Electron Styling

Main process (IPC):

import { nativeTheme, ipcMain } from 'electron';

ipcMain.handle('get-theme', () => nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors ? 'dark' : 'light');
ipcMain.on('set-theme', (_, theme: 'light' | 'dark') => {
  nativeTheme.themeSource = theme;
});

Renderer (apply on load and on change):

document.documentElement.dataset.theme = await window.electronAPI.getTheme();

Custom Titlebar

Use frame: false in BrowserWindow options, then build a custom titlebar in HTML.

.titlebar {
  -webkit-app-region: drag;    /* Makes it draggable */
  height: 32px;
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
}

/* All interactive elements inside must opt out of drag */
.titlebar button,
.titlebar select,
.titlebar input {
  -webkit-app-region: no-drag;
}

Typography

body {
  font-family: 'Segoe UI', system-ui, -apple-system, sans-serif;
  font-size: 13px;
  line-height: 1.4;
  color: var(--text-primary);
}

.text-secondary {
  font-size: 11px;
  color: var(--text-secondary);
}

Custom Scrollbars

::-webkit-scrollbar {
  width: 6px;
  height: 6px;
}

::-webkit-scrollbar-track {
  background: var(--bg-secondary);
}

::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb {
  background: var(--border);
  border-radius: 3px;
}

::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb:hover {
  background: var(--text-secondary);
}

Transitions & Performance

/* Interactive feedback: 100–150ms */
button {
  transition: background-color 150ms ease, opacity 150ms ease;
}

/* Theme switch: 200ms */
body {
  transition: background-color 200ms ease, color 200ms ease;
}

/* GPU-accelerate only opacity and transform */
.animated {
  will-change: opacity, transform;
}

Window Dimensions

• Use even pixel multiples for window width/height
• Standard compact widget: 340×280
• Test at Windows 125% and 150% DPI scaling

new BrowserWindow({
  width: 340,
  height: 280,
  frame: false,
  resizable: false,
})

DPI Scaling Checklist

• Test at 100%, 125%, 150% Windows display scaling
• No text overflow at 150%
• Click targets remain usable at 125%
• Window dimensions stay proportional