I have system prefs set to light mode, so why are the toolbar, tab bar and favourites bars dark, and the side bar & content in light mode?
Also, having the tabs bar above the favorites bar when previously the other way round is confusing and irritating.
iMac 27″, macOS 11.6
It turns out that the issue was due to a new item in the Tabs pane of Safari preferences to show color in tab bar. Given that the effect is to show color not just in the tab bar but also in the favourites bar (if displayed) and also the area above the tabs bar with the search box etc.
Maybe Apple could move that preference from the Tab pane to the General pane, or move it out of Preferences altogether to the View menu as they have done with other preferences elsewhere e.g. in Mail.
It turns out that the issue was due to a new item in the Tabs pane of Safari preferences to show color in tab bar. Given that the effect is to show color not just in the tab bar but also in the favourites bar (if displayed) and also the area above the tabs bar with the search box etc.
Maybe Apple could move that preference from the Tab pane to the General pane, or move it out of Preferences altogether to the View menu as they have done with other preferences elsewhere e.g. in Mail.
Hey there Chris Bunch,
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities. We understand there is an issue with the appearance of your Mac. We’ll be happy to help.
To verify, is the desktop image you’re using on your Mac having any affect on the appearance? If you change that to a lighter image, does this change any of the items that appear to be in Dark Mode?
If not, boot your Mac into safe mode and see if the issue continues there. “Safe mode can help you to determine whether an issue is caused by software that loads as your Mac starts up.” You can read how to do this here:
How to use safe mode on your Mac
You may also want to check the other settings that can affect the appearance, like Accent color which could change this as well. This article has more info:
Use a light or dark appearance on your Mac
Take care.
Hey Chris Bunch,
We’re not seeing this issue on our updated Macs with Safari. If safe mode made no difference, test in a new user account and see if the issue occurs there. This link can guide you on how to do this:
Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac
If the issue isn’t occurring there, turn on Dark Mode on your Mac, restart and then turn it back off. See if that has any impact on this.
Regards.
Thanks for the solution Chris, I just updated to Safari 15 and it was driving me mad see dark/light modes on different pages for no apparent reason at all. Switching off "Show colour in tab" (Preferences - > Tabs) fixed this issue for me.
Hey there Chris Bunch,
We’re glad to hear you were able to identify the cause. If you like, you can leave Apple feedback about this using the following link. It’s a great way to get your thoughts about changes you’d like to see in future updates:
Be well.
Thank you
This is specifically a Safari 15 issue on the Mac. It is not a Mac issue: light and dark mode behaves perfectly normally elsewhere. No other settings have been changed. At the moment, this page I'm typing into has the body in light mode and the top part with controls, tabs etc in dark mode (i.e black), which is not good as the contrast is poor especially for the favorites bar. In other tabs the top part is either light mode, dark mode but grey rather than black, blue, etc.
Is this a feature or a bug. Is there user setting?
Another regressive change is loss of a useful drop-down history function.
Mac Safari 15 part light, part dark mode
