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While I also prefer dark mode overall, the majority of dark editor color schemes strain my eyes more than light ones. Primarily this is because they use really

While I also prefer dark mode overall, the majority of dark editor color schemes strain my eyes more than light ones. Primarily this is because they use really bright saturated colors or solid white text on dark backgrounds, which makes my eyes strain as if they are looking at LED headlights during a night drive. OS X uses nice muted yet distinct colors on both ends of the brightness spectrum. I wish I could find an IntelliJ theme that matches the same spirit.

burtonator 7y ago
Yes. SOLID white #ffffff on black #000000 is a rough scheme. The whites need to be muted a bit so they're light grey basically.
- jrockway 7y ago
  I used grey on black for many years but recently switched to pure white. It is much easier to read. I have my monitors set fairly dim, about 120cd/m^2. This is what most colorspaces expect the whitepoint to be, but it is very dim compared to the maximum amount of light a monitor can put out. It is about 12/100 on my monitor. https://hub.displaycal.net/forums/topic/what-monitor-brightness-is-recommended/ https://hub.displaycal.net/forums/topic/what-monitor-brightn... Anyway, my point here is that #ffffff is not any sort of color you can see, merely a number that represents the maximum possible amount of red, green, and blue. If that's too much light, you can turn it down. You can also play with gamma curves to change the relative intensities down to pure black. Some people use 2.2 in dark rooms and 2.4 for "normal" indoor illumination.
jfaat 7y ago
I've been a huge fan of tomorrow night eighties for the same reason. You may like it too. example: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ChrisKempson/Tomorrow-Theme/master/Images/Tomorrow-Night-Eighties.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ChrisKempson/Tomorrow-Them... JetBrains compatible version: https://github.com/chriskempson/tomorrow-theme/tree/master/JetBrains https://github.com/chriskempson/tomorrow-theme/tree/master/J...
alpaca128 7y ago
That's why I try to use the Solarized theme basically everywhere. It focuses on low contrast, and that works well enough that I can also handle the light variant without problems. Both black on white and white on black are horrible in my opinion.

burtonator 7y ago

Yes. SOLID white #ffffff on black #000000 is a rough scheme. The whites need to be muted a bit so they're light grey basically.

jrockway 7y ago
I used grey on black for many years but recently switched to pure white. It is much easier to read. I have my monitors set fairly dim, about 120cd/m^2. This is what most colorspaces expect the whitepoint to be, but it is very dim compared to the maximum amount of light a monitor can put out. It is about 12/100 on my monitor. https://hub.displaycal.net/forums/topic/what-monitor-brightness-is-recommended/ https://hub.displaycal.net/forums/topic/what-monitor-brightn... Anyway, my point here is that #ffffff is not any sort of color you can see, merely a number that represents the maximum possible amount of red, green, and blue. If that's too much light, you can turn it down. You can also play with gamma curves to change the relative intensities down to pure black. Some people use 2.2 in dark rooms and 2.4 for "normal" indoor illumination.

jfaat 7y ago

I've been a huge fan of tomorrow night eighties for the same reason. You may like it too. example: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ChrisKempson/Tomorrow-Theme/master/Images/Tomorrow-Night-Eighties.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ChrisKempson/Tomorrow-Them... JetBrains compatible version: https://github.com/chriskempson/tomorrow-theme/tree/master/JetBrains https://github.com/chriskempson/tomorrow-theme/tree/master/J...

alpaca128 7y ago

That's why I try to use the Solarized theme basically everywhere. It focuses on low contrast, and that works well enough that I can also handle the light variant without problems. Both black on white and white on black are horrible in my opinion.