Lett Osprey   🍉 

As my eyes get old, I find myself switching away from dark mode...

I met dark mode quite early in #developer tools, #IDE, and instantly fell for it. Highlighting different bits of the source code with different colors makes it easier to interpret, dark mode made it easier to see the the color variation than regular mode.

This might be the reason why devs swapped early.

But the notion that this isn't good for our eyes feels more and more true the older my eyes get. Our ability to focus properly on "near objects" worsen with age, this is why progressive glasses are a thing, and "eye comfort" start to trump other things.

"Dark mode can cause accessibility issues" feels more and more true. I find I can lower brightness a lot more, or have a much higher "eyesaver" mode on the screen with light mode.

I find myself longing a bit for no backlight e-ink screens, but for anything else than ebook size, those are too pricey.

Anyway, point being, dark mode may not be as good for us as we think...

#DarkMode

Mar 14 at 9:46amWeb
Show threadReynaMar 14
@lettosprey I never liked dark mode. I wonder if part of that is that already a long time ago I encountered the Solarized color scheme, which is not only nice to look at but also engineered for good contrast. So the part of "dark mode made it easier to see the the color variation than regular mode" was not really something I had to deal with since then.
Show threadOctavia Con Amore  Succubard's LibraryMar 14
@lettosprey with the light sensitivity I have now, normal light mode is an instant migraine, but light text on dark is part pain, part blurry mess  so far, my best splution has been dark moss green text on a dark charcoal or black background for a balance of legibility and lack of pain 
Show threadjinoraMar 14

@lettosprey I think people perceive light levels differently than others. I've always preferred dark mode and generally have trouble seeing things that are too bright, which is why I also prefer warm dim lighting indoors.

My wife is the opposite, she can't see things in the dark and likes lighting indoors to look like a hospital.

I've seen this variation in different people I've known. I think true accessibility means accounting for people's variations, which means having options of dark and light.

Show threadEnola KnezevicMar 14

@norawibb @lettosprey Light coloured eyes get 100 times more light to their retina than brown eyes. I have light blue eyes and photophobia.

With age the lens also gets clouded.

I have dark mode everywhere browser extension, but I have to turn it off for more and more sites.

Show threadjinoraMar 14
@rhelune @lettosprey i think i have the same extension, but if i turn it off, it's because it decided to screw up colors on charts or make the text dark too lol
Show threadEnola KnezevicMar 14
@norawibb @lettosprey oh that too