The forced-colors
CSS media feature is used to detect if the user agent has enabled a forced colors mode where it enforces a user-chosen limited color palette on the page.
Note: This feature is not supported by any user agent and its specifics are subject to change.
Syntax
The forced-colors
media feature indicates whether or not the browser is currently in forced-colors mode.
Values
none
- Forced colors mode is not active; the page’s colors are not being forced into a limited palette.
active
- Indicates that forced colors mode is active. The browser provides the color palette to authors through the CSS system color keywords and, if appropriate, it triggers the appropriate value of
prefers-color-scheme
so that authors can adapt the page.
Usage notes
Properties affected by forced-color mode
In forced colors mode, the values of the following properties are treated as if they have no author-level values specified. That is, user-specified values (if any) or browser-specified values are used instead.
color
fill
stroke
text-decoration-color
text-emphasis-color
border-color
outline-color
column-rule-color
scrollbar-color
-webkit-tap-highlight-color
box-shadow
text-shadow
You can use system color keywords with any property other than those listed above, to ensure that the rest of the page integrates with the restricted color palette available in forced colors mode.
User preferences
Currently no user agent implements this feature, although various operating systems do support such preferences and if this media query is ever implemented user agents will likely rely on the settings provided by the operating system in use.
Examples
Note: No browser currently implements this feature so the following example will not work.
This example has an annoying color palette by default. This example does not take advantage of the colors provided by the user agent.
HTML
<div class="colors">weird color box</div>
CSS
.colors { background-color: red; color: grey; } @media (forced-colors: active) { .colors { background-color: white; color: black; } }
Result
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
Media Queries Level 5 The definition of 'forced-colors' in that specification. |
Editor's Draft | Initial definition. |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
forced-colors media feature | Chrome
No support
No
| Edge
No support
No
| Firefox No support No | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari No support No | WebView Android
No support
No
| Chrome Android
No support
No
| Firefox Android No support No | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android No support No |
Legend
- No support
- No support
- Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.
- Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.
- See implementation notes.
- See implementation notes.