diff --git a/web/src/pages/ChatPage.tsx b/web/src/pages/ChatPage.tsx
index 3d3c89185a..2f21ae0dfa 100644
--- a/web/src/pages/ChatPage.tsx
+++ b/web/src/pages/ChatPage.tsx
@@ -1764,7 +1764,7 @@ export default function ChatPage({ isActive = true }: { isActive?: boolean }) {
             "border-l border-current/20 text-midground",
             "bg-background-base/95",
             "transition-transform duration-200 ease-out",
-            "[background:var(--component-sidebar-background)]",
+            "[background:var(--component-sidebar-background,var(--background-base))]",
             "[clip-path:var(--component-sidebar-clip-path)]",
             "[border-image:var(--component-sidebar-border-image)]",
             mobilePanelOpen
diff --git a/website/src/components/UserStoriesCollage/styles.module.css b/website/src/components/UserStoriesCollage/styles.module.css
index a183e5c1e9..c0a02e514d 100644
--- a/website/src/components/UserStoriesCollage/styles.module.css
+++ b/website/src/components/UserStoriesCollage/styles.module.css
@@ -68,9 +68,7 @@
 }
 .filterActive {
   background: var(--ifm-color-emphasis-900);
-  /* emphasis-0 keeps labels readable on the near-black pill; --ifm-background-color
-     is only set under [data-theme='dark'] in custom.css, so Infima's light theme
-     resolves it to transparent and the default-active pills look like empty blobs (#91491). */
+  /* --ifm-background-color is only set for the dark theme, so it resolves to transparent in light mode (#91491). */
   color: var(--ifm-color-emphasis-0);
   border-color: var(--ifm-color-emphasis-900);
 }
diff --git a/website/src/pages/skills/styles.module.css b/website/src/pages/skills/styles.module.css
index f9a23dc4bb..559089dc27 100644
--- a/website/src/pages/skills/styles.module.css
+++ b/website/src/pages/skills/styles.module.css
@@ -1036,6 +1036,6 @@
 
 .pickBtn:hover {
   background: var(--ifm-color-primary);
-  /* Same transparent --ifm-background-color failure mode as #91491. */
+  /* --ifm-background-color is transparent in light mode (#91491). */
   color: var(--ifm-color-emphasis-0, #f7f8fa);
 }