3 ms·
I've always wanted to love dark background + white text themes; for the longest time I thought it was worth it because it was cool. About a year ago I switched
by xemoka 8y ago
I've always wanted to love dark background + white text themes; for the longest time I thought it was worth it because it was cool. About a year ago I switched back to light themes, and later found out that there's a reason why I had a more difficult time reading with dark themes: I have an astigmatism.
"People with astigmatism (approximately 50% of the population) find it harder to read white text on black than black text on white. Part of this has to do with light levels: with a bright display (white background) the iris closes a bit more, decreasing the effect of the "deformed" lens; with a dark display (black background) the iris opens to receive more light and the deformation of the lens creates a much fuzzier focus at the eye." - Jason Harrison – Post Doctoral Fellow, Imager Lab Manager – Sensory Perception and Interaction Research Group, University of British Columbia
- _Schizotypy 8y agoThat's strange, I also have an astigmatism but I'm just the opposite. I can't stand light themes.
- xemoka 8y agoHmm, perhaps not quite as black and white as first presented...
- MrEldritch 8y agoI also have mild astigmatism, but I find I prefer dark themes nonetheless - I think it is legitimately a little harder to read, because I just tabbed over to Discord to check and realized I was using a larger font size than I'd usually use in other applications, and that the text definitely was a little harder to focus on compared to white-on-black text of the same font size. It's just that I like having my backlight blasted in my face even less, so it adds up to a sufficiently more pleasant reading experience that I switch everything to dark theme when I can.