming when dark reader extensions already exist.

Strengths

•Extracts inline styles and applies theme switching via html attributes
•Builds on existing Comments Owl extension with annotation and mute features
•Standalone stylesheet available for reuse in other projects

Weaknesses

•HN browser extensions with theming already exist in this space
•Weekend distraction project—not everything is themeable without extra work

Post Description

Hi HN, I needed a distraction from the new and scary thing I was working on this weekend, so I grabbed HN's stylesheet, extracted CSS variables for every colour it defined, then re-applied them back onto HN using its own selectors (plus some extras for bits of HN which are styled inline, and some separation between header and content styling), allowing it to be themed with variables.

After using them to implement a dark mode (and a pure black variant for OLED), plugging everything into my existing HN browser extension which already lets you apply custom CSS, and making it handle theme switching via attributes on <html>, custom styles and theming are now manageable using it. There are a few examples in the friendly release notes above, with screenshots and copy-pasteable CSS.

If you just want to grab the stylesheet which sets up the CSS variables and application rules to use in your own thing, it's here [1], but not _everything_ is themeable without a bit more work - in particular, I had to replace the HN <img src="y18.svg"> logo with an inline version of the SVG, so its fills can be controlled by CSS.

[1] https://github.com/insin/comments-owl-for-hacker-news/blob/m...