zephyrPeople who prefer light theme over dark/night theme.. Why?
nlognFor me both must coexist. The time light allows me to be able to see the development environment and the elements in situations when there is a lot of light (even if the monitor is anti-glare the light theme is better), while when the light decreases the dark theme does not “shoot a blinding light”.
Basically, light or dark? both.
I personally belong to the dark theme cult, but this spring we had to rent a flat for a while where ambient light conditions were just horrible. For the first time in my life I just HAD to use light themes everywhere because dark themes would just make my eyes hurt after a while. So maybe people who prefer light themes just spend most of their time somewhere with dim uneven lights?
I live in Australia, very sunny most of the year. Light theme feels like I’m shining a flashlight into my eyes even during the day. I just don’t understand light theme.
Depends on your device
My 5 year old laptop’s screen is so dim that on bright days you fully can’t see dark mode, but my phone and monitor work just fine on dark mode on all but the brightest days
True, I was thinking about phones only. Honestly I can’t imagine using Office in dark theme, but even my computer is set to dark themes wherever possible.
for the normies
I’m fairly normal, I think. Is it possible that some people just don’t know there is a better option? My partner had no idea and I had to set her phone on dark theme after she saw mine.
This does sound like me. I don’t use screens I bright light and prefer dark themes.
Saves battery only on oled, but that’s a valid point. and easier in eyes is highly debatable! I absolutely prefer light theme at bright environments but dark theme at night.
001100 010010I like my phone to lool nice and bright, dark mode just make it look so gloomy and makes me feel depressed.
Completely agree! Dark mode feels depressing. I actively avoid apps that don’t have a light theme.
I like the transition depending on sunlight. Both light mode and dark mode look great to me.
I primarily use dark themes but I do switch to light themes from time to time. To see better, give my eyes a break, or when in a dark room for too long are some examples. Also some apps just don’t play nice in dark themes.
jonionI just toggle based on time of day / lightness of environment.
I find my eyes are more strained when using light text on dark backgrounds in a light environment (and of course dark text on light backgrounds are a no-go at night). The only exception to this is my phone, where the battery gains from oled makes dark mode the only option for me. I hope Kbin gets a nice light mode toggle that can follow the system theme in the future.
I find my eyes are more strained when using light text on dark backgrounds in a light environment (and of course dark text on light backgrounds are a no-go at night). The only exception to this is my phone, where the battery gains from oled makes dark mode the only option for me. I hope Kbin gets a nice light mode toggle that can follow the system theme in the future.
Pretty much anytime I have to read some white or light grey text on a dark background it is punishing on my eyes and I end up with light-lines in my vision temporarily after. I’ve given up on entire websites because they only have a dark theme and the simplified read mode doesnt work. On occasion, when I really needed to read a lot of text from somewhere I will copy and paste into a word processor.
Light mode, or anything with dark text on light background, doesn’t strain my eyes nearly so much.
Finally someone I can relate to! Every time I said dark themes hurt my eyes all my friends insisted it was the opposite.
The battery thing is not true most of the time and the rest is subjective.
What’s to say either dark or light is better in all cases all of the time?
Depends on if the display is OLED, no?
BeezKnutsKind of. An LCD display has one backlight which illuminates the entire screen with one brightness. So a black screen and a white screen will use the same amount of electricity if both screens are set to the same brightness, even though to us a white screen looks brighter. Using a dark theme won’t save any electricity, but it won’t use any more either.
Other display types use self illuminating pixels. Like OLEDs and plasma screens. So a screen which is mostly black uses a lot less electricity than a screen which is mostly any other color but black. Using a dark theme would use substantially less electricity.
Even a CRT would use less electricity if you switch to dark theme while still using one, because the cathode ray wouldn’t have to light up the black pixels.
Not entirely true for LCD. Some LCD displays have zones. And each zone with it’s back-light.
If a zone is completely dark (not grey or without even a single white pixel), the back-light will shut off.
However on phones, it is mostly a single zone.
Yeah that’s true. I’m glad that a big portion of all phones being released right now have oled screens, but it makes me miss the high quality ips LCD displays we used to get. Now you have the choice of a really sub par LCD, or an OLED/Super AMOLED display. I looked at the screen on my 2013 Nexus 7 and my Nvidia Shield K1 the other day and they hold up so so so well. It’s a shame I can’t just upgrade the internals. I’d kill for a Shield X1 or whatever chip will be going into the next switch.
Makes a lot of sense, thanks
My (possibly mistaken) understanding is that the vast majority of phones are AMOLED which does not have per pixel illumination. AMOLED is still considered superior because of physical thinness, efficiency, refresh rate, et cetera.
Light theme in the day, dark theme at night. Switched automatically by sunset/sunrise time.
I never understood the cult mentality about it, it’s obviously better to automatically switch depending on light conditions around you.
DingDongBellboth and as long as not grey text on dark theme
while I would say I belong to the dark-theme cult, there are some applications/websites that I cannot get used to them in dark mode. Some of them are github and slack for example in which everything else than they light theme looks strange in my eyes.
Crunkle_ForeskinAll of the above. Plus, it's a little more aesthetic (most times), easier on my eyes since I wear glasses.
Light mode works for some things, but most of the time dark mode is the way to go.
Flying SquidI’m just used to it, I guess. I’ve never had an eye strain issue with monitors for some reason. I’m resistant to change. Moving to Lemmy from Reddit was a big deal for me, and not just because I had sunk 13 years into Reddit, just the idea of changing something I’m very used to… there was a reason I still used old Reddit.
sandayleDark is not easy for all eyes. www.androidauthority.com/dark-mode-1046425/
ren (a they/them)I like dark themes, but not black themes. Give me a dark grey, dark blue/navy, dark purple, but black screen and white text is way too aggressive on the eyes.
Also, what happened that we only really get a “dark or light” theme these days if we beg the Tech overlords?
Back in the olden days of Windows 3.1, 95, etc, we could them the shit balls out of our computers. Suddenly 10000 years later, we have to beg Apple or some developer to give us pre-made themes? Sad.
I’m just annoyed about the lack of consistency in what products do and do not support a dark mode, especially when other products in the same suite do.
I’m limited to using MS Office at work and love that Word, Outlook, OneNote and Drive all have dark themes and a quick toggle button to check accessibility/accommodate light-lovers if I’m screen sharing… But why was Excel left out ☹️? And a bunch of other apps, like Planner and Forms.
moopetIt's not even that. Applications should ask the desktop environment to present information, and not need to know about your colour choices. There's no reason to have separate "modes" in different applications.
not a huge fan of dark mode on Office, something about the white background of the a spreadsheet or word doc contrasting on the dark ribbon and menus and stuff - too harsh for me.
Give me Hot Dog Stand or give me death!
Tywèle [she|her]I use both. I always have automatic dark/light mode enabled where possible controlled by sunset/sunrise. If it’s light outside I just prefer light mode and when it’s dark outside I prefer dark mode. Being in a well lit room it’s easier on the eyes to use light theme.
Albeit dark themes are more beautiful, in a light environment during daylight, a light background with dark fonts is easier on your eyes.
Here to agree. I use dark thème when it gets to night. Shifting automatically for sunrise and sunset, but when reading long strings of text. That’s a no-go, I have to shift into light mode for that exact same reason
Because I can't get it consistently. Better to have my eyes adjusted to constant light than be randomly blinded when whatever random site or app isn't dark.
For this reason, I prefer light theme + inverted colours when it’s late. During the day I just use light themes
I have photophobia (and photosensitivity!) so dark mode is the only tolerable way to look at things for me.
Since dark mode has become a lot more prevalent/accessibile there’s been a notable reduction in headaches/migraines for me, especially in conjunction with ‘night light’ settings, and an anti-glare glasses coating.
Dark themes aren't easy on the eyes. It's preferred when you're looking at a screen in a dark room, but you shouldn't be doing that anyway. When I have to look at a dark theme, I find myself squinting and straining my eyes. Light themes just look better too. Better to save your battery by lowering the brightness of your screen.
LazaroFilmMemmy has an option I love.
You can chose a any theme for system daytime and a different theme for nighttime. So I chose Dracula for day time and OLED dark at night. The full black OLED theme is too flat for daytime but the dark Dracula is perfect.
BoofStrokeDark 'themes’of old were because of flicker on crts. We aren’t using crts now. The contrast of dark themes is anything but easy on the eyes.
It’s easier on my eyes. I wonder if it has anything to do with vision issues. We need a poll to test the correlation of dark theme preference and astigmatism.
It’s probably only easier on the eyes with an OLED screen. Anything else and you still get the backlight anyway so the easier on the eyes and battery claims don’t apply.
My eyes literally burn if I don’t use dark mode
Have you considered seeing a doctor about that? I'm being serious.
MrNemobodyIf it’s “AMOLED Dark”, I agree. But white on dark gray is pretty much easy on the eyes to me.
I just find reading on light mode much easier and comfortable, so i use it most of the time. I do use dark mode for programming, it doesn’t bother me there, but for most apps and websites the dark mode feels much more tiring.
Some types of application I prefer light, some dark. But the premise is wrong:
Saves your battery
Only if you're using OLED, which most people aren't, and by very little. You could save more battery by using a low-power mode when you don't need all the bells and whistles.
Easy on eyes
Debatable, different for different people.
Dark theme is just nicer
That's not objective, it's personal taste :)
I’d argue light theme saves battery (for non-OLED displays), because then you don’t need to up the brightness so much. It’s the backlight that drains most battery, and if you use dark mode you tend to up the brightness to see anything.
if you’re using OLED, which most people aren’t That doesn’t sound right at all to me. Majority of Internet traffic is on mobile, mobile devices far outnumber desktops, non-OLED phones are pretty rare
I don’t know where you’re “getting easier on the eyes”. Light mode makes me feel so much more relaxed
s08nlql9so does dark mode feels opposite for you?
Not the first commenter, but yes. If I look away after looking at a dark/black theme post I see the text in my vision. It feels straining to read like that for prolonged periods of time.
Straining is a great way to put it, yeah
What a backwards question. The world is light. Text is normally black or blue on white. There are no good reasons to turn your online experience into a dive into a well of darkness where you have to squint and strain your eyes to see the text.