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I use both auto (when available) and manual brightness adjustments, and the environment in which I do most of my computing gets ample natural light. The proble

I use both auto (when available) and manual brightness adjustments, and the environment in which I do most of my computing gets ample natural light. The problem persists, however, because as the linked posts notes light mode is far brighter than it used to be, and now if I crank brightness down low enough to feel comfortable I'm sacrificing contrast and color vividness to such a degree that (for me) it's actively distracting. So, dark mode on high brightness it is. For code editing, I've always tended towards dark themes ever since they became readily available in IDEs in the late 2000s simply because syntax coloration "pops" so much more strongly than is possible with a light theme. When I use a light theme for code editing it feels almost like staring at a sheet of undifferentiated text in comparison.

piskov 9mo ago
> because syntax coloration "pops" so much more strongly than is possible with a light theme. That’s why I mentioned alabaster: the only thing it highlights is comments and constants. Nowadays I can’t stand “normal” themes even for a minute: they are like blinking Christmas lights for me, too much distraction. Imaging reading the book where each word has different colors for nouns, verbs, what have you — nuts! :-)
- cosmic_cheese 9mo ago
  Feels like a difference in mental structures. Without robust syntax coloring, parsing code is considerably more difficult for me. In more human terms it feels kind of like trying to communicate without being able to use adjectives or something.
  - piskov 9mo ago
    It took a couple of days 10+ years ago to see what the fuss is about (I was an avid “christmas-lighter” before), and I never came back. Also check this: https://tonsky.me/blog/syntax-highlighting/ https://tonsky.me/blog/syntax-highlighting/
    - deleted 9mo ago
      [deleted]
    - D-Machine 9mo ago
      This is a pretty awful post, the problem is his example uses a horrible syntax highlighting scheme that makes use of far too few colours and no other text decorations. In a competent highlighting scheme, you have enough differentiation that every distinct type of thing indeed has a different way it pops.
      - piskov 9mo ago
        Why though? You don’t see a for loop? Or don’t know where is the variable and where is the method? The list goes on. Never in my life I need a color to differentiate between a class name and a variable (they already differ in first-letter case). Or between language keyword and a variable (I’m not 5, I know those keywords by heart). There is a reason we use nouns for variables, verbs for methods, stuff like isReady or hasAccess for booleans and what have you. Color is overrated (or rather very nice for stuff that matters: like comments). I like cursive though to highlight variables that are assigned more than once (bold cursive if it is a parameter, god forbid): instant attention to what is usually a code-smell.
        satvikpendem 9mo ago
        No one needs it, but it's nice to have. It's the difference between being partially or fully colorblind or not being so, in terms of being able to distinguish parts of the codebase more easily. That is what the parent means by "easier to parse code." > I like cursive though to highlight variables that are assigned more than once Exactly, everyone is different, as personally I'd hate cursive and ligatures. Think of it as, what works for you doesn't work for everyone, and what works for them (color) doesn't work for you. But let people have their preferences.
        piskov 9mo ago
        > as personally I'd hate cursive Exactly the reason to fix the code so that there is only a single assignment and therefore no cursive :-)
- robocat 9mo ago
  Imagine some words, or even sentences, beginning with SHOUTING. Initial caps are nuts too -- B Dark.
- yencabulator 9mo ago
  > they are like blinking Christmas lights for me, too much distraction. The older expression that'll find you some similarly-thinking individuals is "angry fruit salad".
D-Machine 9mo ago
Seconding this, light themes cripple syntax highlighting, which in turn makes it far more annoying to quickly scan through code and glean structure. You can make up for this to some degree with text decorations, but, well, with dark schemes you have that too.
- namibj 9mo ago
  Ehhhm, just use solarized light if you need a good light theme...
  - D-Machine 9mo ago
    I have about 1500 lines in my VSCode settings.json dedicated to custom syntax highlighting and text decorations (this could be trimmed, some is from before the days of semantic highlighting), but regardless, the amount of differentiation I can achieve with this is simply not possible on a light background. I've tried! (Solarized light is a nice theme though)

piskov 9mo ago

> because syntax coloration "pops" so much more strongly than is possible with a light theme. That’s why I mentioned alabaster: the only thing it highlights is comments and constants. Nowadays I can’t stand “normal” themes even for a minute: they are like blinking Christmas lights for me, too much distraction. Imaging reading the book where each word has different colors for nouns, verbs, what have you — nuts! :-)

cosmic_cheese 9mo ago
Feels like a difference in mental structures. Without robust syntax coloring, parsing code is considerably more difficult for me. In more human terms it feels kind of like trying to communicate without being able to use adjectives or something.
- piskov 9mo ago
  It took a couple of days 10+ years ago to see what the fuss is about (I was an avid “christmas-lighter” before), and I never came back. Also check this: https://tonsky.me/blog/syntax-highlighting/ https://tonsky.me/blog/syntax-highlighting/
  - deleted 9mo ago
    [deleted]
  - D-Machine 9mo ago
    This is a pretty awful post, the problem is his example uses a horrible syntax highlighting scheme that makes use of far too few colours and no other text decorations. In a competent highlighting scheme, you have enough differentiation that every distinct type of thing indeed has a different way it pops.
    - piskov 9mo ago
      Why though? You don’t see a for loop? Or don’t know where is the variable and where is the method? The list goes on. Never in my life I need a color to differentiate between a class name and a variable (they already differ in first-letter case). Or between language keyword and a variable (I’m not 5, I know those keywords by heart). There is a reason we use nouns for variables, verbs for methods, stuff like isReady or hasAccess for booleans and what have you. Color is overrated (or rather very nice for stuff that matters: like comments). I like cursive though to highlight variables that are assigned more than once (bold cursive if it is a parameter, god forbid): instant attention to what is usually a code-smell.
      - satvikpendem 9mo ago
        No one needs it, but it's nice to have. It's the difference between being partially or fully colorblind or not being so, in terms of being able to distinguish parts of the codebase more easily. That is what the parent means by "easier to parse code." > I like cursive though to highlight variables that are assigned more than once Exactly, everyone is different, as personally I'd hate cursive and ligatures. Think of it as, what works for you doesn't work for everyone, and what works for them (color) doesn't work for you. But let people have their preferences.
        piskov 9mo ago
        > as personally I'd hate cursive Exactly the reason to fix the code so that there is only a single assignment and therefore no cursive :-)
robocat 9mo ago
Imagine some words, or even sentences, beginning with SHOUTING. Initial caps are nuts too -- B Dark.
yencabulator 9mo ago
> they are like blinking Christmas lights for me, too much distraction. The older expression that'll find you some similarly-thinking individuals is "angry fruit salad".

D-Machine 9mo ago

Seconding this, light themes cripple syntax highlighting, which in turn makes it far more annoying to quickly scan through code and glean structure. You can make up for this to some degree with text decorations, but, well, with dark schemes you have that too.

namibj 9mo ago
Ehhhm, just use solarized light if you need a good light theme...
- D-Machine 9mo ago
  I have about 1500 lines in my VSCode settings.json dedicated to custom syntax highlighting and text decorations (this could be trimmed, some is from before the days of semantic highlighting), but regardless, the amount of differentiation I can achieve with this is simply not possible on a light background. I've tried! (Solarized light is a nice theme though)