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Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

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Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#401

Post by zwily »

voxic11 wrote: post #374
pb7 wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

90% is a gross exaggeration. The Mail app is pure black[0]. Apps that have grey on black like Messages have styles carried over from the light version of apps — they weren’t specifically optimized for dark mode to improve readability. Other apps that I’ve checked: Music, Phone, Photos, Files, Calendar, even Twitter. [0] https://www.litmus.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/bildschirm...

I don't see any blacks in that screenshot?

Maybe you’re not looking at it on a screen capable of true black?

Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#403

Post by artistsvoid »

artistsvoid wrote: post #295

I switched after years of dark mode as well, just a few days ago. The initial reason that it is very hard to get a consistent nice dark-mode experience across applications; think for example pdfs (which look ugly w/ inverted colors), or screen flickering during load times of programs, non optimized websites, video content, et cetera. solarized light, redshift and just turn screen brightness down and it actually still…

s/ACME/Acme (noprocrast setting hit me, can't edit anymore)

But what what I wanted to say: I changed my i3 colors to solarized light (vim status bar as well), can have a look here: https://i.imgur.com/B4EaE4l.png

Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#404

Post by oarsinsync »

taneq wrote: post #329
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they were discussing the subject of, how our conscious estimation of our subjective experience can be way off. Which is a legitimate point?

Is it? I mean, serious question - aren't they they same thing? What IS our subjective experience if not our conscious estimation of how we experienced the thing? Is it possible to think you're enjoying something when really you're not, and if so then what the heck does that even mean?

> Is it possible to think you're enjoying something when really you're not, and if so then what the heck does that even mean?

It's possible one can enjoy heroin, while it's simultaneously not beneficial for them to do so.

Just because something is subjectively positive, doesn't mean it's objectively positive.

Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#406

Post by s_y_n_t_a_x »

shawnz wrote: post #393
marcus_holmes wrote: post #241

Wait. So. "Multiple studies show that light mode is better" trumps my actual experience, with my eyeballs, in my office environment? No. No it doesn't. 1. I don't have that much faith in scientists. Someone trying to p-hack their way to a publishable result that's sensational enough to advance their career is not going to produce good advice for me. 2. Even if they were perfect scientists, they're not using my eyebal…

> Wait. So. "Multiple studies show that light mode is better" trumps my actual experience, with my eyeballs, in my office environment? Of course. All you are measuring is how comfortable you feel , which is irrelevant. What they are measuring is how well people actually perform on tasks while using dark mode. Just because dark mode feels better to you doesn't imply anything about the latter question.

Seeing as we're talking about something that relates to eyestrain, I don't think we can discount how the GP feels.

If you don't feel well you likely aren't going to perform well. If your eyes hurt, you are going to want to stop working. If I had to stare at a bright white screen all day, I wouldn't get the task done because it hurts my eyes. Common sense.

Yet another study where it's trying to trump opinion with a study. You can't be wrong if you prefer dark mode/light mode, it's subjective. A study is going to have a real hard time proving one is "better" than the other and we certainly shouldn't take the results on faith.

Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#407

Post by aasasd »

sknzl wrote: post #355
aasasd wrote: post #76

Apparently light-on-dark is terrible if the person has astigmatism: the edges get very blurry and doubled. There was an article on HN about this, specifically about keynote slides. Also apparently “in Europe and Asia, astigmatism affects between 30 and 60% of adults” (says Wikipedia). I have it too, and couldn't figure out in the past why text sometimes looks horribly blurry and sometimes doesn't. With this knowledge…

I have wondered for a long time about the hype around dark themes for this reason. No eye is perfect in terms of optical quality. Specifically, the lens can be misshaped and the vitreous can have impurities that lead to refraction of light. If we look at bright light sources the pupil is almost closed, which means all light entering propagates close to the optical axis of the eye, where lens defects are not playing a…

I'm not sure that this is the sole reason why light-on-dark is bad with astigmatism: because, presumably, the article about keynote slides was including presentations given in lit rooms—and eyes famously don't adjust too fast, so I don't think the pupils would react much to dark slides in a lit room. But that's only my conjectures.

Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#408

Post by shawnz »

s_y_n_t_a_x wrote: post #406
shawnz wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wait. So. "Multiple studies show that light mode is better" trumps my actual experience, with my eyeballs, in my office environment? Of course. All you are measuring is how comfortable you feel , which is irrelevant. What they are measuring is how well people actually perform on tasks while using dark mode. Just because dark mode feels better to you doesn't imply anything about the latter question.

Seeing as we're talking about something that relates to eyestrain, I don't think we can discount how the GP feels. If you don't feel well you likely aren't going to perform well. If your eyes hurt, you are going to want to stop working. If I had to stare at a bright white screen all day, I wouldn't get the task done because it hurts my eyes. Common sense. Yet another study where it's trying to trump opinion with a st…

Even if dark mode "feels" better that still doesn't imply it actually causes less eye strain. Without data it's possible OP's choice could be driven just by aesthetic preferences and they don't realize it.

Re: Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

#410

Post by yiyus »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #397
yiyus wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is kind of akin to that artificially absurd example of "on average, every human on Earth has one testicle". No. If I claim everyone has 0.5 testicles, that's bad science. If I randomly choose a large enough number of subjects and report that approximately 50% have two testicles and approximately 50% have no testicles, with error bars, p-values, etc., saying that you don't trust this because I am trying to make…

I apologise then. I didn't mean to insult scientists. I was more trying to point out the difference between The Scientific Method and Academic Practice. Especially in the social sciences, there's been a whole discussion recently about how our current system of evaluating and rewarding scientists is not benefitting Science. There's even been high-profile commentators disputing whether the social sciences are actually…

Fair enough, and apologies accepted. I agree that many social studies lack rigor. And, unfortunately, it also happens quite a lot with more technical topics in which it is much easier to be objective.

I get easily triggered when science is presented as a matter of faith, but in fact I totally agree with your skeptical point of view.

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