3 ms·

I think the issue is a lot more subtle than simply "dark mode = better" vs "light mode = better". When it's dark around me, I don't want a bright white screen b

by mcv 4y ago

I think the issue is a lot more subtle than simply "dark mode = better" vs "light mode = better". When it's dark around me, I don't want a bright white screen blinding me, so I prefer dark mode. But when I'm in a well-light room with a white wall behind my screen, I don't want to have to peer at a dark rectangle. Also, whether you're using dark or light mode, contrast and brightness need to be set right, and I think they have different requirements for contrast and brightness; in dark mode, I suspect the fewer bright parts need to be brighter than the large light background in bright mode. So if you're comfortable using your current mode, simply switching to the other one without adjusting your contrast and brightness might indeed give you a worse experience, no matter which mode it is. Or maybe not. I seem to be fine mixing different modes. I used to always have my IDE in bright mode, but it's currently in dark mode, and it's fine, and HN uses bright mode, and that's fine too. But I did notice that when it's dark, I do prefer dark mode.

hkon 4y ago
Exactly, the glare from dark backgrounds in daylight is very straining on my eyes.
adql 4y ago
Many dark mode themes also aren't great. With bright mode you can get away with #000 on #fff but, at very least for me, just reversing that doesn't work all that well, I prefer at the very least background to be in #111-#222 range and maybe text not be in #fff but a bit lower. On other side some dark themes have pretty terrible contrast, but that happens with white too, like HN just deciding light gray on light gray is fine just because someone downvoted a comment Hell, even the header with buttons have [1] terrible contrast * [1] https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/?fcolor=939392&bcolor=F6F6EF https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/?fcolor=939392&...
- 867-5309 4y ago
  web developers have not been using #fff and #000 for text and backgrounds for quite some time now
- hbn 4y ago
  IntelliJ's "darcula" theme is the only dark mode I like cause it's a nice light grey rather than black. Unfortunately with their recent redesign, the new default dark theme has joined the rest of the crowd with being way too dark, but thankfully darcula is still an option in settings.
- coffeeling 4y ago
  Many light themes also increasingly suck, because they're just dark themes dunked in a can of white paint. Before the dark mode fad took off, people used to just do UI design and make interfaces that were just that - interfaces. They weren't attempting to be obsessively light or dark, so we got a wide variety of things in app UIs and the UIs didn't shy away from borderlines, shadows, color, darker elements in an otherwise not very dark UI, etc. Then dark mode happened, and everyone wanted to design dark mode things. Dark mode makes small contrasts more legible (IME) and makes colors really, really pop. So you can easily design very flat UIs without anything in the way of borders, and small bits of color are really dramatic and eye catching. Not-dark colorscapes feel really different - small contrast differences aren't as salient, you can use dark elements in the UI without disrupting it much. Borderlines and drop shadows look great, really high contrast for text just feels nice. Color is a much more balanced part of the whole, so you can use it much more liberally and it'll just feel nice and balanced. But those are not the UIs we get today. Humans love to categorize things, and they like pairs of opposites a lot. If we have a specific dark theme, well, what do we call the other one? Light theme, of course. And in a disastrous display of nominative determinism, that's exactly what we've gotten afterwards: Designers have intentionally started making UIs that are actively light, and those are not designed specifically - most are just slapping white paint on the existing flat dark theme, or otherwise obey those same design sensibilities with light grays on white and minimal use of color. Why would anyone want to use light themes if they constantly get designed wrong? The proper contrast people should be working with isn't light and dark theme or white and black theme, but colorful and intentionally dark.
thejackgoode 4y ago
This. I switch the theme of IDE almost daily based on light conditions. Though generally dark themes are surprisingly harder on the eyes for me, even with enough light.
gsoto 4y ago
I think the issue is that people are adjusting what they see on screen instead of adjusting their environment (i.e. room lighting), even when they are totally able to do it. A dark mode could make it bearable to work in poor light conditions but won't improve on the fact that it's already a non-optimal environment.
- mcv 4y ago
  I wish my son would just turn the lights on in his room when he's gaming. He's just sitting there in the dark. Mind you, I do the same when watching TV. Some shows and movies these days are so dark you simply have to turn off the lights and close the curtains to see what's going on.
- tbyehl 4y ago
  Or adjusting the brightness of their screen.

by mcv 4y ago

hkon 4y ago

Exactly, the glare from dark backgrounds in daylight is very straining on my eyes.

adql 4y ago

Many dark mode themes also aren't great. With bright mode you can get away with #000 on #fff but, at very least for me, just reversing that doesn't work all that well, I prefer at the very least background to be in #111-#222 range and maybe text not be in #fff but a bit lower. On other side some dark themes have pretty terrible contrast, but that happens with white too, like HN just deciding light gray on light gray is fine just because someone downvoted a comment Hell, even the header with buttons have [1] terrible contrast * [1] https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/?fcolor=939392&bcolor=F6F6EF https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/?fcolor=939392&...

867-5309 4y ago
web developers have not been using #fff and #000 for text and backgrounds for quite some time now
hbn 4y ago
IntelliJ's "darcula" theme is the only dark mode I like cause it's a nice light grey rather than black. Unfortunately with their recent redesign, the new default dark theme has joined the rest of the crowd with being way too dark, but thankfully darcula is still an option in settings.
coffeeling 4y ago
Many light themes also increasingly suck, because they're just dark themes dunked in a can of white paint. Before the dark mode fad took off, people used to just do UI design and make interfaces that were just that - interfaces. They weren't attempting to be obsessively light or dark, so we got a wide variety of things in app UIs and the UIs didn't shy away from borderlines, shadows, color, darker elements in an otherwise not very dark UI, etc. Then dark mode happened, and everyone wanted to design dark mode things. Dark mode makes small contrasts more legible (IME) and makes colors really, really pop. So you can easily design very flat UIs without anything in the way of borders, and small bits of color are really dramatic and eye catching. Not-dark colorscapes feel really different - small contrast differences aren't as salient, you can use dark elements in the UI without disrupting it much. Borderlines and drop shadows look great, really high contrast for text just feels nice. Color is a much more balanced part of the whole, so you can use it much more liberally and it'll just feel nice and balanced. But those are not the UIs we get today. Humans love to categorize things, and they like pairs of opposites a lot. If we have a specific dark theme, well, what do we call the other one? Light theme, of course. And in a disastrous display of nominative determinism, that's exactly what we've gotten afterwards: Designers have intentionally started making UIs that are actively light, and those are not designed specifically - most are just slapping white paint on the existing flat dark theme, or otherwise obey those same design sensibilities with light grays on white and minimal use of color. Why would anyone want to use light themes if they constantly get designed wrong? The proper contrast people should be working with isn't light and dark theme or white and black theme, but colorful and intentionally dark.

thejackgoode 4y ago

This. I switch the theme of IDE almost daily based on light conditions. Though generally dark themes are surprisingly harder on the eyes for me, even with enough light.

gsoto 4y ago

I think the issue is that people are adjusting what they see on screen instead of adjusting their environment (i.e. room lighting), even when they are totally able to do it. A dark mode could make it bearable to work in poor light conditions but won't improve on the fact that it's already a non-optimal environment.

mcv 4y ago
I wish my son would just turn the lights on in his room when he's gaming. He's just sitting there in the dark. Mind you, I do the same when watching TV. Some shows and movies these days are so dark you simply have to turn off the lights and close the curtains to see what's going on.
tbyehl 4y ago
Or adjusting the brightness of their screen.