The light vs dark mode topic has come up several times on HN in the last few years, and it seems for one group that it is a religious conflict. That group seems especially (and aggressively) vocal in rejecting any observations or opinions from the other side.
Each should use what they like, and eyes (and the brains that they depend on) are pretty unique. Therefore, I would not expect any two people to look at the same thing and agree completely on what they see - or how they feel about it.
I do wish the dark mode proponents would accept that recording video or presenting in dark mode is usually a bad idea for two primary reasons.
1. Viewers may be in environments with high ambient light. Dark mode, viewed in a very bright environment, can be difficult or even impossible to see if the ambient brightness is very high. If it's a video on youtube, the viewer can choose to watch it another time when it's not so bright. (But that viewer may never return to view it later, so you've lost a viewer for whatever effort you put in.)
My favorite example of when not to use dark mode is in conferences or live presentations. Projectors produce much dimmer output than monitors do, and most conferences are not given in total darkness. This is especially true if the environment has windows, such as an office meeting space. So keep this in mind if you are a presenter. You could put a lot of effort into making nice slides and having some animations, but your live audience may be practically unable to see most of it.
2. Video/image compression tends to result in poorer output for lower contrast content like dark mode syntax highlighted text. One can plainly see the loss of quality of syntax highlighted code text on dark mode video or stills.
The net result is, again, that your audience gets less benefit from your content creation effort. That's a shame for everyone.
> Viewers may be in environments with high ambient light. Dark mode, viewed in a very bright environment, can be difficult or even impossible to see if the ambient brightness is very high.
Viewers may also be in environments with low ambient light, where staring into a white light is painful.
> Video/image compression tends to result in poorer output for lower contrast content
Contrast and dark mode are two separate issues. Most popular dark themes are low-contrast for some reason, but it doesn't have to be that way.
> Viewers may also be in environments with low ambient light, where staring into a white light is painful.
I find that turning my phone/laptop/monitor brightness down as needed solves that problem. Conversely, however, I often find myself trying to turn my phone brightness up when it is already at maximum, and sadly I still can't see the content (because the ambient light is too strong).
There is a reason Google Maps switches between light and dark mode based on ambient light sensor. I challenge anyone to use maps in dark mode on a sunny day; there is no device bright enough to make dark mode content visible outside. It would also be absurd to burn so much energy trying to make thin colored lines and text be as bright as the opposite - dark lines on light background.
> Most popular dark themes are low-contrast for some reason, but it doesn't have to be that way.
Probably because viewing the highest contrast dark mode color schemes is more painful than switching to light mode and dimming the monitor.
> I find that turning my phone/laptop/monitor brightness down as needed solves that problem.
Turning down brightness this much makes the content less readable, especially when it's low-contrast.
> There is a reason Google Maps switches between light and dark mode based on ambient light sensor. I challenge anyone to use maps in dark mode on a sunny day; there is no device bright enough to make dark mode content visible outside
I'm pretty sure I always use Google Maps in dark mode.
> It would also be absurd to burn so much energy trying to make thin colored lines and text be as bright as the opposite - dark lines on light background.
On AMOLED screens, dark mode saves energy.
> Probably because viewing the highest contrast dark mode color schemes is more painful than switching to light mode and dimming the monitor.
I’d say it’s a religious issue for both groups. There are people on both sides of the fence who just want to use what’s comfortable (or use both situationally), and be left alone about it. Then there are those in both camps who want to convert others…
The dark mode proponents have a better reason to try to convert people: so they can actually use dark mode more. It's only been fairly recently that dark mode was even an option in most things, unless you just installed Linux and used a terminal all day long. The light mode proponents have never had this problem since the days of Windows 3.1. This isn't a case of just using what you prefer, because dark mode simply hasn't been available in most software, and still isn't (or isn't done very well) many times.
It's similar to how Linux users appeared to make it a religious issue 10-25 years ago. Linux needed mindshare to be usable, or else you wouldn't have access to the software you needed to actually use Linux daily, so of course Linux proponents needed to push it hard so they could get support and mindshare. If all the software companies had "simply" made Linux versions of everything, so that anyone could simply choose Linux over Windows/Mac, this wouldn't have been necessary.
That doesn’t seem to be the case, with the people I’m referring to. It’s one thing to want availability. It’s another to try to shove your preferences down someone else’s throat, because, you know, they’re clearly superior. And because “science” and stuff.
See comments on this article pro light mode, about people living in goblin caves or such. On the other hand, people will literally mock you for using Discord in light mode.
Ideally, everyone would have the options they wanted available to them, use them, and stfu about it and get on with life. In reality, though, people would still be fighting holy wars over it…
Each should use what they like, and eyes (and the brains that they depend on) are pretty unique. Therefore, I would not expect any two people to look at the same thing and agree completely on what they see - or how they feel about it.
I do wish the dark mode proponents would accept that recording video or presenting in dark mode is usually a bad idea for two primary reasons.
1. Viewers may be in environments with high ambient light. Dark mode, viewed in a very bright environment, can be difficult or even impossible to see if the ambient brightness is very high. If it's a video on youtube, the viewer can choose to watch it another time when it's not so bright. (But that viewer may never return to view it later, so you've lost a viewer for whatever effort you put in.)
My favorite example of when not to use dark mode is in conferences or live presentations. Projectors produce much dimmer output than monitors do, and most conferences are not given in total darkness. This is especially true if the environment has windows, such as an office meeting space. So keep this in mind if you are a presenter. You could put a lot of effort into making nice slides and having some animations, but your live audience may be practically unable to see most of it.
2. Video/image compression tends to result in poorer output for lower contrast content like dark mode syntax highlighted text. One can plainly see the loss of quality of syntax highlighted code text on dark mode video or stills.
The net result is, again, that your audience gets less benefit from your content creation effort. That's a shame for everyone.