Are themes active for all users?
Matomo’s theme system operates on a global, instance-wide basis, meaning that when you activate a theme, it applies uniformly across all user accounts without exception. This architectural design ensures visual consistency and reduces server resource consumption, as the system only needs to load one theme configuration rather than managing individual user preferences.
The global theme application affects every aspect of the user interface, including dashboards, reports, color schemes, typography, and layout structures. This means that both Super Users and regular users will experience identical visual presentation when accessing any part of the Matomo interface.
This design decision stems from Matomo’s focus on organizational analytics rather than individual user customization. Unlike consumer applications that prioritize personal preferences, Matomo prioritizes consistent reporting presentation and collaborative analytics workflows where team members need to reference identical visual elements when discussing data insights.
From a technical perspective, implementing per-user theme selection would significantly increase system complexity, requiring additional database storage for user preferences, more complex caching mechanisms, and potentially degraded performance due to multiple theme assets being loaded simultaneously.
Enterprise Consideration: Organizations requiring different visual presentations for different user groups should consider implementing separate Matomo instances or utilizing custom CSS modifications through plugin development. Some enterprise environments create role-specific custom themes and deploy them through controlled release cycles to maintain brand consistency while accommodating departmental needs.
For organizations seeking visual customization, focus on creating a well-designed, accessible theme that serves all users effectively rather than attempting to accommodate individual preferences through workarounds that could compromise system stability or performance.
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