Theme & Language

The Appearance and Language settings within the Account section let you customize the visual presentation and language of the ResearchArk interface. These preferences take effect immediately and persist across sessions.

Theme Selection

ResearchArk supports two visual themes:

• Light mode -- A high-contrast theme with a light background. This is the default for new accounts and works well in brightly lit environments.
• Dark mode -- A dark background theme that reduces eye strain in low-light conditions and can improve battery life on OLED displays. All interface elements, charts, and visualizations are adapted for readability against the dark background.

Switching Themes

Select your preferred theme from the Appearance controls in the Account settings. The change takes effect immediately across all open tabs. Your selection is stored in the browser's localStorage, so it persists across sessions without requiring a server-side save.

System Preference Mode

In addition to manual selection, you can choose to follow your operating system or browser preference. When this option is active, ResearchArk automatically switches between light and dark mode based on your device's system-wide appearance setting. This is useful if your operating system is configured to switch to dark mode at a scheduled time.

System preference detection applies only to the theme. Language is always set explicitly and does not follow browser or OS locale settings.

Interface Language

ResearchArk's interface is available in five languages:

What Changes

Changing the interface language translates all platform-generated text, including:

• Navigation labels and menu items
• Buttons and form field labels
• Tooltips and system messages
• Settings page content

What Does Not Change

User-generated content remains in the language in which it was originally written. This includes funding opportunity descriptions sourced from external databases, community forum posts, project notes, and chat messages. AI-generated content from ArkAssist, such as proposal drafts and Smart Alert summaries, is produced in English regardless of your interface language setting.

Changing Your Language

Select your preferred language from the Language dropdown in the Account settings. The change takes effect immediately and persists across sessions. The language setting is stored server-side as part of your account preferences, so it follows you across devices and browsers.