Style Or Change Default App Colors - Ionic Framework

Ionic has nine default colors that can be used to change the color of many components. Each color is actually a collection of multiple properties, including a shade and tint, used throughout Ionic.

A color can be applied to an Ionic component in order to change the default colors using the color attribute. Notice in the buttons below that the text and background changes based on the color set. When there is no color set on the button it uses the primary color by default.

<ion-button>Default</ion-button><ion-buttoncolor="primary">Primary</ion-button><ion-buttoncolor="secondary">Secondary</ion-button><ion-buttoncolor="tertiary">Tertiary</ion-button><ion-buttoncolor="success">Success</ion-button><ion-buttoncolor="warning">Warning</ion-button><ion-buttoncolor="danger">Danger</ion-button><ion-buttoncolor="light">Light</ion-button><ion-buttoncolor="medium">Medium</ion-button><ion-buttoncolor="dark">Dark</ion-button>

Layered Colors​

Each color consists of the following properties: a base, contrast, shade, and tint. The base and contrast colors also require a rgb property which is the same color, just in rgb format. See The Alpha Problem for an explanation of why the rgb property is also needed. Select from the dropdown below to see all of the default colors Ionic provides and their variations.

PrimarySecondaryTertiarySuccessWarningDangerDarkMediumLight

Name	Property	Default Value	Description

Modifying Colors​

To change the default values of a color, all of the listed variations for that color should be set. For example, to change the secondary color to #006600, set the following CSS properties:

:root{--ion-color-secondary:#006600;--ion-color-secondary-rgb:0,102,0;--ion-color-secondary-contrast:#ffffff;--ion-color-secondary-contrast-rgb:255,255,255;--ion-color-secondary-shade:#005a00;--ion-color-secondary-tint:#1a751a;}

When secondary is applied to a button, not only is the base color #006600 used, but the contrast color #ffffff is used for the text, along with shade #005a00 and tint #1a751a colors for the different states of the button.

note

Not sure how to get the variation colors from the base color? Try out our Color Generator that calculates all of the variations and provides code to copy/paste into an app!

See the CSS Variables documentation for more information on CSS variables.

Adding Colors​

Colors can be added for use throughout an application by setting the color property on an Ionic component, or by styling with CSS. Read on to see how to manually add a new color, or use the New Color Creator below for a quick way to generate the code of a new color to be copy and pasted into an application.

To add a new color, first define the CSS variables for all of the variations of the color at the root. For example, to add a new color called favorite, we can define the following variables:

:root{--ion-color-favorite:#69bb7b;--ion-color-favorite-rgb:105,187,123;--ion-color-favorite-contrast:#ffffff;--ion-color-favorite-contrast-rgb:255,255,255;--ion-color-favorite-shade:#5ca56c;--ion-color-favorite-tint:#78c288;}

Then, create a new class that uses these CSS variables. The class must be written in the format .ion-color-{COLOR} where {COLOR} is the name of the color to add:

.ion-color-favorite{--ion-color-base:var(--ion-color-favorite);--ion-color-base-rgb:var(--ion-color-favorite-rgb);--ion-color-contrast:var(--ion-color-favorite-contrast);--ion-color-contrast-rgb:var(--ion-color-favorite-contrast-rgb);--ion-color-shade:var(--ion-color-favorite-shade);--ion-color-tint:var(--ion-color-favorite-tint);}

After the class is added, the color can be used on any Ionic component that supports the color property. An example of using the favorite color on an Ionic button is below.

<ion-buttoncolor="favorite">Favorite</ion-button>

The CSS variables defined at the root can also be used to style any element using CSS:

div{background:var(--ion-color-favorite);color:var(--ion-color-favorite-contrast);}

See the CSS Variables documentation for more information on setting and using CSS variables.

New Color Creator​

Create a new color below by changing the name and value, then copy and paste the code below into your project.

:root { --ion-color-new: #69bb7b; --ion-color-new-rgb: 105,187,123; --ion-color-new-contrast: #000000; --ion-color-new-contrast-rgb: 0,0,0; --ion-color-new-shade: #5ca56c; --ion-color-new-tint: #78c288; } .ion-color-new { --ion-color-base: var(--ion-color-new); --ion-color-base-rgb: var(--ion-color-new-rgb); --ion-color-contrast: var(--ion-color-new-contrast); --ion-color-contrast-rgb: var(--ion-color-new-contrast-rgb); --ion-color-shade: var(--ion-color-new-shade); --ion-color-tint: var(--ion-color-new-tint); }