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Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode

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Re: Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode

#31

Post by zeta0134 »

Honestly I also find that I can more easily focus on light mode text when I'm well rested. Dark mode for me mostly reduces fatigue over time, preventing the ghosting after-image that my eyes do if they stare at a white background too long.

If dark mode isn't your cup of tea, you might try just decreasing the contrast of your light background or lowering the brightness on your monitor to get the same benefit. But really, your eyes are yours. If your setup works and doesn't seem to be causing you eye strain? Use that! No problem at all.

Re: Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode

#33

Post by cortic »

White text on black is as bad as black text on white for me; But I find off black (12/16/33) background and off-white (248/248/248) text significantly reduces eye-strain, for me at least.

If any of you are anywhere near 40 and feeling eye strain; you might be starting to suffer from presbyopia as i and most do at that age, getting a larger monitor and placing it slightly further away helps a lot more than any theme changes.

Re: Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode

#35

Post by m463 »

derekp7 wrote: post #20

The 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…

this is exactly it.

Dark mode allows your iris to expand, which makes natural optical focus harder to achieve.

With more light, the iris contracts (small pupils) and the light that comes though it is naturally in focus on your retina without muscular help.

In a dark room, with the screen is at a short distance from you, your eye muscles have to squeeze your cornea into the right shape to put the image into focus on your retina.

And the older you get, the more inflexible your retina becomes, and your eye muscles are trying to squeeze a stone.

In either case, reading glasses can help if they are properly adjusted to the distance from your eyes to your screen. the amount of squeezing on the cornea is eliminated (or minimized)

If you are using something closer, like an ipad or phone, you might need higher power reading glasses.

I use +0.75 for my computer screen and +1.25 for something held closer like an ipad.

Oh to be young again! When I was a kid I could focus at infinity AND focus on my fingerprint when my finger was held at the end of my nose.

Re: Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode

#36

Post by AltruisticGapHN »

It’s just a fad. I never really enjoyed dark mode. I always liked to set my editor’s background to a slightly less bright value like #eee.

Dark mode doesn’t soothe the eyes at all. Just look away after using editor in darkmode and you have these bright patches on your retina. With normal dark onlight background, I never notice this.

Just a matter of not setting your monitor brightness to stupidlevels, for example on an iMac 50 to 60% brightness is plenty. On my iPad i hardly ever use 100% brightness.

I do like my terminal in classic dark mode, so maybe i am contradicting,myself? But it’s not the same: i don’t stare at the terminal continuously, idon’t edit in the terminal (eg. vim, i always use gvim).

Re: Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode

#39

Post by ScottBurson »

lordnacho wrote: post #29

Dark 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 fee…

I've always preferred light-on-dark. I have my Emacs background set to #000060, with primary foreground #88FF88. Very soothing.

Re: Ask HN: Can't focus when writing code in dark mode

#40

Post by chadlavi »

I personally prefer dark mode, but I don't think there are strong scientific arguments for either side. It's a matter of personal aesthetic choice and comfort. If light mode is the one for you, go for it!

edit: and I don't know about other folks, but a big part of the decision for me is tied up in nostalgia for an age I never lived in, the whole like, "hacker aesthetic" thing.

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