3 ms·
I know this sounds like a hot-take, but any analysis of "dark mode vs. light mode" that doesn't account for ambient light is HIGHLY suspect. This is particularl
by falcrist 6y ago
I know this sounds like a hot-take, but any analysis of "dark mode vs. light mode" that doesn't account for ambient light is HIGHLY suspect. This is particularly true if the analysis looks at eye-strain.
I work for a business that does contract work, and I find myself working from a variety of offices, including one in my apartment. In offices where there's often a lot of ambient light, dark mode is substantially harder to read due to the added glare. In offices with low ambient light, light mode becomes more likely to cause eye-strain. This can be compensated for to a certain degree by changing the brightness and contrast settings on the monitor, but it's not a complete panacea.
Of course, the whole discussion goes completely off the rails when you're talking about anything other than a monitor on a laptop or desktop computer. This is because different use-cases will dramatically bias the decision of which theme is best depending on how and where you use the device. For examples: Dark mode is MUCH harder to read when used with a projector, but it actually helps extend battery life on my phone. Dark mode is also less jarring on my smart TV when navigating in and out of videos and movies at night.
IMO, just use what you want to use, and don't worry too much about which theme saves you a few milliseconds of response time or reduces eye-strain by some infinitesimal amount. Nobody is going blind because of their choice of theme. Nobody is suddenly 10% faster at coding. "Dark mode vs. Light mode" is almost entirely an aesthetic choice.