Themes

Themes are used to customize the colors that are displayed in the Task Focused UI. Users can apply a theme by using the User menu icon (person) > Change Theme task.

There are two types of themes:

  • System themes
  • Custom themes

System themes

There are four system themes, listed from lightest to darkest:

  • Carbon White
  • Carbon Gray 10 (default)
  • Carbon Gray 90
  • Carbon Gray 100

The system themes have defined colors. Carbon White and Carbon Gray 10 are light themes, while Carbon Gray 90 and 100 are dark themes.

The system themes are associated with two palettes:

  • Categorical Palette
  • Monochromatic Palette

Palettes contain colors that you can apply to enumerated string fields and numeric field ranges in charts and in views in the View Designer.

The colors in the system themes and the palettes cannot be changed.

Custom themes

Administrators can create their own themes, called custom themes. Initially, a custom theme must be based on an existing theme. Then you can design the theme and apply colors that meet your needs. You can, for example, apply colors that identity your company's color palette. Custom themes can be the default, enabled, disabled, and deleted.

Custom themes do not include their own palettes. Custom themes that are based on a light theme are combined with colors from the light set of colors in the Categorical Palette. Custom themes that are based on a dark theme are combined with colors from the dark set of colors in the Categorical Palette. For more information about applying colors to fields, see Supported color palettes for field values.

Carbon

Colors in the system themes and the palettes used in OpenPages® are based on Carbon. For more information, see https://www.carbondesignsystem.com/guidelines/color/overview.

IBM Watson Assistant

If IBM Watson® Assistant is used, a selected theme is automatically applied to the chat bot.

Theme list

Use the Settings menu > System Configuration > Themes task to work with themes.

The Theme List shows themes that are defined in the Task Focused UI. From the Theme List, you can:

  • Click a theme. The theme opens and you can view it or make changes.
    • A system theme can be enabled, disabled, or designated as the default. Otherwise, no changes are allowed. They cannot be deleted.
    • A custom theme can be enabled, disabled, deleted, designated as the default, and colors can be changed.
  • To change the default theme, select Default. It is not possible to clear the Default check box on a theme, instead, mark another theme as the default. Only one theme can be the default.
  • To enable a theme, select Enabled. All enabled themes are displayed to users for selection on the User menu icon (person) > Change Theme task. Enable only one theme to not allow users to change the theme. There is no application permission for the User menu icon (person) > Change Theme task.
  • Select the check box next to a single theme or multiple themes to update numerous themes. The bulk update options are:
    • Delete
    • Enable
    • Disable

    System themes cannot be deleted.

    Clear the check boxes to hide the bulk update options.
  • Click Add Theme to create a new theme. For more information, see Defining custom themes.
  • Click the Name column header to change the sort order of the list.

Users apply themes

After themes have been configured, users can click User menu icon (person) > Themes and apply a theme. Any system or custom theme that is enabled is available for selection. The default theme is applied if they do not apply a theme.

Restrictions

The following restrictions exist for themes:

  • Theme selection is retained the next time a user signs in, regardless of browser.
  • Themes are not applied to:
    • The login page. The login page always uses the Carbon Gray 10 theme.
    • The page header and menus. They are always black/white.
    • Questionnaires.
    • Helpers.
  • Themes are not supported on Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 . In this case, Carbon Gray 10 theme is applied.