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Ask HN: Dark Mode for HN is overdue

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Ask HN: Dark Mode for HN is overdue

#41

Post by QuantumNoodle »

Davidbrcz wrote: post #31
theturtlemoves wrote: post #13

Personally, I think dark mode is unnecessary feature creep. But it's also because I never use it and hate it when it's the default and I have to go hunt for the hidden button to switch it off: I need lots of light, otherwise letters get blurry for me, so I'm just another biased human being =)

Dark mode is also about accessibility for some visually impaired users https://drgrizz.xyz/dark-mode.html

TIL.

I'd also add for the defense of white themes that with OLED panels showing up everywhere (where dark pixels are effectively shut off), that a dark BG with light FG/text has quite a bit of a "halo" effect on the letters and this fuzziness wreaks havock on my eyesight/fatigue.

Re: Ask HN: Dark Mode for HN is overdue

#42

Post by [deleted] »

Davidbrcz wrote: post #31
theturtlemoves wrote: post #13

Personally, I think dark mode is unnecessary feature creep. But it's also because I never use it and hate it when it's the default and I have to go hunt for the hidden button to switch it off: I need lots of light, otherwise letters get blurry for me, so I'm just another biased human being =)

Dark mode is also about accessibility for some visually impaired users https://drgrizz.xyz/dark-mode.html

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Dark Mode for HN is overdue

#43

Post by moralestapia »

postalcoder wrote: post #36

I've been actively developing https://hcker.news , a replacement for the hacker news frontpage. It does its best to be familiar with the hn reading experience while adding a lot of missing features. A lot of people use it on the regular and I have been lucky to have a lot of their feedback since I shared it here a few months ago. I just added support for comments too! I'd love to know what folks think.

It's even brighter than the original.

Th-thanks ...

Re: Ask HN: Dark Mode for HN is overdue

#44

Post by lrpe »

setnone wrote: post #24

A quote from the post you mentioned > I don't want my eyes to burn when I'm browsing HN at night on my phone Is it just me who feels completely opposite? I struggle to read dark, text-heavy websites for the exact same reason. Also, if dark mode ends up happening, please put the checkbox on the account page, the UI is busy enough :)

No. It's not just you.

I have nothing against dark mode in principle, but please don't make it the default. Respect the user's preference.

Or, at the very least, don't use white on black. Soften the contrast so that, if you force me to read it, it's not burned into my vision.

Re: Ask HN: Dark Mode for HN is overdue

#46

Post by postalcoder »

moralestapia wrote: post #43
postalcoder wrote: post #36

I've been actively developing https://hcker.news , a replacement for the hacker news frontpage. It does its best to be familiar with the hn reading experience while adding a lot of missing features. A lot of people use it on the regular and I have been lucky to have a lot of their feedback since I shared it here a few months ago. I just added support for comments too! I'd love to know what folks think.

It's even brighter than the original. Th-thanks ...

haha, i can't believe i forgot to mention you can turn on a dark mode. one of the missing features i added was to make things dark, which was supposed to be the point of the comment.

You have to open up the settings drawer and you can have it match your system scheme.

Re: Ask HN: Dark Mode for HN is overdue

#47

Post by ceving »

This was my first dark mode: https://www.dosforum.de/viewtopic.php?t=12253 Been there, done that. A black background is generally more tiring for the eyes. A black background means less light. Less light means the eye's aperture has to open wider. A wider aperture means less depth of field. Less depth of field means the eye has to work harder to focus. There are reasons for using a black background on a mobile phone, as it can save energy. But for any device that has a power adapter, a black background is simply self-flagellation.

Re: Ask HN: Dark Mode for HN is overdue

#48

Post by florians »

ceving wrote: post #47

This was my first dark mode: https://www.dosforum.de/viewtopic.php?t=12253 Been there, done that. A black background is generally more tiring for the eyes. A black background means less light. Less light means the eye's aperture has to open wider. A wider aperture means less depth of field. Less depth of field means the eye has to work harder to focus. There are reasons for using a black background on a mobile phone,…

It depends on the environment. Of course, reading HN in a dark room will never be pleasant. But looking into a bright white flashlight can really hurt. Good dark modes are not simply black/white but make use of the right font weight and color to reduce glare.

Re: Ask HN: Dark Mode for HN is overdue

#49

Post by florians »

walletdrainer wrote: post #8
specproc wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the point is that it's a very simple interface. I'm in the camp of it ain't broke, so let's not fix it. It gives you an API, doesn't get in your way if you wanna add CSS. Everyone is free to consume HN as they they please, adding extra cruft really isn't in the spirit.

I’m not sure a couple of lines of CSS really counts as “extra cruft” Basically this and prefers-color-scheme: dark https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23202647

This. Thanks for illustrating how little is required for a basic dark mode support.

Re: Ask HN: Dark Mode for HN is overdue

#50

Post by florians »

lrpe wrote: post #44
setnone wrote: post #24

A quote from the post you mentioned > I don't want my eyes to burn when I'm browsing HN at night on my phone Is it just me who feels completely opposite? I struggle to read dark, text-heavy websites for the exact same reason. Also, if dark mode ends up happening, please put the checkbox on the account page, the UI is busy enough :)

No. It's not just you. I have nothing against dark mode in principle, but please don't make it the default. Respect the user's preference. Or, at the very least, don't use white on black. Soften the contrast so that, if you force me to read it, it's not burned into my vision.

The problem is that most sites implement dark mode wrong with too much contrast. It doesn’t work if you make it “black”. It’s more about dimming the lights.

Reading dark pages will never be as good as reading in a well lit room. But there are ways to make it work.

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