I use all dark themes. I use adapta-nokto for GTK and Kvantum-dark for Qt. Youtube is dark theme. Chrome and Firefox run dark themes. I also redshift after sunset.
Same here. No idea why dark themes are not standard implementation of most things honestly. I even use Stylus in Firefox to fix websites without dark themes to have a dark theme. Wish MS would add a dark theme for all of office too...
Hate dark themes (perhaps because everyone seems to insist on dark colours on dark grey, so there's NO FUCKING CONTRAST). No idea why white themes are not the only implementation of most things honestly. I even use Stylus in Firefox to fix websites without sane themes to have a dark on light theme.
I mean it's at least as sensible as your statement - given we don't generally read white on black except on a screen. Some people prefer black text on a white page. Why should dark be the default when (as of writi
More energy efficient? wrong!! LCD monitors use MORE energy blocking the light behind the screen ( which is always on) to make a black screen. Black ain't "green".
Yes but newer modern phones use OLED which doesnt need a back light, so black is the off state of a OLED pixel thus saving more power. White is the off state for LED and LCD pixels because they need a back light to be seen. Black is better for newer phones, but it is easier on the eyes too. People have been reading black on white because black paper and white ink was not an option over the last few thousand years.
I agree with the contrast portion, I always have light foreground, dark background. However the main reason I think print is black on white is ink cost and most paper comes out colorless/white. However, with screens the reverse is much better as the monitor has to put out way more light with a light theme than dark theme thus vastly increasing eye strain.
I would argue the dark default should be preferable simply from an eye fatigue standpoint (I personally suffer from very bad vision and severe light sensi
Actually I do. The first computer I ever used had a basic DOS OS on it and used a shitty CRT monitor. The picture was of course terrible compared to now, but the darker colors I actually preferred.
Not if it's a slower phosphor, like the green screens were. You would see cursor trails, but there was no visible flicker even with a low refresh rate. I typed a dissertation in LaTeX on an Olivetti M24 with a 640x400 (I think) green screen, and it felt nice and sharp.
Ahh, those were the days... Glowing green text on black background, excellent! The eyes can see green the sharpest, while other color (blue being the worst) is always more blurry. Those old green screens weren't the sharpest by today's standards, but they were sure the sharpest thing back in the day. Far better than when I got a crappy monochrome white monitor on my TRS-80 Model I.
I regularly read ebooks in green on black on my tablet (either with MoonReader's color selection, or if having to use a less customizable reader, by recolorizing the display with my ColorChanger app). I have occasionally done amber on black, but I don't like it as much.
Confusing wording there. For backlit displays your "monitor" (or just "display" for smartphones and tablets) is always 'putting out' the same amount of light if the display is active. If I am now understanding you correctly, you mean something like "The visible parts of the display that require my attention are much smaller with the dark theme."
Not sure if I'm being reasonable since I'm starting from an even more confused state than usual, but I think you've persuaded me to try it out. My previous state of
Basically yes. Typical backlit displays essentially filter from their source (AMOLED and other LED displays though do actually turn the pixel off), requiring your eyes to actually have less high energy light pour through them. In a bright ambient environment it doesn't make a big difference, but in more reasonable lit areas it can make a massive difference. I've dealt with sleep issues too that have been helped by reducing large sources of high energy light.
False, LCD monitors use more energy to make black screen, the crystals take the most power when blocking the light behind them which is always on. I'm amazed so many here on supposed tech site ate ignorant of how their screen works. Black taking less power was true in CRT days
yes, that's big tech in smartphones and some laptops... but OLED have shorter life and burn-in problem so for monitors won't be as popular until that issue solved.
I wasn't actually talking about it from a power stand point though, more from a lumens to your eyes standpoint. The wording may have been a bit confusing, but when the screen is black there is in fact less light reaching your eyes, which is most of what I care about.
Because with paper it's relatively easy to make white paper and add ink, which is generally dark, that way you get contrast.
That standard has been applied to computers as well.
It seems to me that light colors grab more of your attention than dark colors.
And you want you attention to be on the content, not the background.
So paper was really a compromise to reduce cost.
There's no good reason to keep it going on computers.
I use most of the time a "dark theme" whenever possible... but not always. It depends on a) what we actually call a "dark theme" and b) the quality of the display. The low-contrast dark themes (i.e. off-black) are good on all devices and displays, but the high-contrast (white-on-black) are especially bad on devices with reflective screen (smartphones etc.). On some situations such high-contrast dark theme is actually the most eye-scorching theme option... So yes, I prefer using dark themes, as long as they
Typically I shoot for a light text color that is just barely a light grey then a charcoal or dark smokey background color. Provides high contrast and way less light, but helps reduce the glaring offset of straight white on straight black.
I recently put Mojave on my old, unsupported MacBook Pro thanks to dosdude1's excellent MacOS Mojave patcher [dosdude1.com]. Everythings seems to work fine and I haven't encountered any problems so far, except that the colours in the light theme are quite messed up and some parts of some windows are nearly unreadable. So I am forced to use Dark Theme on my trusty old MBP. I'm not a fan of dark but in this case it's the best option. Hopefully dosde1 finds a way to fix this problem.
Well it really depends. With Asus monitor and MacMini I am happy with darkmode. However in MacBookAir I carry around some fonts are rendered almost unreadable for my eyes with their 38 years history of eyeglasses when I try to use some applications in dark mode. Interestingly Thunderbird's darker themes are better than Apple Mail's darkmode skin. Apple lost their touch with ergonomy some time back, and this is a sample case. In my Samsung phone I use a mix of light and dark themes, changing from application
Dark themes for the GUI. They've been becoming popular in IDEs and are slowly being implemented elsewhere, surprisingly very poorly at times. I'd probably use them more if it didn't lead to one or two programs being very bright...
I don't mess with these settings. Instead, I've installed f.lux [justgetflux.com] to adjust the color balance automatically. Whenever the view gets too orange, I know I need to go to bed.
Same here. Protip: Don't be tempted to pause it for an hour and stay up later. You'll blind yourself if you do, and never sleep.
Also don't try to do any video or picture editing while it's on, especially if you're working with color. Under the light of day the next day you'll find a mind-boggling fuckup awaits you.
That's even funnier than my previous misconception of what "dark theme" was. If I only trusted the moderators to give me the funny I deserve, then I'd say more...
As it stands, I think I actually learned something on Slashdot today. Used to happen much more frequently.
Not every site implements it well, if at all. Usually the contrast isn't good, making it harder to read. Same goes with the dark user styles extensions. I've tried a few, and for most sites, have gone back to the defaults.
40 years ago, most terminals were "dark mode": green on black. Then someone came out with "paper white" monitors with black on white text, which were so much nicer to view. And now, like the strange fascination with scratchy music, people seem to want to go back to the "good old days". To each, his own, I guess...
Dark themes are a fad, picked up mostly by the young and naive in an attempt to appear trendy. If you find a normal them too light, you should adjust your display brightness, not strain your eyes unnecessarily with those unreadable dark UI's. On a side note: UI's full of insanely small icons and 6 pt textlets are in the same class, mostly to be found in interfaces that already suffer from Dark Theme, like programmer editors and photo and video editing software. That makes things worse even.
Photo and video editing software are dark grey for a reason: to provide a neutral background. Neutral being defined by 18% grey in photography (normally the shade of [white] skin as seen in B&W). If you use color as your background, then neutral pictures appear tinted in the opposite direction. And if you use a black or white background they appear lighter or darker. Otherwise I agree with you !
On every quality monitor I've ever used, getting nice, accurate colors means that white is *white* and it hurts my eyes (I'm looking at you, Slashdot). I always turn everything dark when I can - having light text on a dark background is so much easier for me to look at. When I do any web development, I always put in an option for dark and/or off-white backgrounds.
I don't muck with UI settings much, but my desktop background is solid black, and terminal windows (where I do most of the work) are green text on solid black background (reminds me of physical vt220s in my younger days). Does that count?
Dark everything. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Same here. No idea why dark themes are not standard implementation of most things honestly. I even use Stylus in Firefox to fix websites without dark themes to have a dark theme. Wish MS would add a dark theme for all of office too...
Re: (Score:1)
Hate dark themes (perhaps because everyone seems to insist on dark colours on dark grey, so there's NO FUCKING CONTRAST). No idea why white themes are not the only implementation of most things honestly. I even use Stylus in Firefox to fix websites without sane themes to have a dark on light theme.
I mean it's at least as sensible as your statement - given we don't generally read white on black except on a screen. Some people prefer black text on a white page. Why should dark be the default when (as of writi
Re: Dark everything. (Score:2)
More energy efficient? wrong!! LCD monitors use MORE energy blocking the light behind the screen ( which is always on) to make a black screen. Black ain't "green".
Re: Dark everything. (Score:1)
Re: Dark everything. (Score:3)
I agree with the contrast portion, I always have light foreground, dark background. However the main reason I think print is black on white is ink cost and most paper comes out colorless/white. However, with screens the reverse is much better as the monitor has to put out way more light with a light theme than dark theme thus vastly increasing eye strain.
I would argue the dark default should be preferable simply from an eye fatigue standpoint (I personally suffer from very bad vision and severe light sensi
Re: (Score:2)
Actually I do. The first computer I ever used had a basic DOS OS on it and used a shitty CRT monitor. The picture was of course terrible compared to now, but the darker colors I actually preferred.
Re: (Score:2)
Not if it's a slower phosphor, like the green screens were. You would see cursor trails, but there was no visible flicker even with a low refresh rate. I typed a dissertation in LaTeX on an Olivetti M24 with a 640x400 (I think) green screen, and it felt nice and sharp.
Re: (Score:2)
Ahh, those were the days... Glowing green text on black background, excellent! The eyes can see green the sharpest, while other color (blue being the worst) is always more blurry. Those old green screens weren't the sharpest by today's standards, but they were sure the sharpest thing back in the day. Far better than when I got a crappy monochrome white monitor on my TRS-80 Model I.
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Amber screens is what I went for. Even now my terms are configured to amber on black.
[John]
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I regularly read ebooks in green on black on my tablet (either with MoonReader's color selection, or if having to use a less customizable reader, by recolorizing the display with my ColorChanger app). I have occasionally done amber on black, but I don't like it as much.
Re: (Score:2)
Confusing wording there. For backlit displays your "monitor" (or just "display" for smartphones and tablets) is always 'putting out' the same amount of light if the display is active. If I am now understanding you correctly, you mean something like "The visible parts of the display that require my attention are much smaller with the dark theme."
Not sure if I'm being reasonable since I'm starting from an even more confused state than usual, but I think you've persuaded me to try it out. My previous state of
Re: Dark everything. (Score:2)
Basically yes. Typical backlit displays essentially filter from their source (AMOLED and other LED displays though do actually turn the pixel off), requiring your eyes to actually have less high energy light pour through them. In a bright ambient environment it doesn't make a big difference, but in more reasonable lit areas it can make a massive difference. I've dealt with sleep issues too that have been helped by reducing large sources of high energy light.
Re: Dark everything. (Score:2)
False, LCD monitors use more energy to make black screen, the crystals take the most power when blocking the light behind them which is always on. I'm amazed so many here on supposed tech site ate ignorant of how their screen works. Black taking less power was true in CRT days
Re: (Score:2)
yes, that's big tech in smartphones and some laptops... but OLED have shorter life and burn-in problem so for monitors won't be as popular until that issue solved.
Re: (Score:2)
I wasn't actually talking about it from a power stand point though, more from a lumens to your eyes standpoint. The wording may have been a bit confusing, but when the screen is black there is in fact less light reaching your eyes, which is most of what I care about.
Re: Dark everything. (Score:1)
1. OLED.
2. Dynamic backlight control.
3. Just stop.
4. Seriously.
Re: Dark everything. (Score:1)
Most people prefer not staring into lightbulbs
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I find it easier on my eyes, including books read on my iPad and iPhone Kindle app.
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That standard has been applied to computers as well.
It seems to me that light colors grab more of your attention than dark colors.
And you want you attention to be on the content, not the background.
So paper was really a compromise to reduce cost.
There's no good reason to keep it going on computers.
Re: (Score:1)
Nah, fingernails on a chalk board is the way to go.
Re: (Score:2)
I use most of the time a "dark theme" whenever possible... but not always. It depends on a) what we actually call a "dark theme" and b) the quality of the display. The low-contrast dark themes (i.e. off-black) are good on all devices and displays, but the high-contrast (white-on-black) are especially bad on devices with reflective screen (smartphones etc.). On some situations such high-contrast dark theme is actually the most eye-scorching theme option... So yes, I prefer using dark themes, as long as they
Re: (Score:2)
Typically I shoot for a light text color that is just barely a light grey then a charcoal or dark smokey background color. Provides high contrast and way less light, but helps reduce the glaring offset of straight white on straight black.
Dark mode? (Score:1)
Nope I don't work nights. (Score:2)
When working in a well lit environment, I find dark mode/themes a strain on the eyes. When I'm not at work, I tend to leave electronics off.
No, but I use redhsift (Score:1)
Old MBP (Score:2)
I recently put Mojave on my old, unsupported MacBook Pro thanks to dosdude1's excellent MacOS Mojave patcher [dosdude1.com]. Everythings seems to work fine and I haven't encountered any problems so far, except that the colours in the light theme are quite messed up and some parts of some windows are nearly unreadable. So I am forced to use Dark Theme on my trusty old MBP. I'm not a fan of dark but in this case it's the best option. Hopefully dosde1 finds a way to fix this problem.
Depending on device and environment (Score:2)
Missing Option (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Just use f.lux (or equivalent) (Score:3)
I don't mess with these settings. Instead, I've installed f.lux [justgetflux.com] to adjust the color balance automatically. Whenever the view gets too orange, I know I need to go to bed.
Re: (Score:2)
Same here. Protip: Don't be tempted to pause it for an hour and stay up later. You'll blind yourself if you do, and never sleep.
Also don't try to do any video or picture editing while it's on, especially if you're working with color. Under the light of day the next day you'll find a mind-boggling fuckup awaits you.
I turned on Dark Mode.. (Score:5, Funny)
It told me that cruelty is inevitable, I will get cancer, and humanity won't last much longer...
Re: (Score:2)
That's even funnier than my previous misconception of what "dark theme" was. If I only trusted the moderators to give me the funny I deserve, then I'd say more...
As it stands, I think I actually learned something on Slashdot today. Used to happen much more frequently.
Re: (Score:2)
go before show (Score:2)
Rarely. (Score:1)
Not every site implements it well, if at all. Usually the contrast isn't good, making it harder to read. Same goes with the dark user styles extensions. I've tried a few, and for most sites, have gone back to the defaults.
The cycle of history (Score:2)
40 years ago, most terminals were "dark mode": green on black. Then someone came out with "paper white" monitors with black on white text, which were so much nicer to view. And now, like the strange fascination with scratchy music, people seem to want to go back to the "good old days". To each, his own, I guess...
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
White
Re: (Score:2)
Not dark enough (Score:2)
I actually put a window tint film on the tablet I use in bed because the backlight can't be dimmed down enough.
Dark for dweebs (Score:2)
Dark themes are a fad, picked up mostly by the young and naive in an attempt to appear trendy.
If you find a normal them too light, you should adjust your display brightness, not strain your eyes unnecessarily with those unreadable dark UI's.
On a side note: UI's full of insanely small icons and 6 pt textlets are in the same class, mostly to be found in interfaces that already suffer from Dark Theme, like programmer editors and photo and video editing software. That makes things worse even.
Re: (Score:2)
No, but (Score:2)
I use white text on a black background on my 7in Kindle Fire
does that count?
Absolutely (Score:1)
I use complete dark mode (Score:2)
Sorta (Score:2)
I don't muck with UI settings much, but my desktop background is solid black, and terminal windows (where I do most of the work) are green text on solid black background (reminds me of physical vt220s in my younger days). Does that count?
Emacs has it! (Score:2)
I use dark mode on Emacs. Syntax highlighting just looks better on a dark screen.
Uh, what? (Score:2)
I use white-on-black on my xterms. Since about 30 years?