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Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

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Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#111

Post by eyelidlessness »

jimbobimbo wrote: post #103

To me, the biggest issue with dark mode is that it doesn't differentiate between chrome and content. Dark chrome helps light content pop, reduces distractions. Unfortunately, the moment one turns it (dark chrome) on, the content goes dark too. Depending on your eyesight, you might be OK. I for one can't look at dark content in light ambient conditions for longer than few minutes without discomfort.

FWIW, and as a person who almost always prefers light mode but who’s also invested a fair bit of energy into getting dark modes right, one of the nuances of a good dark mode implementation is that it uses darker areas very similarly to light mode. A generally good light mode and its corresponding generally good dark mode will usually map:

- Base background: white or slightly off white -> a dark enough grey or off-grey for good baseline contrast

- Borders: darker on the grey scale -> dark enough to strongly contrast the base background, or omitted for bordered areas which are already that dark

- Toolbars, window handles, other concrete “chrome” areas: darker than baseline, for both light and dark modes

- Buttons and text: high contrast, dark in light mode, light in dark mode

- Active items: accent color or outline for maximum contrast

- Colors generally: the same hues except when other color perception preferences are chosen (for either mode), but generally a slightly lower saturation for dark mode backgrounds, and hue adjustments for color perception errors in color spaces

All of this in my experience needs a lot of eyeballing but quite a lot could probably be approximated with good perceptual light and color models. But I’ll still prefer light mode most of the time.

Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#113

Post by irjustin »

Is it good for your eyes? No, but is it bad/destructive - definitely not. So that leaves it up to personal preference.

The article seems to try to make an argument that non-darkmode is better, but the gap is so tiny it reminds me of the Coleman, Dvorak, QWERTY, etc arguments.

The differences are so tiny just do what you want.

Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#114

Post by kitsunesoba »

wincy wrote: post #94

I was a big believer in dark mode for a long time, until I started trying to reduce my SAD symptoms during the winter time. I read this blog post here [0] after seeing it on HN, and ended up buying 28 100W equivalent bulbs and a 500W equivalent corn bulb. I get a pretty decent amount of light in my home office now, and light mode is essential on my workstation or it's almost impossible to even SEE anything on screen,…

The monitor brightness struggle was something I encountered first a 3 or so years ago when I moved into place with big windows that got a lot of natural light during the latter half of the day, even in the winter. Garden variety 250-350 nit displays really struggle with that kind of light, even if it's indirect and the screen in question is matte.

400-450 nits I've found is about the minimum for universally usable display brightness indoors, assuming either a matte finish or good anti-glare coating (e.g. like that on newer MacBooks). If it's the sadly far more common mirror-type glossy displays found on damn near every laptop and non-enthusiast/pro desktop monitor out there, you're going to need 500-600 nits to cut through the glare.

Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#115

Post by walterbell »

cole-k wrote: post #108
walterbell wrote: post #81

Eye health for closeup (e.g. computer) work: Ambient lighting ~= screen brightness, whether light or dark Dark ambience = dilated pupil = 0.5 diopter decrease in lens focus Tear film over eyes helps focus: blink, yawn, monitor dehydration & humidity Best light: unfiltered daylight, e.g. window behind computer screen Artificial: high CRI LED, low flicker, low blue (e.g. 2700K Sylvane Truwave) For closeup glasses, fixe…

Got a source/link for this? Seems like good advice that I can incorporate into my routine, but I want the non-TL;DR version.

There are many sources for each. Web search or https://hn.algolia.com should find them.

Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#116

Post by kitsunesoba »

alphabet9000 wrote: post #65

"dark mode" is nice in theory, but the effect is completely broken as soon as anything non-dark slips through. for instance (on windows at least) the program "OBS" uses a dark theme; in a recent version, when you open up any settings window, the window is drawn for a few milliseconds as a bright white square, before the dark window 'renders' [0]. this sudden strobe of white light, without warning, is worse than if th…

I don't know if it's a case of squeaky wheels or what (one set of users is more likely to complain than others) but I encounter "white flashes" with third party UI toolkits like you describe considerably less often under macOS than I do under Windows. Linux sits somewhere in between.

Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#117

Post by ezconnect »

wincy wrote: post #94

I was a big believer in dark mode for a long time, until I started trying to reduce my SAD symptoms during the winter time. I read this blog post here [0] after seeing it on HN, and ended up buying 28 100W equivalent bulbs and a 500W equivalent corn bulb. I get a pretty decent amount of light in my home office now, and light mode is essential on my workstation or it's almost impossible to even SEE anything on screen,…

I actually dont understand why other people can work in a dimly lit space and having dark mode on their monitor. It make feel so lazy and gloomy.

Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#118

Post by drewtato »

esperent wrote: post #105
jimbobimbo wrote: post #103

To me, the biggest issue with dark mode is that it doesn't differentiate between chrome and content. Dark chrome helps light content pop, reduces distractions. Unfortunately, the moment one turns it (dark chrome) on, the content goes dark too. Depending on your eyesight, you might be OK. I for one can't look at dark content in light ambient conditions for longer than few minutes without discomfort.

> Unfortunately, the moment one turns it on, the content goes dark too This might be an artifact of your screen's limited contrast. Have you tried dark mode on an OLED screen?

They meant that when you turn on Chrome's dark mode (for the browser UI) it also enables `prefers-color-scheme: dark` for websites. These are always synced as far as I know.

Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#120

Post by nigamanth »

I have been using an extension called "Dark Reader" which essentially converts every website into dark mode. I wasn't aware of the scientific and health concerns regarding dark mode.

I do now realize that all websites don't necessarily have a black background. While I consider the website's points about dark mode, I disagree. Dark mode is easier to read - atleast for me and others.

If a website doesn't have a dark mode, extensions always work. Maybe for some people like the author, light mode is better and that's a personal preference.

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