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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)

#231

Post by MildlySerious »

skeletal88 wrote: post #229
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,…

Can you not use random acronyms without explaining what they are? Why do you expect that everyone knows what SAD means in your current context? I get it when someone mentions AWS or MSFT or LED on a tech site.. but "SAD syndrome" ?

Seasonal Affective Disorder, for anyone else wondering. Agree with avoiding "random" acryonyms if possible.

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

#232

Post by inexcf »

IncRnd wrote: post #224
brabel wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OMG didn't expect to see the "I know this is true and I don't need researchers telling me otherwise" argument here.

> OMG didn't expect to see the "I know this is true and I don't need researchers telling me otherwise" argument here. And, you didn't see that here. That you would even think that shows that you didn't read what was written. It is ridiculous to wait for what others say about whether dark or light mode strains one's eyes more, since each person already has a pair of eyes to test what works for them.

Can I interest you in some homeopathic remedies or a bottle of snake oil? Maybe prayer? History is full of people who thought/think their bias and anecdotal evidence is good enough.

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

#233

Post by AlphaGeekZulu »

There is an important factor that is almost always ignored in the discussion: the screen/monitor size. I use a LG 27" Monitor on my working place and the amount of light that is emitted in light mode is literally blinding (as in snow-blind). Turning down brightness enough to become bearable badly affects contrast and chromaticity. That is the good thing on dark mode: that colorful content remains unaffected.

For me it is dark mode on large screens and light mode on phones and tablets.

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

#234

Post by b112 »

wruza wrote: post #221
doix wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just as I don’t need research either to know that dark mode inherently increases eye strain thanks to the afterimages caused by using it for more than a couple dozen seconds at a time. You've probably got your brightness too high if you're getting after images. I use darkmode when I'm inside and turn my monitor brightness down. When I'm outside, I switch to lightmode and max out my monitor display. Work for me. I s…

It’s too dim and too low contrast for me when I dial it down and leaves afterimages when it’s enough. It is a personal thing. Also, for programming I’m using not dark nor bright mode. Something like #ddd on #444 on well-calibrated settings. Almost all sites which implement dark mode are much closer to #neutron_star on #black_hole than that, so I hate them when they fail to follow an OS setting.

It's probably because you're using light dark text, on a dark background. To maximize eye-strain reduction:

* reduce monitor brightness

* increase contrast between background and text

For me, light grey background (no blaring, eye smashing white) with black text works well. The only point of "grey not white" is again, to reduce a smashed-in-the-face white background.

If one keeps the contrast difference low, that is, slightly-lighter dark text on dark background, then the monitor must be brighter to discern difference between text and background.

(Of course, as you have stated, this may not work for you.)

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

#235

Post by wwalexander »

I don't understand how this debate has become about which mode is biologically the most optimal for legibility. The obvious, clear benefit of dark mode is that there's less light, which feels more comfortable to many, many people.

I'm curious, how many of my fellow dark-mode users also struggle with migraine headaches? Perhaps this and other light-sensitivity afflictions can explain why dark mode seems to be so contentious...

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

#236

Post by radimm »

steve1977 wrote: post #8

Having astigmatism, I definitely feel like text in dark mode is harder to read than dark text on light background. In regards to eye strain with light mode, what I found important is to match screen brightness to „environmental brightness“ (don’t know the proper term). As a rule of thumb, when I put a white paper in front of a white screen, the screen shouldn’t illuminate the paper more than the other lights in the r…

I second that. For me it's worse actually during times when I would normally use dark mode (i.e. evening). My 40-something eyes can get tired while having contact lenses and then dark mode is not so much helpful.

When switching to glasses it's actually bit better.

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

#237

Post by mcv »

I think the issue is a lot more subtle than simply "dark mode = better" vs "light mode = better". When it's dark around me, I don't want a bright white screen blinding me, so I prefer dark mode. But when I'm in a well-light room with a white wall behind my screen, I don't want to have to peer at a dark rectangle.

Also, whether you're using dark or light mode, contrast and brightness need to be set right, and I think they have different requirements for contrast and brightness; in dark mode, I suspect the fewer bright parts need to be brighter than the large light background in bright mode. So if you're comfortable using your current mode, simply switching to the other one without adjusting your contrast and brightness might indeed give you a worse experience, no matter which mode it is.

Or maybe not. I seem to be fine mixing different modes. I used to always have my IDE in bright mode, but it's currently in dark mode, and it's fine, and HN uses bright mode, and that's fine too. But I did notice that when it's dark, I do prefer dark mode.

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

#238

Post by daveoc64 »

wwalexander wrote: post #235

I don't understand how this debate has become about which mode is biologically the most optimal for legibility. The obvious, clear benefit of dark mode is that there's less light, which feels more comfortable to many, many people. I'm curious, how many of my fellow dark-mode users also struggle with migraine headaches? Perhaps this and other light-sensitivity afflictions can explain why dark mode seems to be so conte…

It's because there's a common trope online that people say seeing something in light mode is "blinding" or "makes my eyes bleed".

I think it's therefore important that the actual benefits of dark mode are tested scientifically and not just assumed.

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

#239

Post by IshKebab »

skeletal88 wrote: post #229
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,…

Can you not use random acronyms without explaining what they are? Why do you expect that everyone knows what SAD means in your current context? I get it when someone mentions AWS or MSFT or LED on a tech site.. but "SAD syndrome" ?

SAD is a very well known acronym.

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

#240

Post by chrismorgan »

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.

This is what people quite consistently mess up these days. Go back to the earlier days of æsthetic dark themes¹, which was largely in things with the chrome/content split such as Photoshop, and you see this clearly. The purpose of their æsthetic dark modes with their low contrast and neutral middling-dark colours was to draw attention to the content and minimise chrome distraction.

Of browsers: Firefox defaults to having content matching the browser theme, but does let you change it: Settings → General → Language and Appearance → Web site appearance: Automatic/Light/Dark. (In the distant past, this defaulted to matching the OS theme—which almost always meant “light” on Linux and Windows—and could only be changed via about:config. In Firefox 95, the default was changed to matching the browser theme, in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1529323. In Firefox 100, the preference was finally added to Settings.)

—⁂—

¹ There are several distinct categories of dark modes, with significantly different characteristics. I recognise four general categories (though there are certainly intermediate states too): æsthetic, accessibility, low-light, and power-saving. I wrote a bit more about each in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28516862. These days, æsthetic is the most common.

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