So, if I’m reading this right it’s basically just a 17 paragraph essay that boils down to, “Sorry we suck at CSS and it took us a decade to finally get around to rooting out all the random shit from 2014 that was hard-coded to display as rgb(0,0,0) or whatever, which was a capability that in retrospect we really shouldn’t have handed out like candy?”
The TV Tropes wiki has managed to have a built in dark mode for at least the last 7 years. TV Tropes. Come on, guys.
I’m baffled by the section about “making a shortcut that darkens all the colors on the page.” I’m positive that’s the intent of that entire blurb, to dazzle people with bullshit in the hopes that they won’t ask Hard Questions, because no competent designer would ever try such a thing. It is a self-evidently moronic idea. You don’t fuck with elements you didn’t create and don’t control, like images and color swatches.
There are only really two viable possibilities, here:
- If arbitrary user definable, hard-coded colors in content are permissible, you’ll have to accept the fact that the cards will fall where they may and some instances will inherently be suboptimal in either light or dark modes, or…
- Accept that you won’t allow users to hard-code colors into anything outside of specific elements where that usage is valid, so users will just have to suck it up and pick from a list of preapproved color combinations with light and dark mode renditions.
Isn’t #2 the only option?
Websites specifying color for foreground (or background) and assuming browsers will use whatever color they’re expecting for the other has always existed, and still exists
If you’re getting fancy and specifying colors, you can’t cheap out and not specify all colors
If the browser ignores all your colors at that point, then it’s displaying as the user intended
If you only specified some of the colors, it’s a bug of the website
There are actually things websites can do which may be more common than you’d think. At a high level you could convert all the custom colours to HSV format and slightly lower the value and saturation according to some function. This is fairly common for images.
Like how amazing an innovation in NYC the technology which is… Plastic trash cans! With lids!
All I want is “follow system theme” for us light mode at day, dark at night fellows.
They added that too!
Cool
I’ve always been kind of curious: am I weird because I prefer light mode for web pages with a lot of text to read? Or is it more of an age-gated thing, like older people who grew up reading printed texts only prefer what’s familiar to them? I’m fine with YouTube (for example) having a black background and dark theme, but I even browse Lemmy via old.lemmy.world in light mode!
Light mode is likely just your personal preference, and there’s nothing wrong with it.
I used dark themes/color schemes, long before there was a dark mode for everything. I was surprised when it finally became a thing and the new generation of dark themes was flawless (good bye unaddressed bright backgrounds which make everything unreadable!). So I can continue sitting in the Dark while not being blinded by a bright screen.
I’m an old fogey who grew up reading physical books and newspapers but I absolutely need dark mode on backlit displays. I despise light mode.
Light mode is pretty hard on the eyes in dim lighting, the same way dark mode is in full sun. Health-wise, it’s best to decrease the amount of light as bed time approaches and that includes screens beaming light into our face.
My computer defaults to light mode every morning and then I toggle dark later in the day when it becomes the more comfortable setting. So, for me it’s not really about “preference”.
Very happy to have dark mode Wikipedia for late night queries!
How old are you? I’m in my early 30s, definitely grew up with computers most of my life, and internet almost as long, but also read plenty of physical paper books. I greatly prefer darker color schemes.
That said, I’m also a software developer so I’m a bit biased and learned long ago that dark mode is much easier on the eyes when coding for hours on end, so maybe I’m just used to it.
I hate dark mode, but it’s because I have a pretty bad astigmatism. Dark mode makes all text look like several mirror images swimming around each other, whereas light mode is fine.
^That’s my issue with it. My astigmatism is so bad that when I look at stars there are rays coming off of rays… branching, pretty much. The moon makes several copies of itself. Light mode is much easier to view.
Or is it more of an age-gated thing
Depends how old you consider old, maybe? Computers back in the day were pretty universally light text on a dark background. VIC-20 was an exception but then even Commodore backpedaled on that with the 64. But you might have had a different experience and are only remembering things like Mac OS or Amiga, or Windows, and maybe that has influenced your preference. 🤷♀️ To each their own, anyway.
I don’t think you can make a universal statement of dark versus light. Some programs’ dark modes suck so I use their light mode. Some programs’ light modes suck so I use their dark mode. Hell, some programs’ high contrast modes are so good I use those despite not having any major (uncorrected) visual impairments. Take GitHub. Their high contrast mode is nice and not disgusting. IntelliJ IDEA’s dark mode is good. Eclipse’s light mode is good. It all just depends on the program.
And Solarized sucks ass. There, I said it.
And Solarized sucks ass. There, I said it.
Hard agree.
Having read lots of books, I tend to prefer printed text a lot. Yet I still use dark mode as much as possible; it’s the glare. It’s irritating to read something on a white, glaring surface. Paper doesn’t have that.
I’ll read Wikipedia on e-ink, but on LCD I’ll use dark mode.
Just use what you like, you don’t have to theorize about it
Hmm… Under normal circumstances, sure. But this is an odd thing to say in a conversation specifically about the subject.
Shut up buddy you’re not special because you use dark mode
Quite the character you are, aren’t you?
It depends a lot on your screen, and your lifting situation. Black on white is better in day light, white on black is much better on LED screens (as opposed to backlit LCD or CRT monitors).
Look at Answer in Progress’s video on dark mode, the initial question is a different one about design, but it goes a bit in the difference and dis- versus advantages between dark and light mode.
Light mode:
Cons: blinds you when it’s dark, is grating on the eyes, looks terrible
Pros: can be used as a flashlight in a pinchDark mode:
Pros: looks cool, doesn’t blind you, doesn’t hurt your eyes, easy to read.
Cons: cannot be used as a flashlight
No. Dark mode is just a new hype that’s why it gets so much traction. None of it’s alleged benefits can be scientifically proven, it’s nothing but personal taste.
It’s easier on my eyes. Which is anecdotal, but a large enough portion of the population use dark modes for the same reason. That is not coincidence, and it’s not something I’d write off as merely being hype.
There’s nothing new about dark mode either. Wikipedia is just slow in the uptake. Besides Wikipedia, dark modes have existed for more than a decade.
Ok so just use it but stop making it your whole personality
My whole personality? The fuck you smoking to be so hateful towards dark mode? We’re literally here talking about it. You decided to join in with a weird ass take.
With OLED screens, pure black backgrounds are amazing for reading in a pitch black environment.
None of it’s alleged benefits can be scientifically proven, it’s nothing but personal taste.
Not to mention, they literally scientifically proved that dark mode extends battery life with OLED screens. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3458864.3467682
Again, just use what you like and shut up
You’re the one saying there aren’t scientific benefits when there actually are. You’re the one who literally said something factually incorrect.
I guess I’ll stick with dark reader for now
Come to the Dark Mode: we have more accessible comprehension
Oh my fucking god FUCKING FINALLY
Only skimmed the article: why did their initial theme color solution affect the media contents like international orange? Feels like that would be a non-starter…
Well that sucks. My favorite Pink Pedia number is Shine On, You Crazy Wiki.
