Hoping for granular color controls in Zen Browser? Don't hold your breath

Zen Browser developers have confirmed that they won’t be adding a custom HEX color picker to their popular indie browser anytime soon. Users hoping to dial in exact color codes to customize the look of their web pages or the interface will have to stick with the existing color wheel tool.

The team shared their decision following a comment from a user who asked if they would be able to pick their own colors in the future. This means anyone looking to match their browser exactly to their desktop wallpaper using specific alphanumeric codes is officially out of luck.

“We currently have no plans to implement HEX into the theme picker. Sorry,” the developers said. The interaction actually started because the user reached out asking for a deep black version for browser boosts to make their favorite websites completely dark.

While granular color codes are officially off the table, the developers did offer a technical workaround for people who just want a pure black background.

They explained that users can access the advanced configuration settings by typing a command into the address bar, finding a hidden preference, and flipping that switch to manually invert pure white into pure black.

The constant push for more customization options makes sense given how fast the project is growing right now. The development team recently celebrated a major milestone when an estimated 500,000 people started using this indie browser as their daily driver. Reaching half a million active users shows that a huge chunk of the internet is willing to test out smaller alternatives to the massive corporate browsers.

The developers also recently added smart tab routing to improve organization for heavy internet users. That automatic routing feature lets people set up rules so certain links always open in designated workspaces without any manual dragging.

As the user base expands at this rapid pace, the developers are also rushing out technical patches to keep the main interface working properly. Just a few days ago, a new Zen Browser update fixed a frustrating transparency bug that had temporarily replaced the frosted glass background effect with a solid gray block for Windows users.

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