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Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

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Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#21

Post by CSSer »

imron wrote: post #14
CSSer wrote: post #5

They taught us this in advertising. White text scatters over the iris on a dark background, so it’s harder to read the copy. I’ve even read it in UX articles. It was amusing to get out of school and into the tech industry to find dark mode everywhere. Granted, I use it too. Both my terminal and editor have dark themes. I’m not really sure why. The terminal isn’t really a big deal to me. I could go either way there. B…

> I’m not really sure why. For me, it’s because too much white background feels like staring directly at a light globe for several hours a day, and it hurts my eyes.

I can’t argue with that. I think the syntax highlighting is also part of it. It’s hard to have vivid, readily meaningful colors against a background that is washing everything out. Shades of dark text just aren’t as compelling. Come to think of it, that’s probably why most light themes are “solarized”. I guess you can only go so bright.

Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#22

Post by Barrin92 »

ritchiea wrote: post #4

Customize your device for your comfort. Even if there are studies that show on average humans retain information better reading in light mode. That's merely the average! Variation is the only certainty in biology. It's good we have options. First I found I read my kindle more than physical books even though I prefer the look and feel of physical books. Then I found I read even more on my ipad with the kindle app show…

>Customize your device for your comfort.

I think the better advice is, customize your environment for your comfort.

Often the reason why people use dark mode is that they use their devices in badly lit environments. It's not a good idea to stare into a bright monitor in a dark room, and the dark mode is arguably the wrong fix for the problem. Reading in dimly lit rooms is known to cause headaches and eye strain and should generally be avoided.

If someone really needs to work in a dark environment tools like flux/redshift are a better solution.

Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#23

Post by mjevans »

zzo38computer wrote: post #7

I think that they should mostly avoid CSS when needed, and then it should use the default colours configured by the user. But when they need to specify colours in their document, then they should specify all of them (specifying only some colours and not others causes problems) and use the "prefers-color-scheme" command to implement it. It is then the user's job if they like dark mode or not. If you do not like dark m…

This is a relatively new CSS property I hadn't heard of yet.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/@media/pref...

Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#24

Post by gruez »

CSSer wrote: post #18
gruez wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>White text scatters over the iris on a dark background, so it’s harder to read the copy. I’ve even read it in UX articles. That doesn't make sense. Why does light from white text scatter, but not light from white background?

I’ll admit it’s not the best phrasing (and I’m definitely not an ophthalmologist, so I’m playing fast and loose here). Your pupils dilate to let in more light because there’s less light overall when the background is black. This causes your lens to distort slightly, thus making the edges of the white text appear to be fuzzy or bleed into surrounding characters. I couldn’t find a scientific source on this, but a coupl…

>[...] This causes your lens to distort slightly, thus making the edges of the white text appear to be fuzzy or bleed into surrounding characters

The effect you're describing is correct, but the mechanism isn't. Aperture (pupil) size directly affects how focused the image is. The smaller the aperture, the sharper the image is. As an extreme example, if your aperture is a single point (a pinhole camera), the image can be focused without a lens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture#Maximum_and_minimum_a...

>I couldn’t find a scientific source on this, but a couple articles called it the “Halation effect”.

Articles describing this seems to say it's caused by the film medium, rather than being an optical effect.

Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#25

Post by tdsamardzhiev »

CSSer wrote: post #5

They taught us this in advertising. White text scatters over the iris on a dark background, so it’s harder to read the copy. I’ve even read it in UX articles. It was amusing to get out of school and into the tech industry to find dark mode everywhere. Granted, I use it too. Both my terminal and editor have dark themes. I’m not really sure why. The terminal isn’t really a big deal to me. I could go either way there. B…

If science says I'd be more productive with a light theme, then we need better science.

"On a biological level, our eyes prefer the contrast between a light background and dark foreground."

On a biological level, our eyes prefer not to stare at a light source all day every day. Yet here we are.

Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#26

Post by nikkwong »

I thought this article was going to point out that something had been discovered that challenged our belief about the way light influences our own circadian rhythm—nope! Dark mode for me is imperative, since I use my devices at night, and want my body to stay aligned to it's internal biological clock as closely as possible. Pretty significant omission.

Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#27

Post by sadfklsjlkjwt »

lkesteloot wrote: post #19

"Unless you’re using an OLED or AMOLED screen and your dark mode is truly black – not dark grey, not dark blue, BLACK. There is no difference in power consumption." I thought this was a myth. I looked into it last year and found that power consumption was (roughly) proportional to brightness. At a meta-level, I'm surprised that something with so factual (and testable) an answer can still not be settled.

Colour is orthogonal to brightness for LCD screens.

Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#28

Post by tqi »

lkesteloot wrote: post #19

"Unless you’re using an OLED or AMOLED screen and your dark mode is truly black – not dark grey, not dark blue, BLACK. There is no difference in power consumption." I thought this was a myth. I looked into it last year and found that power consumption was (roughly) proportional to brightness. At a meta-level, I'm surprised that something with so factual (and testable) an answer can still not be settled.

https://www.xda-developers.com/amoled-black-vs-gray-dark-mod...

According to this article there is a difference (between grey and black), but it is very small?

Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#29

Post by sxp »

CSSer wrote: post #18
gruez wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>White text scatters over the iris on a dark background, so it’s harder to read the copy. I’ve even read it in UX articles. That doesn't make sense. Why does light from white text scatter, but not light from white background?

I’ll admit it’s not the best phrasing (and I’m definitely not an ophthalmologist, so I’m playing fast and loose here). Your pupils dilate to let in more light because there’s less light overall when the background is black. This causes your lens to distort slightly, thus making the edges of the white text appear to be fuzzy or bleed into surrounding characters. I couldn’t find a scientific source on this, but a coupl…

To understand the difference between a small pupil and a large one, it's useful to understand how "aperture" settings work on a camera: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture

Specifically, bright light results in a small pupil which allows for better focus. And low light results in a large pupil which reduces focus.

Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#30

Post by NoSorryCannot »

Barrin92 wrote: post #22
ritchiea wrote: post #4

Customize your device for your comfort. Even if there are studies that show on average humans retain information better reading in light mode. That's merely the average! Variation is the only certainty in biology. It's good we have options. First I found I read my kindle more than physical books even though I prefer the look and feel of physical books. Then I found I read even more on my ipad with the kindle app show…

>Customize your device for your comfort. I think the better advice is, customize your environment for your comfort. Often the reason why people use dark mode is that they use their devices in badly lit environments . It's not a good idea to stare into a bright monitor in a dark room, and the dark mode is arguably the wrong fix for the problem. Reading in dimly lit rooms is known to cause headaches and eye strain and…

While true, it'd be nice if they could meet in the middle. Laptops and phones autodim but I can't say I've seen this on desktop monitors. I see dark mode (not enough of it though), auto dark mode much more rarely. Lights that autodim are a thing but not common and usually part of the internet of shit.

I don't really want to customize things multiple times daily. And if I have to pick, it will be dark, because it's easier on the eyes when the sun goes down and I dim the lights in anticipation of going to bed.

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