4 ms·

For the sake of simplicity, could we just serve up a subdomain darknews.ycombinator.com, same content, just different stylesheet?

PenguinCoder 6y ago
That's not simple at all..
pjscott 6y ago
When you click on a link to the news.ycombinator.com domain, what should happen if you prefer dark mode? And vice versa? In comparison, the pure-CSS ideas that some people are posting would work automatically if your browser supports dark mode, and would enlarge the (cached with long ttl) CSS file only very slightly.
- DenseComet 6y ago
  Unfortunately, there are some of us who also like the solarized type light mode in HN more than dark mode, but we use dark mode at the system level because the OS light mode is awful. Pure CSS would be quite cool, but we'd probably also need a snippet of JS to add a button allowing to switch between light and dark mode. (There's probably a way to do it without JS that someone will hopefully comment too.)
  - noisem4ker 6y ago
    They could put a preference in the profile page. But I think that switching the theme would be the browser's job.
  - dharmab 6y ago
    By using CSS variables, only a few lines of JS are needed- small enough that they can be inlined in the HTML.
IAmGraydon 6y ago
I don’t think you’ve properly considered what a terrible idea this is.
- djjsjdjsjsjs 6y ago
  Please explain as I am curious
  - dharmab 6y ago
    Adding dark mode CSS adds a few hundred bytes, maybe a couple kb at most to the site. A separate subdomain: - Requires separate TLS certificates to be maintained. - Doesn't play nice with caching. - Doesn't play nice with password managers. - Doesn't work with any existing links. Users would have to manually add the `dark` prefix. - Is generally a bad user experience.
    - deadbunny 6y ago
      While I agree with most of your points, I disagree with > Doesn't play nice with password managers. Check your password manager settings. Most have options to match on domain, subdomain, port or have the ability to set equivalent domains either globally or per credential.
majewsky 6y ago
Tagline: "Come to the dark site."

PenguinCoder 6y ago

That's not simple at all..

pjscott 6y ago

When you click on a link to the news.ycombinator.com domain, what should happen if you prefer dark mode? And vice versa? In comparison, the pure-CSS ideas that some people are posting would work automatically if your browser supports dark mode, and would enlarge the (cached with long ttl) CSS file only very slightly.

DenseComet 6y ago
Unfortunately, there are some of us who also like the solarized type light mode in HN more than dark mode, but we use dark mode at the system level because the OS light mode is awful. Pure CSS would be quite cool, but we'd probably also need a snippet of JS to add a button allowing to switch between light and dark mode. (There's probably a way to do it without JS that someone will hopefully comment too.)
- noisem4ker 6y ago
  They could put a preference in the profile page. But I think that switching the theme would be the browser's job.
- dharmab 6y ago
  By using CSS variables, only a few lines of JS are needed- small enough that they can be inlined in the HTML.

IAmGraydon 6y ago

I don’t think you’ve properly considered what a terrible idea this is.

djjsjdjsjsjs 6y ago
Please explain as I am curious
- dharmab 6y ago
  Adding dark mode CSS adds a few hundred bytes, maybe a couple kb at most to the site. A separate subdomain: - Requires separate TLS certificates to be maintained. - Doesn't play nice with caching. - Doesn't play nice with password managers. - Doesn't work with any existing links. Users would have to manually add the `dark` prefix. - Is generally a bad user experience.
  - deadbunny 6y ago
    While I agree with most of your points, I disagree with > Doesn't play nice with password managers. Check your password manager settings. Most have options to match on domain, subdomain, port or have the ability to set equivalent domains either globally or per credential.

majewsky 6y ago

Tagline: "Come to the dark site."