Meta Post - Common CSS Hacks

This thread is now closed. It has helped people for 4 years, but Obsidian has changed a lot over that time, rendering many of the 600+ posts obsolete.

Today you can change Obsidian’s color scheme, use a custom theme created by our community, or customize further by using CSS snippets.

Some community resources:

@CawlinTeffid (moderator) 2024-07-19




Hi, I want to start collecting common CSS hacks for people to reference. If the hack you’ve come across isn’t particularly large then go ahead and use the format

Title

Version it last worked with

Code

Otherwise just post a link and I will maintain a list


Learning Obsidian CSS

111 Likes

Bullet Point Relationship Lines

v0.7.3 Compatible

.cm-hmd-list-indent .cm-tab, ul ul { position: relative; }
.cm-hmd-list-indent .cm-tab::before, ul ul::before {
 content:'';
 border-left: 1px solid rgba(0, 122, 255, 0.25);
 position: absolute;
}
.cm-hmd-list-indent .cm-tab::before { left: 0; top: -5px; bottom: -4px; 
}
ul ul::before { left: -11px; top: 0; bottom: 0; 
} 

This has been floating on the discord, not sure who created it but thank you!

52 Likes

Collapsible Sidebars

v.0.7.3 Compatible

.workspace-ribbon.is-collapsed:not(:hover) .workspace-ribbon-collapse-btn, 
.workspace-ribbon.is-collapsed:not(:hover) .side-dock-actions, 
.workspace-ribbon.is-collapsed:not(:hover) .side-dock-settings {display:none;}
.workspace-ribbon.is-collapsed:not(:hover) {width: 0;}
.workspace-split.mod-left-split[style="width: 0px;"] {margin-left: 0;}
.workspace-split.mod-right-split[style="width: 0px;"] {margin-right: 0;}
.workspace-ribbon {transition: none}

Thanks to @mrjackphil and @MooddooM.

9 Likes

The Bulletpoint relationship lines CSS was created by @death.au - that magician!

5 Likes

Damn. Outed. I was kinda enjoying being anonymous on that one. Enjoying the mystery of “where did it come from?” :laughing:

16 Likes

@death.au well you have mod powers :smiling_imp: :ghost: :sunglasses:

2 Likes

Don’t worry, I’ll cover for you!

The border color is from me as I posted a half-baked solution for the same issue on the Discord. Sadly it couldn’t show more than level one line and worked in edit mode only.

This one is much more elaborate and it actually works all the way, but only in Preview! Seems like we can’t have it everywhere. Still, thanks for this @death.au

Block cursor

image
0.7.3 Dark + Light theme Compatible

.CodeMirror-cursor { 
  border-left-width: 0.5em;
  opacity: 0.75;
}
4 Likes

Auto fade note controls

Minimal Series

Before:
image

After:
image

Note, the note controls are still there, but will increase contrast, i.e. get to the before state, on hover.

0.7.3 compatible

.view-header:not(:hover) .view-actions {
  opacity: 0.1;
  transition: opacity .25s ease-in-out;
}

Auto fade status bar

Minimal Series

0.7.3 compatible

Reduced status bar contrast.

With this code snippet you get this:
image

and on hover you get this:
image

/* auto fades status bar items */
.status-bar:not(:hover) .status-bar-item {
  opacity: 0.25;
  transition: opacity .25s ease-in-out;
}

Smaller horizontal and vertical scrollbars

Minimal Series

0.7.3 compatible

.CodeMirror-vscrollbar, .CodeMirror-hscrollbar, ::-webkit-scrollbar {
  width: 3px;
  height: 3px;
}

Subtler code folding arrows

Minimal Series

0.7.3 compatible

Increases the size of the folding gutter arrows and decreases their opacity until hovered.

Without this code:
image

After this code:
image

/* Make subtler folding gutter arrows */
.CodeMirror-foldgutter-folded:after, .CodeMirror-foldgutter-open:after {
    opacity: 0.5;
    font-size: 60%;
}

.CodeMirror-foldgutter-folded:hover:after, .CodeMirror-foldgutter-open:hover:after {
    opacity: 1;
}

.CodeMirror-foldgutter-folded:after {
    content: "\25BA";    
}

.CodeMirror-foldgutter-open:after {
    content: "\25BC";    
}

24 Likes

@death.au oops!

Hi there! I’m a total newbie at css. Could anyone tell me if it’s possible to change how the tags look? I’d like to highlight certain important tags (for example #complete as green, #inprogress as yellow, etc)

3 Likes

this worked for me :

.tag[href="#important"] {
  color : red;
}

Tag Pills

0.73
Obsidian_7eMo0E8BFS

.tag {
  background-color: var(--text-accent);
  border: none;
  color: white;
  font-size: 11px;
  padding: 1px 8px;
  text-align: center;
  text-decoration: none;
  display: inline-block;
  margin: 0px 0px;
  cursor: pointer;
  border-radius: 14px;
}
.tag:hover {
color: white;
background-color: var(--text-accent-hover);
}
.tag[href^="#obsidian"] {
  background-color: #4d3ca6;
}
.tag[href^="#important"] {
  background-color: red;
}
.tag[href^="#complete"] {
  background-color: green;
}
.tag[href^="#inprogress"] {
  background-color: orange;
}
61 Likes

Functional and Beautiful. I think I might need to make changes to this to work with the Zettelkasten theme that I’m using.

Lovely! Thank you very much!

2 Likes

Im hoping/waiting for Collapsible indents feature in the preview mode as well!!

2 Likes

Vim mode with line focus

/* Cursor color in normal vim mode and opacity */
.cm-fat-cursor .CodeMirror-cursor, .cm-animate-fat-cursor {
  width: 0.5em;
  background: #d65d0e;
  opacity: 60% !important;
}

/*an active line highlight in vim normal mode */
.cm-fat-cursor .CodeMirror-activeline .CodeMirror-linebackground{
  background-color: rgba(89, 75, 95, 0.99) !important;
}

/*if you want the highlight to present in both normal and insert mode of vim*/
.CodeMirror-activeline .CodeMirror-linebackground{
  background-color: rgba(89, 75, 95, 0.99) !important;
}

12 Likes

How can i make it work for both Light and Dark themes?

“Naked” Embeds by @death.au

/* Naked Embeds */
.markdown-embed-title { display: none; }
.markdown-preview-view .markdown-embed-content>:first-child { margin-top: 0;}
.markdown-preview-view .markdown-embed-content>:last-child { margin-bottom: 0;}

/*remove the following two line, you will get border and scroll*/
.markdown-preview-view .markdown-embed { border:none; padding:0; margin:0; }
.markdown-preview-view .markdown-embed-content { 
  max-height: unset;
  background-color: var(--background-secondary); /*define different bg color*/
}

/* the link on the top right corner*/
.markdown-embed-link {
color: var(--text-faint) !important;
}

.markdown-embed-link:hover {
color: var(--text-accent) !important;
}


To further remove the header, add the following part:

/* remove the first heading*/
.markdown-preview-view .markdown-embed-content>:first-child { display:none;}
15 Likes

if you don’t add the .theme-dark or .theme-light selector, it will work for both mode.

Would it be possible to randomise the colours? from a palette?

1 Like