5 ms·

Love this. One addition, consider reducing the brightness on text so it doesn't glare as much.

JoshTriplett 6y ago
Please don't. Strong contrast helps readability; grey-on-color is lower contrast than white-on-color. Most HN threads linking to a site that has light-grey-on-dark-grey or dark-grey-on-light-grey text have at least one (off-topic) complaint about site style. Let's not make HN one of those sites.
- albedoa 6y ago
  > grey-on-color is lower contrast than white-on-color. > Let's not make HN one of those sites. The OP of the thread you are replying to is #828282 on top of #f6f6ef. That is lower contrast than black on white.
  - JoshTriplett 6y ago
    I was responding to the comment I directly replied to, not commenting on the specific color scheme of the style.
    - albedoa 6y ago
      You said: "Let's not make HN one of those sites." Either it is already one of those sites or there is room between the most extreme contrasts. Pick one.
      - JoshTriplett 6y ago
        HN is currently "black on very light background". The equivalent dark mode would be "white on very dark background". I hope we end up with either that, or even better, white on a black background (because that would be great for devices with OLED screens, including many phones).
        albedoa 6y ago
        The top post is #828282 on top of #f6f6ef, a pretty low contrast of 3.541 compared to 21.000 for black on white.
- teh_klev 6y ago
  For me strong contrasts, especially on dark backgrounds, give me retina burns and eyestrain. I find pastel shades more comfortable. That said the grey text on white fad that happened a few years ago was a very silly idea. I guess everyone's mileages vary depending on their eyesight, my eye's are 53 years old now and aren't as spritely as they used to be.
  - im3w1l 6y ago
    It's all about your monitor settings. High contrast monitor - you prefer low contrast style. Low contrast monitor - you prefer high contrast style. This is something I don't like about VS Code. by being low contrast it means I have to turn up monitor contrast meaning everything else burns.
    - stev0lution 6y ago
      Sorry for asking but is there any reason why you don't just use a different color theme for VS Code?
      - im3w1l 6y ago
        Fair enough. It's because it's not my main editor, and I didn't look into theming.
    - tallgiraffe 6y ago
      Great point. Our environmental factors are so easy to forget. I do use a very high contrast monitor and definitely prefer pastel colors at night, so my eyes dont hurt, but now I can clearly see how someone with low contrast wont' see a damn thing. There is a solution, but it's a bit more complicated and requires introducing additional user preferences. Supply two color options in the css, and allow user to choose high/low brightness. HN already has some profile filters, so adding one more might not be a problem, but I can also see how it becomes a slipper-slope of new features.
      - ksaj 6y ago
- Symbiote 6y ago
  There's plenty of space between #000 on #fff to provide an on style with high contrast. https://contrastrebellion.com/ https://contrastrebellion.com/
dandellion 6y ago
I agree, that level of white usually gives me eye strain after several minutes, even in a well lit room. The readability mode of Firefox for example uses #eeeeee for the text and #333333 for the background [1], I'd suggest using the same tones which are still very high contrast but don't cause nearly as much strain. [1]: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/10/firefox_68_arrives_with_darker_dark_and_redesigned_extensions_dashboard/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/10/firefox_68_arrives_...
deleerium 6y ago
Tricky balance there. I was going for good contrast even when screen is dimmed or color shifted (think night modes, f.lux, etc. Maybe try to swap the #fafafa rule with #eaeaea? Does that feel better? It's still very high contrast so maybe that could be a happy medium.

Please don't. Strong contrast helps readability; grey-on-color is lower contrast than white-on-color. Most HN threads linking to a site that has light-grey-on-dark-grey or dark-grey-on-light-grey text have at least one (off-topic) complaint about site style. Let's not make HN one of those sites.

albedoa 6y ago
> grey-on-color is lower contrast than white-on-color. > Let's not make HN one of those sites. The OP of the thread you are replying to is #828282 on top of #f6f6ef. That is lower contrast than black on white.
- JoshTriplett 6y ago
  I was responding to the comment I directly replied to, not commenting on the specific color scheme of the style.
  - albedoa 6y ago
    You said: "Let's not make HN one of those sites." Either it is already one of those sites or there is room between the most extreme contrasts. Pick one.
    - JoshTriplett 6y ago
      HN is currently "black on very light background". The equivalent dark mode would be "white on very dark background". I hope we end up with either that, or even better, white on a black background (because that would be great for devices with OLED screens, including many phones).
      - albedoa 6y ago
        The top post is #828282 on top of #f6f6ef, a pretty low contrast of 3.541 compared to 21.000 for black on white.
teh_klev 6y ago
For me strong contrasts, especially on dark backgrounds, give me retina burns and eyestrain. I find pastel shades more comfortable. That said the grey text on white fad that happened a few years ago was a very silly idea. I guess everyone's mileages vary depending on their eyesight, my eye's are 53 years old now and aren't as spritely as they used to be.
- im3w1l 6y ago
  It's all about your monitor settings. High contrast monitor - you prefer low contrast style. Low contrast monitor - you prefer high contrast style. This is something I don't like about VS Code. by being low contrast it means I have to turn up monitor contrast meaning everything else burns.
  - stev0lution 6y ago
    Sorry for asking but is there any reason why you don't just use a different color theme for VS Code?
    - im3w1l 6y ago
      Fair enough. It's because it's not my main editor, and I didn't look into theming.
  - tallgiraffe 6y ago
    Great point. Our environmental factors are so easy to forget. I do use a very high contrast monitor and definitely prefer pastel colors at night, so my eyes dont hurt, but now I can clearly see how someone with low contrast wont' see a damn thing. There is a solution, but it's a bit more complicated and requires introducing additional user preferences. Supply two color options in the css, and allow user to choose high/low brightness. HN already has some profile filters, so adding one more might not be a problem, but I can also see how it becomes a slipper-slope of new features.
    - ksaj 6y ago
Symbiote 6y ago
There's plenty of space between #000 on #fff to provide an on style with high contrast. https://contrastrebellion.com/ https://contrastrebellion.com/

dandellion 6y ago

I agree, that level of white usually gives me eye strain after several minutes, even in a well lit room. The readability mode of Firefox for example uses #eeeeee for the text and #333333 for the background [1], I'd suggest using the same tones which are still very high contrast but don't cause nearly as much strain. [1]: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/10/firefox_68_arrives_with_darker_dark_and_redesigned_extensions_dashboard/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/10/firefox_68_arrives_...

deleerium 6y ago

Tricky balance there. I was going for good contrast even when screen is dimmed or color shifted (think night modes, f.lux, etc. Maybe try to swap the #fafafa rule with #eaeaea? Does that feel better? It's still very high contrast so maybe that could be a happy medium.