Admin Color Scheme colors too dark from previous WP version

[arianec]

Hello,

I just updated to WP 7.1 and notice that the Admin color scheme bars contain much darker values (i.e. Ocean palette) and it feels quite harsh on the eyes. Is there any way that a future WP update will address this and soften the palette to earlier versions?

[Joen]

Hey, thank you for the issue, thank you for contributing.

I did a little digging, and it looks like the colours changed here so that schemes could become available inside the site editor, and ​the first efforts in doing so transplanted the existing colour scheme directly. As it turns out in revisiting the Ocean colour scheme, cases of insufficient contrast were discovered, which ultimately required making ​a few of the colours darker so as to meet AA contrast. In other words, the motivation was not to frustrate existing users—though I want to emphasise I understand the frustration—but to ensure more consistent legibility for users of reduced vision.

That being said! You ask:

Is there any way that a future WP update will address this and soften the palette to earlier versions?

Yes, in fact some of the efforts linked in those threads above use a token-based colour system that, beyond ensuring sufficient contrast, make it possible to vastly improve the colour scheming system overall. If they are leveraged right, the system can not only allow you to provide your own spot colour to theme the entire interface, but enable toggling between light and dark modes as well. The latter is important also for people who suffer from photophobia.

I can't tell you precisely when something like this might happen, as it will all depend on developers. But I can say that the colour schemes are meaningful admin customisation features that are important to WordPress, and that they deserve fresh energy.

[arianec]

Replying to Joen:

Hey, thank you for the issue, thank you for contributing.

I did a little digging, and it looks like the colours changed here so that schemes could become available inside the site editor, and ​the first efforts in doing so transplanted the existing colour scheme directly. As it turns out in revisiting the Ocean colour scheme, cases of insufficient contrast were discovered, which ultimately required making ​a few of the colours darker so as to meet AA contrast. In other words, the motivation was not to frustrate existing users—though I want to emphasise I understand the frustration—but to ensure more consistent legibility for users of reduced vision.

That being said! You ask:

Is there any way that a future WP update will address this and soften the palette to earlier versions?

Yes, in fact some of the efforts linked in those threads above use a token-based colour system that, beyond ensuring sufficient contrast, make it possible to vastly improve the colour scheming system overall. If they are leveraged right, the system can not only allow you to provide your own spot colour to theme the entire interface, but enable toggling between light and dark modes as well. The latter is important also for people who suffer from photophobia.

I can't tell you precisely when something like this might happen, as it will all depend on developers. But I can say that the colour schemes are meaningful admin customisation features that are important to WordPress, and that they deserve fresh energy.

[sukhendu2002]

I investigated this against current trunk.

The darker Ocean scheme is intentional and was introduced in [62454] for #65382. Its base color changed from 738e96 to 39535a, improving white-text contrast from 3.48:1 to 8.21:1 and making it compatible with the color-ramp system used by the editor chrome.

Reverting to the previous colors would restore the accessibility issue. A lighter Ocean variant would therefore need design and accessibility review rather than being treated as a regression.

WordPress 7.1 provides foundational design tokens and ThemeProvider, but the profile screen still supports only fixed, registered schemes there are no user-facing accent-color or light/dark-mode controls yet. That broader customization would be better handled separately, possibly alongside #49930.