---
title: "Pick a theme"
description: "The six Markdrop Guides themes, Clean, Editorial, Technical, Minimal, Playful and Help center, what each looks like, and how to switch."
canonical_url: https://docs.markdrop.in/guides/themes
last_updated: 2026-10-31
prerequisites: [/guides/create-a-site]
site: "Markdrop Docs"
index: https://docs.markdrop.in/llms.txt
---

# Pick a theme

A theme sets the whole guide's layout, fonts, colours and corners. Pick one in the guide's **Design** tab; you can switch any time, and nothing about your pages changes.

![The Design tab: the six theme cards on the left with Clean selected, Match my brand turned on with Acme's logo and colours, and on the right a live preview of a Quickstart page in the Clean theme.](https://docs.markdrop.in/docs-assets/guides/themes/design-panel.webp)

## Switch themes

### Open Design
Open the guide and choose **Design**. Only Guides admins can change it; everyone else can look around.

### Try the themes
Choose a theme under **Theme**. The **Preview** updates at once. Use **Light** and **Dark** above the preview to see both.

### Save it
Choose **Save design**, or **Reset** to go back to what's saved. Readers see the new design after the next [publish](https://docs.markdrop.in/guides/publishing).

[Video: In Design, choosing Editorial, Technical, Playful and Help center in turn while the preview changes layout, then the Dark preview, then Reset. (0:12)](https://docs.markdrop.in/docs-assets/guides/themes/design-switch-themes.mp4)

## The six themes

These are the same Acme pages, published in each theme with no brand colours.

### Clean

A sidebar layout. Calm and familiar: a page tree on the left, the page, and its contents on the right. The Markdrop docs use it.

![Acme's Quickstart page in the Clean theme: sidebar on the left, the page in the middle, On this page and page actions on the right.](https://docs.markdrop.in/docs-assets/guides/themes/theme-clean.webp)

### Editorial

Serif headings and a centred, narrower reading column. Sections are links under the header instead of a sidebar.

![Quickstart in the Editorial theme: serif headings, warm paper colours, section links under the header and a centred column.](https://docs.markdrop.in/docs-assets/guides/themes/theme-editorial.webp)

### Technical

Dense and API-first: a smaller type size, sharp corners, monospaced labels and dark code blocks even in the light theme.

![Quickstart in the Technical theme: compact text, monospaced group labels and a dark code block.](https://docs.markdrop.in/docs-assets/guides/themes/theme-technical.webp)

### Minimal

No sidebar chrome and lots of air: sections under the header, one centred column, no divider lines.

![Quickstart in the Minimal theme: a plain header with section links and generous spacing.](https://docs.markdrop.in/docs-assets/guides/themes/theme-minimal.webp)

### Playful

Round and bold: rounded buttons and search box, heavier navigation, cards that lift on hover.

![Quickstart in the Playful theme: rounded shapes and a violet accent.](https://docs.markdrop.in/docs-assets/guides/themes/theme-playful.webp)

### Help center

Search first, then categories: the home page is a search box over cards for each group, and articles show the other articles in their category.

![The home page in the Help center theme: a search hero with suggested questions, and Browse by category cards for Getting started, Guides, Reference and Help.](https://docs.markdrop.in/docs-assets/guides/themes/theme-helpcenter.webp)

## Make it yours

On top of a theme you can add your logo and colours, change the fonts, colour mode and corners, and add custom CSS. See [Brand and style](https://docs.markdrop.in/guides/brand-and-style).