8 ms·

Hacker News needs a Dark Mode

126 points by jaylittle 3y ago

Hackers like dark modes. Hacker News therefore should provide its users with a dark mode option. Maybe even automatically select it based on their browser preferences. Note: Telling me to load up some browser extension to handle it is a bit silly as it requires me to implicitly trust the author of said extension which will see and have access to virtually everything on every website I enable it for. All thoughts and criticisms of this statement are welcomed. Viva la Dark Mode!

baq 3y ago
Never understood the point of dark modes. Am I too old?
- Eric_WVGG 3y ago
  A computer LCD is effectively a flashlight shining in your face. If you read in bed every night, it's jarring and annoying.
  - bookofjoe 3y ago
    "No screens in the bedroom" is a quick and dirty way to improve insomnia.
- andreynering 3y ago
  It's easier to your eyes at night or cloudy days. I have my devices setup to switch automatically by hour of day. Sometimes I switch manually when I want to.
- Solvency 3y ago
  I like to read HN in the evening to unwind. A bright white website after dark is a great way to disrupt your melatonin production and affect your ability to fall to sleep. Dimming your phone brightness does not help sufficiently at all. In a dark room it's still like a relative flashlight in your eyes. This should not be such a head scratcher to understand.
  - ghusto 3y ago
    > A bright white website after dark is a great way to disrupt your melatonin production and affect your ability to fall to sleep. I don't think that's true: https://time.com/5752454/blue-light-sleep/ https://time.com/5752454/blue-light-sleep/ This is a pet peeve of mine precisely because of the first line in that article: > It’s become a virtually unchallenged piece of conventional wisdom that exposure to blue light—the type emitted by electronic device screens—is bad for sleep.
    - w1nst0nsm1th 3y ago
      I read somewhere that blue light theory is a corporate bullshit financed by glasses makers to add 50$ by glass the sell you for a production cost of ) 50 cents. A little like the 2000kcal by day by the agri-business lobby or the 1,5l of water by the water and soda business lobby.
      - Solvency 3y ago
        Weird to exclude the ultimate form of corporate bullshit: vaccine makers (ie: corporations) are federally protected from any and all civil action against them. And they're one of the few drugs that are effectively mandatory for approximately 76 million children. Every single year. A literal money making machine. Protected by law. For the benefit of corporations. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/300aa-22#:~:text=No%20State%20may%20establish%20or,not%20barred%20by%20this%20part https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/300aa-22#:~:text=....
        haldujai 3y ago
        Excuse me? For the benefit of corporations? Polio used to be a thing in the western world, measles is coming back. Mandatory childhood vaccines are for the benefit of children and society. You’re also misrepresenting the NCVIA, the net result is arbitration that is easier to get a payout from as causality does not need to be proven. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Childhood_Vaccine_Injury_Act https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Childhood_Vaccine_I...
- kagevf 3y ago
  Maybe not old enough? ;-) I use to prefer light mode exclusively, but my eyes feel more comfortable with dark mode as I get older.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    I'm a graybeard, but I find dark modes to be much more difficult to read than light ones. I've never really understood the appeal of dark modes (outside of just aesthetics), but I do understand that they have an appeal to some.
    - kagevf 3y ago
      Fair enough. For sure it's subjective factors (personal taste, etc) + objective ones (surrounding lighting, time of day, how long you've already been looking at a screen, and so on ...).
- anonzzzies 3y ago
  Same. I am probably too old too, but it really doesn’t help me with anything…
- CharlesW 3y ago
  No. The primary benefit of "dark mode" is that it reduces eye strain for folks using their monitor at a brightness set too high for their environment. It can also just look cool, which is fine too. Dark mode myths are summarized here: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/dark-mode-chrome-android-ios-science https://www.wired.co.uk/article/dark-mode-chrome-android-ios...
  - UI_at_80x24 3y ago
    >using their monitor at a brightness set too high for their environment That's rather dismissive and ablest. I need high contrast. Dark background and bright text allow me to view the content. Screen brightness plays a role here too, but it's used to enhance the contrast, not compete against it.
    - CharlesW 3y ago
      > I need high contrast. Me too! That's an independent issue, though. Normal HN text has a contrast ratio of 19.34:1, which is great. In contrast (ha ha), greyed-out text has a contrast ratio of 3.54:1, which is terrible. So, HN should definitely fix text/background contrast ratios ASAP, whether or not they add a dark mode.
      - UI_at_80x24 3y ago
        >So, HN should definitely fix text/background contrast ratios ASAP, whether or not they add a dark mode. Agreed!
  - basch 3y ago
    white backgrounds can be very hard to use or distracting to people with floaters in their eyes. dark mode makes concentration possible.
  - dunham 3y ago
    I could go either way, but switching back and forth is hard on me, so I tend to go light because the web is light. (Also because a lot of dark mode stuff tends to be crazy low contrast.) I do however use dark mode when reading in bed and wish there was a pdf reader that did it.
- mnd999 3y ago
  No, I never understood the point either. But then I learned to code on a ZX Spectrum where everything was light mode so maybe that’s it.
- onemoresoop 3y ago
  No, maybe it's your eyes that are okay with non-darkmode. I am not using darkmode by reducing by using nightmode all the time but darkmode is totally a fine way to spend time in front of the computer if that makes you comfortable.
- a_c 3y ago
  I understand the appeal of dark mode - to reduce eye strain, especially in dim environment. I suggest to not read your screen at all in the bedroom. It is the best down time for one's mind. Maybe I have undiagnosed eye problem. If the dark mode has a strong contrast with text, I see shadow/aura for minutes. It doesn't happen if the contrast is reduced nor in non-dark mode. I wonder if anyone has similar problem?
  - ghusto 3y ago
    I have the same, and agreed on the advice of not using screens when you're trying to unwind.
- Veen 3y ago
  I think it's largely a matter of taste, although there are people for whom bright interfaces cause accessibility issues. Personally, I can't stand light-on-dark interfaces and turn them off wherever I can, although that may be because I have an astigmatism and dark interfaces supposedly cause problems (although I'm not convinced that's the reason in my case).
- onetom 3y ago
  the older i was getting the more i noticed that i can read light mode better than dark mode. one day, when i was about 42 years old, sitting on a ferry on a very sunny day, i could hardly see my MacBook screen. switched to light mode and while the image was still a bit faint, it became totally readable. I'm not using anything in dark mode ever since.
- mid-kid 3y ago
  It's a way to forgo real customizability by limiting user choice to two colors.
- ghusto 3y ago
  You are too old to fall for bullshit. The argument is that dark mode is needed to tackle the problem of blue light messing with your melatonin. However, this has not only never been proven, there are studies to the contrary: https://time.com/5752454/blue-light-sleep/ https://time.com/5752454/blue-light-sleep/ Moreover, dark mode hurts my eyes and does the opposite of the other purported benefit. Screens induce anxiety after long periods of usage, and it has nothing to do with the colour of the light. If you're reading your phone in bed before sleep, you have bigger problems.
- mk67 3y ago
  I'm seeing a lot of visual snow with bright backgrounds, which is very annoying. Makes it close to impossible to focus.
- mikewarot 3y ago
  When you get older, and cataracts are a thing... white backgrounds blur and essentially "fill in" dark text, drastically lowering the perceived contrast ratio, and this makes it very hard to read. The inverse is much easier to read for me.
ksec 3y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23197966 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23197966 And probably a dozens more with 100+ comments and hundreds more with a few comments. At this point I have simply given up.
- als0 3y ago
  Same. It's been 3 years since they said they would do something and it only needs a couple of lines to the CSS.
  - danielvaughn 3y ago
    eh to be fair it's a bit more than a couple of lines, but I agree, with a site like HN it shouldn't be too bad.
    - Fauntleroy 3y ago
      I could knock it out in a single day. The people running this site are simply dedicated to the Craiglist style of thought, which is antagonistic to change for "culture" reasons whilst purporting to be for "practical" reasons.
      - danielvaughn 3y ago
        It's interesting - in the linked thread, someone (who seems to be affiliated with hn) said that they're willing to do it but they don't have the CSS expertise. I know I'd be willing to devote some time to it and I'm sure lots of other people would as well.
- jaylittle 3y ago
  That's actually very helpful, thank you for that. I'm going to work on implementing the CSS changes when I get bored. If that's the only thing standing between a bunch of hackers and dark mode on the hacker news website, I'm going to be very disappointed ;)
- jaylittle 3y ago
cuttysnark 3y ago
If you're using ublock origin, I have these filters which I copied from another HN comment once upon a time. news.ycombinator.com##html:style(filter:invert(100%) hue-rotate(180deg)) news.ycombinator.com##body:style(background: white) news.ycombinator.com##div.toptext:style(color: black) news.ycombinator.com###hnmain td[bgcolor="#000000"] edit: "rules" -> "filters"
- SV_BubbleTime 3y ago
  I’m an embedded dev, so websites and web tech are a black box to me… I’ve never asked, does the ## mean “overwrite” as uBlock DSL?
  - umvi 3y ago
    > I’m an embedded dev, so websites and web tech are a black box to me You should start tinkering with embedded webservers then (civetweb, etc)! Even embedded devs should learn web tech because often browsers are the easiest way to interface with router/modem settings, IoT settings, etc. In this case "##" is uBlock filter syntax. Basically "news.ycombinator.com##html:style(filter:invert(100%) hue-rotate(180deg))" means "if the host matches news.ycombinator.com inject the following CSS" Here's the docs if you want to rtfm: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Dashboard:-My-filters https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Dashboard:-My-filters In this case I believe we are dealing with "cosmetic filters": https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Procedural-cosmetic-filters https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Procedural-cosmetic-f...
    - dunham 3y ago
      TIL that ublock lets you inject CSS. I've been using tampermonkey for that (most recently to fix the mspace tags on ncatlab.org).
    - hn92726819 3y ago
      > means "if the host matches news.ycombinator.com inject the following CSS" Well I wouldn't word it like that. youtube.com##.ytp-cards-teaser Hides elements with the selector ".ytp-cards-teaser", so ## doesn't represent "inject the followong CSS". This is a helpful link: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Introduction-to-basic-filtering-syntax https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Introduction-to-basic... ## represents a cosmetic filter. Though I can't seem to figure out what #$# is still but I know that's also possible to use
renewiltord 3y ago
It is trivial to do. Just write the extension yourself. Won't take more than 15 minutes with ChatGPT.
switch007 3y ago
http://hn.premii.com http://hn.premii.com supports lots of options in addition to dark mode
fineIllregister 3y ago
This is a reason third-party apps are useful. I use a random app I got off f-droid and it has a dark mode.
oblak 3y ago
I understand not trusting random developer, which means your only option is to create your own extension. Shouldn't be that hard, considering the scope of what's needed. Provided you're a web developer, of course.
stefanvdw1 3y ago
If you don’t mind using an alternative front-end, I’ve built an open source one[0] that supports dark mode and some other things I was missing when using HN on larger screens 0. https://modernorange.io https://modernorange.io
jonathantf2 3y ago
Just use a userstyle?
houseatrielah 3y ago
Dark Reader has a sepia-mode as well as night-mode. I remember reading some pg essay about how he patched a customer's issue with lisp while the customer was still on the phone... but still no night-mode after 10 years of begging, oh well, first world problems I guess.
duiker101 3y ago
My favorite HN dark theme doesn't seem to be available any longer in its original form, but luckily I was able to save it. https://github.com/duiker101/hackernews-dark-amethyst https://github.com/duiker101/hackernews-dark-amethyst
andreynering 3y ago
I know you mentioned you don't like extensions, but for those that don't mind Dark Reader is really useful: https://darkreader.org/ https://darkreader.org/ I have it setup to enable according to the system. Also, I use the whitelist mode, so I enable on specific websites instead of having it enabled for every one automatically. It's available on mobile via Firefox for Android!
- basch 3y ago
  for anyone trying this for a first time, after installing, click the icon, click more, and there are 4 ways to darkmode a site. filter, filter+, static, dynamic. youll find different ones work better for different sites. then go back to the filter tab and modify brightness and contrast. sometimes the filtermode that is not immediately the best looking "works" the best once fixing the contrast. i prefer hc.yc and hckrnews.com in static.
  - andreynering 3y ago
    Good tips!
- knudude 3y ago
  Thank you for your suggestion! I am currently using it now & it's fantastic!
- utucuro 3y ago
  Darkreader seems to always induce a noticeable performance hit on each computer I've ran it on for some reason when I run it with the default settings. I may try your whitelist method instead and give it another chance...
HPsquared 3y ago
Poor man's dark mode: invert colours on your phone.
untorpid 3y ago
[flagged]
- ftxbro 3y ago
  this is the guy who closes my pull requests and stackoverflow answers and reverts my wikipedia edits
Coronon 3y ago
[dead]
ramesh31 3y ago
Anything that requires adding even a single line of JS to HN is gonna be a hard no from me.
- onetom 3y ago
  it can be done in pure CSS these days: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/@media/prefers-color-scheme https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/@media/pref...
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
Zren 3y ago
I made a Stylus theme for https://news.ycombinator.com https://news.ycombinator.com and https://hckrnews.com https://hckrnews.com https://i.imgur.com/b08pZev.png https://i.imgur.com/b08pZev.png * https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/styl-us/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/styl-us/ Stylus Button > Manage > Write New Style > Import * https://gist.github.com/Zren/d025e06754bb2e0a7de0036fb2eee3fc https://gist.github.com/Zren/d025e06754bb2e0a7de0036fb2eee3f... I personally disable all extensions except uBlockOrigin from auto-updating. If they break, then that prompts me to re-check if they're legit or if they've been bought out (like Stylish) before updating.
Oxodao 3y ago
If you want, I have a dark-ish theme for HN that I've made with Stylus, it mimicks the Synthwave84 theme for VSCode https://github.com/oxodao/synthwave-themed-sites https://github.com/oxodao/synthwave-themed-sites
danielvaughn 3y ago
Funny that I've been on this site for years yet I don't actually know if it's open source. Does anyone know whether it is and if it's open to pull requests? This sounds like it would be a fun project I could knock out in a weekend or so.
redthrow 3y ago
Brave has the built-in dark mode
deleted 3y ago
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chrnola 3y ago
If you’re using the Arc browser, try out this Boost: https://arc.net/boost/E4A26AD9-F0FF-4247-AEAE-27D071FB546B https://arc.net/boost/E4A26AD9-F0FF-4247-AEAE-27D071FB546B
crazygringo 3y ago
Note: extensions don't help for those of us on mobile browsers that don't support extensions. And dark mode is most important/applicable when browsing on your phone before bed. Ideally HN would just follow the user's dark mode OS-wide setting.
- ajdude 3y ago
  I came here to mention this. I access HN via my rss feed on my iPhone and it's always a bit jarring contrasting with the rest of my themes.
- gabrielsroka 3y ago
  I use the Chrome and Brave browsers on Android. Both support dark mode just fine. And it's automatic for every website, the site itself doesn't need to support it. Are you on iOS?
open-source-ux 3y ago
"Hackers like dark modes" Not all programmers like dark mode. Some people with astigmatism have problems with dark mode. Dark Mode Isn’t ‘Easier on the Eyes’ for Everybody (2019) https://www.vice.com/en/article/ywyqxw/apple-dark-mode-eye-strain-battery-life https://www.vice.com/en/article/ywyqxw/apple-dark-mode-eye-s... Extract: > As Gizmodo wrote in 2014, citing research by the Sensory Perception and Interaction Research Group, at University of British Columbia, white backgrounds act as a "crutch" for astigmatic eyes: "People with astigmatism (approximately 50% of the population) find it harder to read white text on black than black text on white."
JohnFen 3y ago
> Hackers like dark modes. Certainly not all hackers like dark modes. But I doubt anyone would object to such a thing existing as an option.
dutchCourage 3y ago
Related: Does anyone know why Hacker News is so... rudimentary? It doesn't have pagination and lacks accessibility features. I understand why it's kept simple but for a tech related forum it's suprisingly clunky.
onetom 3y ago
what many of those hackers don't realize, it's that their dark mode theme is very hard to read at low brightness levels, so when they switch to some light windows, it pokes their eyes out obviously. instead of forcing everything to be configured for dark theme, it would be a lot simpler to just drastically lower the brightness at night and keep using light themes. one trick is to lower the brightness slightly dimmer than comfortable and let your pupils take 2-3 seconds to adapt. another trick, on iOS/macOS, if you combine this with true tone and night shift, then your eyes will be strained even less!
brm100 3y ago
Why not just use https://www.darkhn.com/ https://www.darkhn.com/ Works for me.
Simulacra 3y ago
Plus one for dark mode.
dontchooseanick 3y ago
Is this one dark enough for you ? [0] I call it `links https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36342085 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36342085` Oh and don't tell me you're a hacker if you've never tried Hacker News in the terminal emulator. Dark, Perfectly dark, Green-dark \o/ [0] https://ibb.co/QHLWHZm https://ibb.co/QHLWHZm
jaylittle 3y ago
Thank you all for your enthusiastic responses! I was sorry to learn that this feature request hasn't seen much traction. However @ksec gave me an idea by linking me to an earlier thread on this very same topic in which somebody suggested that we just create a patch for the existing news.css file. Not sure why this thread got flagged, but I took it upon myself to create a patch for the existing news.css file as well as producing a new news.css file with dark mode support: Patch: https://pastebin.com/Gwq5WSwX https://pastebin.com/Gwq5WSwX Full File Pre-Patched: https://pastebin.com/Nd7JDLLT https://pastebin.com/Nd7JDLLT Again, all thoughts and criticisms of this work will be welcomed. Please help those of us with a dark mode preference enjoy this website more by implementing these changes (after a proper code review of course, as I would expect nothing less from fellow hackers)
ghusto 3y ago
> Note: Telling me to load up some browser extension to handle it is a bit silly as it requires me to implicitly trust the author of said extension which will see and have access to virtually everything on every website I enable it for If the extension asks for permissions to all websites instead of just this one, then yes. Also, "hackers" fix things like this themselves. Also also, I may be reacting strongly to this because I don't like dark mode, or the assumption that I should because I'm a "hacker".
- jaylittle 3y ago
  A proper CSS implementation of this would respect your browser preferences, so everybody could have it work as they'd like ;) I apologize for the implication, it was not on purpose.
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juancn 3y ago
You can tweak it with plugins or extensions, you're a hacker, aren't you? Also, the dark mode is extremely hard to read for some people (specially older people). It causes you pupil to dilate (less light on the eyes) and shifts the focus point on the retina slightly. Don't get me started on transparencies...
batperson 3y ago
Here's my custom dark mode CSS if anyone enjoys the google dark mode aesthetic (I inject with the "Stylus" extension, avoid "Stylish" extension at all costs): https://pastebin.com/CsVkRbYM https://pastebin.com/CsVkRbYM Also my CSS for hckrnews.com (my preferred homepage UI): https://pastebin.com/SLRrY9gn https://pastebin.com/SLRrY9gn Looks like this: HN - https://i.imgur.com/P6rDgR8.png https://i.imgur.com/P6rDgR8.png hckrnews.com - https://i.imgur.com/HfjOAYW.png https://i.imgur.com/HfjOAYW.png
bbx 3y ago
I made this 3 years ago: https://jgthms.com/hacker-news-dark-mode/ https://jgthms.com/hacker-news-dark-mode/ I submitted it to HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23203347 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23203347
Triangle9349 3y ago
I use this: Stylus https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stylus/clngdbkpkpeebahjckkjfobafhncgmne https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stylus/clngdbkpkpe... Hacker News Dark Theme https://uso.kkx.one/style/191917 https://uso.kkx.one/style/191917
nokya 3y ago
If you welcome criticism, then here it is: I find your generalization particularly silly ("Hackers like dark modes"). You could have just asked (begged) for a dark mode without invoking a fallacious argument.

126 points by jaylittle 3y ago

baq 3y ago

Never understood the point of dark modes. Am I too old?

Eric_WVGG 3y ago
A computer LCD is effectively a flashlight shining in your face. If you read in bed every night, it's jarring and annoying.
- bookofjoe 3y ago
  "No screens in the bedroom" is a quick and dirty way to improve insomnia.
andreynering 3y ago
It's easier to your eyes at night or cloudy days. I have my devices setup to switch automatically by hour of day. Sometimes I switch manually when I want to.
Solvency 3y ago
I like to read HN in the evening to unwind. A bright white website after dark is a great way to disrupt your melatonin production and affect your ability to fall to sleep. Dimming your phone brightness does not help sufficiently at all. In a dark room it's still like a relative flashlight in your eyes. This should not be such a head scratcher to understand.
- ghusto 3y ago
  > A bright white website after dark is a great way to disrupt your melatonin production and affect your ability to fall to sleep. I don't think that's true: https://time.com/5752454/blue-light-sleep/ https://time.com/5752454/blue-light-sleep/ This is a pet peeve of mine precisely because of the first line in that article: > It’s become a virtually unchallenged piece of conventional wisdom that exposure to blue light—the type emitted by electronic device screens—is bad for sleep.
  - w1nst0nsm1th 3y ago
    I read somewhere that blue light theory is a corporate bullshit financed by glasses makers to add 50$ by glass the sell you for a production cost of ) 50 cents. A little like the 2000kcal by day by the agri-business lobby or the 1,5l of water by the water and soda business lobby.
    - Solvency 3y ago
      Weird to exclude the ultimate form of corporate bullshit: vaccine makers (ie: corporations) are federally protected from any and all civil action against them. And they're one of the few drugs that are effectively mandatory for approximately 76 million children. Every single year. A literal money making machine. Protected by law. For the benefit of corporations. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/300aa-22#:~:text=No%20State%20may%20establish%20or,not%20barred%20by%20this%20part https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/300aa-22#:~:text=....
      - haldujai 3y ago
        Excuse me? For the benefit of corporations? Polio used to be a thing in the western world, measles is coming back. Mandatory childhood vaccines are for the benefit of children and society. You’re also misrepresenting the NCVIA, the net result is arbitration that is easier to get a payout from as causality does not need to be proven. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Childhood_Vaccine_Injury_Act https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Childhood_Vaccine_I...
kagevf 3y ago
Maybe not old enough? ;-) I use to prefer light mode exclusively, but my eyes feel more comfortable with dark mode as I get older.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  I'm a graybeard, but I find dark modes to be much more difficult to read than light ones. I've never really understood the appeal of dark modes (outside of just aesthetics), but I do understand that they have an appeal to some.
  - kagevf 3y ago
    Fair enough. For sure it's subjective factors (personal taste, etc) + objective ones (surrounding lighting, time of day, how long you've already been looking at a screen, and so on ...).
anonzzzies 3y ago
Same. I am probably too old too, but it really doesn’t help me with anything…
CharlesW 3y ago
No. The primary benefit of "dark mode" is that it reduces eye strain for folks using their monitor at a brightness set too high for their environment. It can also just look cool, which is fine too. Dark mode myths are summarized here: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/dark-mode-chrome-android-ios-science https://www.wired.co.uk/article/dark-mode-chrome-android-ios...
- UI_at_80x24 3y ago
  >using their monitor at a brightness set too high for their environment That's rather dismissive and ablest. I need high contrast. Dark background and bright text allow me to view the content. Screen brightness plays a role here too, but it's used to enhance the contrast, not compete against it.
  - CharlesW 3y ago
    > I need high contrast. Me too! That's an independent issue, though. Normal HN text has a contrast ratio of 19.34:1, which is great. In contrast (ha ha), greyed-out text has a contrast ratio of 3.54:1, which is terrible. So, HN should definitely fix text/background contrast ratios ASAP, whether or not they add a dark mode.
    - UI_at_80x24 3y ago
      >So, HN should definitely fix text/background contrast ratios ASAP, whether or not they add a dark mode. Agreed!
- basch 3y ago
  white backgrounds can be very hard to use or distracting to people with floaters in their eyes. dark mode makes concentration possible.
- dunham 3y ago
  I could go either way, but switching back and forth is hard on me, so I tend to go light because the web is light. (Also because a lot of dark mode stuff tends to be crazy low contrast.) I do however use dark mode when reading in bed and wish there was a pdf reader that did it.
mnd999 3y ago
No, I never understood the point either. But then I learned to code on a ZX Spectrum where everything was light mode so maybe that’s it.
onemoresoop 3y ago
No, maybe it's your eyes that are okay with non-darkmode. I am not using darkmode by reducing by using nightmode all the time but darkmode is totally a fine way to spend time in front of the computer if that makes you comfortable.
a_c 3y ago
I understand the appeal of dark mode - to reduce eye strain, especially in dim environment. I suggest to not read your screen at all in the bedroom. It is the best down time for one's mind. Maybe I have undiagnosed eye problem. If the dark mode has a strong contrast with text, I see shadow/aura for minutes. It doesn't happen if the contrast is reduced nor in non-dark mode. I wonder if anyone has similar problem?
- ghusto 3y ago
  I have the same, and agreed on the advice of not using screens when you're trying to unwind.
Veen 3y ago
I think it's largely a matter of taste, although there are people for whom bright interfaces cause accessibility issues. Personally, I can't stand light-on-dark interfaces and turn them off wherever I can, although that may be because I have an astigmatism and dark interfaces supposedly cause problems (although I'm not convinced that's the reason in my case).
onetom 3y ago
the older i was getting the more i noticed that i can read light mode better than dark mode. one day, when i was about 42 years old, sitting on a ferry on a very sunny day, i could hardly see my MacBook screen. switched to light mode and while the image was still a bit faint, it became totally readable. I'm not using anything in dark mode ever since.
mid-kid 3y ago
It's a way to forgo real customizability by limiting user choice to two colors.
ghusto 3y ago
You are too old to fall for bullshit. The argument is that dark mode is needed to tackle the problem of blue light messing with your melatonin. However, this has not only never been proven, there are studies to the contrary: https://time.com/5752454/blue-light-sleep/ https://time.com/5752454/blue-light-sleep/ Moreover, dark mode hurts my eyes and does the opposite of the other purported benefit. Screens induce anxiety after long periods of usage, and it has nothing to do with the colour of the light. If you're reading your phone in bed before sleep, you have bigger problems.
mk67 3y ago
I'm seeing a lot of visual snow with bright backgrounds, which is very annoying. Makes it close to impossible to focus.
mikewarot 3y ago
When you get older, and cataracts are a thing... white backgrounds blur and essentially "fill in" dark text, drastically lowering the perceived contrast ratio, and this makes it very hard to read. The inverse is much easier to read for me.

ksec 3y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23197966 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23197966 And probably a dozens more with 100+ comments and hundreds more with a few comments. At this point I have simply given up.

als0 3y ago
Same. It's been 3 years since they said they would do something and it only needs a couple of lines to the CSS.
- danielvaughn 3y ago
  eh to be fair it's a bit more than a couple of lines, but I agree, with a site like HN it shouldn't be too bad.
  - Fauntleroy 3y ago
    I could knock it out in a single day. The people running this site are simply dedicated to the Craiglist style of thought, which is antagonistic to change for "culture" reasons whilst purporting to be for "practical" reasons.
    - danielvaughn 3y ago
      It's interesting - in the linked thread, someone (who seems to be affiliated with hn) said that they're willing to do it but they don't have the CSS expertise. I know I'd be willing to devote some time to it and I'm sure lots of other people would as well.
jaylittle 3y ago
That's actually very helpful, thank you for that. I'm going to work on implementing the CSS changes when I get bored. If that's the only thing standing between a bunch of hackers and dark mode on the hacker news website, I'm going to be very disappointed ;)
jaylittle 3y ago

cuttysnark 3y ago

If you're using ublock origin, I have these filters which I copied from another HN comment once upon a time. news.ycombinator.com##html:style(filter:invert(100%) hue-rotate(180deg)) news.ycombinator.com##body:style(background: white) news.ycombinator.com##div.toptext:style(color: black) news.ycombinator.com###hnmain td[bgcolor="#000000"] edit: "rules" -> "filters"

SV_BubbleTime 3y ago
I’m an embedded dev, so websites and web tech are a black box to me… I’ve never asked, does the ## mean “overwrite” as uBlock DSL?
- umvi 3y ago
  > I’m an embedded dev, so websites and web tech are a black box to me You should start tinkering with embedded webservers then (civetweb, etc)! Even embedded devs should learn web tech because often browsers are the easiest way to interface with router/modem settings, IoT settings, etc. In this case "##" is uBlock filter syntax. Basically "news.ycombinator.com##html:style(filter:invert(100%) hue-rotate(180deg))" means "if the host matches news.ycombinator.com inject the following CSS" Here's the docs if you want to rtfm: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Dashboard:-My-filters https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Dashboard:-My-filters In this case I believe we are dealing with "cosmetic filters": https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Procedural-cosmetic-filters https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Procedural-cosmetic-f...
  - dunham 3y ago
    TIL that ublock lets you inject CSS. I've been using tampermonkey for that (most recently to fix the mspace tags on ncatlab.org).
  - hn92726819 3y ago
    > means "if the host matches news.ycombinator.com inject the following CSS" Well I wouldn't word it like that. youtube.com##.ytp-cards-teaser Hides elements with the selector ".ytp-cards-teaser", so ## doesn't represent "inject the followong CSS". This is a helpful link: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Introduction-to-basic-filtering-syntax https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Introduction-to-basic... ## represents a cosmetic filter. Though I can't seem to figure out what #$# is still but I know that's also possible to use

renewiltord 3y ago

It is trivial to do. Just write the extension yourself. Won't take more than 15 minutes with ChatGPT.

switch007 3y ago

http://hn.premii.com http://hn.premii.com supports lots of options in addition to dark mode

fineIllregister 3y ago

This is a reason third-party apps are useful. I use a random app I got off f-droid and it has a dark mode.

oblak 3y ago

I understand not trusting random developer, which means your only option is to create your own extension. Shouldn't be that hard, considering the scope of what's needed. Provided you're a web developer, of course.

stefanvdw1 3y ago

If you don’t mind using an alternative front-end, I’ve built an open source one[0] that supports dark mode and some other things I was missing when using HN on larger screens 0. https://modernorange.io https://modernorange.io

jonathantf2 3y ago

Just use a userstyle?

houseatrielah 3y ago

Dark Reader has a sepia-mode as well as night-mode. I remember reading some pg essay about how he patched a customer's issue with lisp while the customer was still on the phone... but still no night-mode after 10 years of begging, oh well, first world problems I guess.

duiker101 3y ago

My favorite HN dark theme doesn't seem to be available any longer in its original form, but luckily I was able to save it. https://github.com/duiker101/hackernews-dark-amethyst https://github.com/duiker101/hackernews-dark-amethyst

andreynering 3y ago

I know you mentioned you don't like extensions, but for those that don't mind Dark Reader is really useful: https://darkreader.org/ https://darkreader.org/ I have it setup to enable according to the system. Also, I use the whitelist mode, so I enable on specific websites instead of having it enabled for every one automatically. It's available on mobile via Firefox for Android!

basch 3y ago
for anyone trying this for a first time, after installing, click the icon, click more, and there are 4 ways to darkmode a site. filter, filter+, static, dynamic. youll find different ones work better for different sites. then go back to the filter tab and modify brightness and contrast. sometimes the filtermode that is not immediately the best looking "works" the best once fixing the contrast. i prefer hc.yc and hckrnews.com in static.
- andreynering 3y ago
  Good tips!
knudude 3y ago
Thank you for your suggestion! I am currently using it now & it's fantastic!
utucuro 3y ago
Darkreader seems to always induce a noticeable performance hit on each computer I've ran it on for some reason when I run it with the default settings. I may try your whitelist method instead and give it another chance...

HPsquared 3y ago

Poor man's dark mode: invert colours on your phone.

untorpid 3y ago

[flagged]

ftxbro 3y ago
this is the guy who closes my pull requests and stackoverflow answers and reverts my wikipedia edits

Coronon 3y ago

[dead]

ramesh31 3y ago

Anything that requires adding even a single line of JS to HN is gonna be a hard no from me.

onetom 3y ago
it can be done in pure CSS these days: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/@media/prefers-color-scheme https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/@media/pref...
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

Zren 3y ago

I made a Stylus theme for https://news.ycombinator.com https://news.ycombinator.com and https://hckrnews.com https://hckrnews.com https://i.imgur.com/b08pZev.png https://i.imgur.com/b08pZev.png * https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/styl-us/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/styl-us/ Stylus Button > Manage > Write New Style > Import * https://gist.github.com/Zren/d025e06754bb2e0a7de0036fb2eee3fc https://gist.github.com/Zren/d025e06754bb2e0a7de0036fb2eee3f... I personally disable all extensions except uBlockOrigin from auto-updating. If they break, then that prompts me to re-check if they're legit or if they've been bought out (like Stylish) before updating.

Oxodao 3y ago

If you want, I have a dark-ish theme for HN that I've made with Stylus, it mimicks the Synthwave84 theme for VSCode https://github.com/oxodao/synthwave-themed-sites https://github.com/oxodao/synthwave-themed-sites

danielvaughn 3y ago

Funny that I've been on this site for years yet I don't actually know if it's open source. Does anyone know whether it is and if it's open to pull requests? This sounds like it would be a fun project I could knock out in a weekend or so.

redthrow 3y ago

Brave has the built-in dark mode

deleted 3y ago

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chrnola 3y ago

If you’re using the Arc browser, try out this Boost: https://arc.net/boost/E4A26AD9-F0FF-4247-AEAE-27D071FB546B https://arc.net/boost/E4A26AD9-F0FF-4247-AEAE-27D071FB546B

crazygringo 3y ago

Note: extensions don't help for those of us on mobile browsers that don't support extensions. And dark mode is most important/applicable when browsing on your phone before bed. Ideally HN would just follow the user's dark mode OS-wide setting.

ajdude 3y ago
I came here to mention this. I access HN via my rss feed on my iPhone and it's always a bit jarring contrasting with the rest of my themes.
gabrielsroka 3y ago
I use the Chrome and Brave browsers on Android. Both support dark mode just fine. And it's automatic for every website, the site itself doesn't need to support it. Are you on iOS?

open-source-ux 3y ago

"Hackers like dark modes" Not all programmers like dark mode. Some people with astigmatism have problems with dark mode. Dark Mode Isn’t ‘Easier on the Eyes’ for Everybody (2019) https://www.vice.com/en/article/ywyqxw/apple-dark-mode-eye-strain-battery-life https://www.vice.com/en/article/ywyqxw/apple-dark-mode-eye-s... Extract: > As Gizmodo wrote in 2014, citing research by the Sensory Perception and Interaction Research Group, at University of British Columbia, white backgrounds act as a "crutch" for astigmatic eyes: "People with astigmatism (approximately 50% of the population) find it harder to read white text on black than black text on white."

JohnFen 3y ago

> Hackers like dark modes. Certainly not all hackers like dark modes. But I doubt anyone would object to such a thing existing as an option.

dutchCourage 3y ago

Related: Does anyone know why Hacker News is so... rudimentary? It doesn't have pagination and lacks accessibility features. I understand why it's kept simple but for a tech related forum it's suprisingly clunky.

onetom 3y ago

what many of those hackers don't realize, it's that their dark mode theme is very hard to read at low brightness levels, so when they switch to some light windows, it pokes their eyes out obviously. instead of forcing everything to be configured for dark theme, it would be a lot simpler to just drastically lower the brightness at night and keep using light themes. one trick is to lower the brightness slightly dimmer than comfortable and let your pupils take 2-3 seconds to adapt. another trick, on iOS/macOS, if you combine this with true tone and night shift, then your eyes will be strained even less!

brm100 3y ago

Why not just use https://www.darkhn.com/ https://www.darkhn.com/ Works for me.

Simulacra 3y ago

Plus one for dark mode.

dontchooseanick 3y ago

Is this one dark enough for you ? [0] I call it `links https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36342085 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36342085` Oh and don't tell me you're a hacker if you've never tried Hacker News in the terminal emulator. Dark, Perfectly dark, Green-dark \o/ [0] https://ibb.co/QHLWHZm https://ibb.co/QHLWHZm

jaylittle 3y ago

Thank you all for your enthusiastic responses! I was sorry to learn that this feature request hasn't seen much traction. However @ksec gave me an idea by linking me to an earlier thread on this very same topic in which somebody suggested that we just create a patch for the existing news.css file. Not sure why this thread got flagged, but I took it upon myself to create a patch for the existing news.css file as well as producing a new news.css file with dark mode support: Patch: https://pastebin.com/Gwq5WSwX https://pastebin.com/Gwq5WSwX Full File Pre-Patched: https://pastebin.com/Nd7JDLLT https://pastebin.com/Nd7JDLLT Again, all thoughts and criticisms of this work will be welcomed. Please help those of us with a dark mode preference enjoy this website more by implementing these changes (after a proper code review of course, as I would expect nothing less from fellow hackers)

ghusto 3y ago

> Note: Telling me to load up some browser extension to handle it is a bit silly as it requires me to implicitly trust the author of said extension which will see and have access to virtually everything on every website I enable it for If the extension asks for permissions to all websites instead of just this one, then yes. Also, "hackers" fix things like this themselves. Also also, I may be reacting strongly to this because I don't like dark mode, or the assumption that I should because I'm a "hacker".

jaylittle 3y ago
A proper CSS implementation of this would respect your browser preferences, so everybody could have it work as they'd like ;) I apologize for the implication, it was not on purpose.

deleted 3y ago

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juancn 3y ago

You can tweak it with plugins or extensions, you're a hacker, aren't you? Also, the dark mode is extremely hard to read for some people (specially older people). It causes you pupil to dilate (less light on the eyes) and shifts the focus point on the retina slightly. Don't get me started on transparencies...

batperson 3y ago

Here's my custom dark mode CSS if anyone enjoys the google dark mode aesthetic (I inject with the "Stylus" extension, avoid "Stylish" extension at all costs): https://pastebin.com/CsVkRbYM https://pastebin.com/CsVkRbYM Also my CSS for hckrnews.com (my preferred homepage UI): https://pastebin.com/SLRrY9gn https://pastebin.com/SLRrY9gn Looks like this: HN - https://i.imgur.com/P6rDgR8.png https://i.imgur.com/P6rDgR8.png hckrnews.com - https://i.imgur.com/HfjOAYW.png https://i.imgur.com/HfjOAYW.png

bbx 3y ago

I made this 3 years ago: https://jgthms.com/hacker-news-dark-mode/ https://jgthms.com/hacker-news-dark-mode/ I submitted it to HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23203347 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23203347

Triangle9349 3y ago

I use this: Stylus https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stylus/clngdbkpkpeebahjckkjfobafhncgmne https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stylus/clngdbkpkpe... Hacker News Dark Theme https://uso.kkx.one/style/191917 https://uso.kkx.one/style/191917

nokya 3y ago

If you welcome criticism, then here it is: I find your generalization particularly silly ("Hackers like dark modes"). You could have just asked (begged) for a dark mode without invoking a fallacious argument.