One problem with light modes is that they tend to be higher contrast or harsh, or pick their colours in a weird way. Last time I looked at trying light modes anyway, I tried over 20 extensions
Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode
21–30 of 57 posts
Re: Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode
#22Definitely not. Reduces my eye strain. Been doing it for about 10 years
Re: Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode
#23I started as a developer in the 80s on vt100 terminals with green and amber on black screens. I vividly remember how nice it was to switch to a light background without flicker and have never looked back. Choose what works for you.
Amber monitors on a Hercules video card was supercrisp and easy on the eyes, but it was probably my young vision. Nowadays I also code better on white backgrounds, although I still prefer the console with black background.
Re: Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode
#24I prefer black on white (or off-white) in Emacs and in the macOS terminal. It reminds me of paper and therefore feels “natural”.
Re: Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode
#25I used to use dark mode but for a few years now I strongly prefer light mode. For Vim and Vscode I use the papercolor (papercolor redux for vscode) theme and on Emacs I use the hemisu-light theme. Both of them are great.
I still use most terminals in dark mode because I dislike their light color themes.
I guess the essence is that I prefer light themes if they are really good (for me). In the end this is all subjective and you should just choose by comparing themes yourself and not because others use "some theme".
Re: Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode
#26I've noticed people either prefer dark or light when working. It's very binary.
In my 20s/early 30s I really preferred a dark environment when coding. It's how I "grew up" with my first job back in the 90s, based in a cellar.
At some point around being ~36-38 years old I randomly started feeling that I preferred a light environment - a view outside would be really nice too.
I think it's mostly due to what you're used to.
Re: Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode
#27The more light that hits your eyes, the more your iris contracts. The smaller hole makes for a clearer image (think of a pinhole camera). People who like dark mode have good vision at screen distance. For some others, they need to strain their eyes more to focus at that distance. For me, the best is to have dark text on a light enough background, enough screen brightness overall, and a well lit room (natural light is…
I’m not sure there would be significant contraction at normal screen FOVs and brightness levels. Instead I think when your eye is out of focus the white smeared onto a black background is a much stronger signal than black smeared on a white background, due to visual perception’s inherent gamma curve exaggerating small brightness differences much more against low brightness levels (black background) than against high brightness levels (white background). So there is a much stronger perception of blurriness (black background with a +0.X lumen splotchy patch is exponentially more noticeable than a white background with a -0.X splotchy patch).
Re: Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode
#28Dark mode hurts my eyes. My vision is still good enough for black on white background text but the inverse colors make it physically hurt when I try to read the same text in the same font size due to the slight astigmatism that I have.
Interestingly I developed astigmatism over a few short days when I was under a lot of mental trauma. Not sure if that was causal or just coincident. Can a serious emotional shock damage eyesight?
Re: Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode
#29Dark vs Light mode seems to be the next Vim vs Emacs religious war. I'm on the Dark side.
I've not only got all my IDEs in dark mode, all my browser apps use stylus to darken things if the app doesn't already have it, and my MacOS is set to be permanently dark. And naturally my terminal window as well, and my mobile apps on all devices.
I simply find the strain on my eyes is a lot less. Particularly at night if I feel I need to reply to a message or use the laptop for whatever reason, it doesn't make my eyes hurt to open it. Before my dark mode revelation it would actually make me have to close my eyes.
Aethetically it makes sense too. With dark your laptop stops being a massive source of light, it's more of an everyday object that fits in any lighting.
Re: Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode
#30It seems most of us develop astigmatisms from using our screens less than an hour, particularly when at a 40 dev angle (like a laptop, phone) [1] and despite being temporary (mins, hours, days) the astigmatisms themselves vary in angles and wavelengths (read dark text, light text) effected from person to person. All of this adds up to no one person having the same level of strain from the same colors/brightness, and then compounded by it constantly changing and shifting with eye strain. For example, one of my eyes has trouble focusing on dark blue on bright white as the day progresses, the other eye hates red on black.