Dark mode is here for Wikipedia (finally!). Dark mode has been one of the most requested features. It improves accessibility and reduces eye strain for readers and communities across Wikimedia proj…
I’ve always been kind of curious: am I weird because I prefer light mode for web pages with a lot of text to read? Or is it more of an age-gated thing, like older people who grew up reading printed texts only prefer what’s familiar to them? I’m fine with YouTube (for example) having a black background and dark theme, but I even browse Lemmy via old.lemmy.world in light mode!
Depends how old you consider old, maybe? Computers back in the day were pretty universally light text on a dark background. VIC-20 was an exception but then even Commodore backpedaled on that with the 64. But you might have had a different experience and are only remembering things like Mac OS or Amiga, or Windows, and maybe that has influenced your preference. 🤷♀️ To each their own, anyway.
My 80’s computer was (by default) bright yellow text over bright blue background.
It probably sounds quite bad. It was. You could change that with a few commands but you’d have to do it each time you boot the thing, and I didn’t bother, it was “normal” to me.
That didn’t prevent young me from spending hours copying lines of BASIC code from magazines, but it was tiring. Nowadays I’m just like, seriously, who thought that colour scheme was a good idea?
How old are you? I’m in my early 30s, definitely grew up with computers most of my life, and internet almost as long, but also read plenty of physical paper books. I greatly prefer darker color schemes.
That said, I’m also a software developer so I’m a bit biased and learned long ago that dark mode is much easier on the eyes when coding for hours on end, so maybe I’m just used to it.
I hate dark mode, but it’s because I have a pretty bad astigmatism. Dark mode makes all text look like several mirror images swimming around each other, whereas light mode is fine.
I prefer light mode because dark mode gives me a raging headache in under 10 minutes, not enough contrast or something, I’m not sure. It’s bad enough that if I’m pairing with someone and they use dark mode I’ve gotta frequently look away or do something like a shared follow mode where I use a light theme on my end - it sucks.
And maybe the science is old now, but in HS I did a report on eye strain and light backgrounds are typically better across the board. But who knows now.
There are times I prefer light mode but dark mode feels better designed.
A few days ago I switched to light mode because it was too sunny outside and switched right back after I was done. The Android UI was unbaerable for me.
No. Dark mode is just a new hype that’s why it gets so much traction. None of it’s alleged benefits can be scientifically proven, it’s nothing but personal taste.
It’s easier on my eyes. Which is anecdotal, but a large enough portion of the population use dark modes for the same reason. That is not coincidence, and it’s not something I’d write off as merely being hype.
There’s nothing new about dark mode either. Wikipedia is just slow in the uptake. Besides Wikipedia, dark modes have existed for more than a decade.
Having read lots of books, I tend to prefer printed text a lot. Yet I still use dark mode as much as possible; it’s the glare. It’s irritating to read something on a white, glaring surface. Paper doesn’t have that.
I’ll read Wikipedia on e-ink, but on LCD I’ll use dark mode.
I’ve always been kind of curious: am I weird because I prefer light mode for web pages with a lot of text to read? Or is it more of an age-gated thing, like older people who grew up reading printed texts only prefer what’s familiar to them? I’m fine with YouTube (for example) having a black background and dark theme, but I even browse Lemmy via old.lemmy.world in light mode!
Depends how old you consider old, maybe? Computers back in the day were pretty universally light text on a dark background. VIC-20 was an exception but then even Commodore backpedaled on that with the 64. But you might have had a different experience and are only remembering things like Mac OS or Amiga, or Windows, and maybe that has influenced your preference. 🤷♀️ To each their own, anyway.
My 80’s computer was (by default) bright yellow text over bright blue background.
It probably sounds quite bad. It was. You could change that with a few commands but you’d have to do it each time you boot the thing, and I didn’t bother, it was “normal” to me.
That didn’t prevent young me from spending hours copying lines of BASIC code from magazines, but it was tiring. Nowadays I’m just like, seriously, who thought that colour scheme was a good idea?
How old are you? I’m in my early 30s, definitely grew up with computers most of my life, and internet almost as long, but also read plenty of physical paper books. I greatly prefer darker color schemes.
That said, I’m also a software developer so I’m a bit biased and learned long ago that dark mode is much easier on the eyes when coding for hours on end, so maybe I’m just used to it.
I hate dark mode, but it’s because I have a pretty bad astigmatism. Dark mode makes all text look like several mirror images swimming around each other, whereas light mode is fine.
I prefer light mode because dark mode gives me a raging headache in under 10 minutes, not enough contrast or something, I’m not sure. It’s bad enough that if I’m pairing with someone and they use dark mode I’ve gotta frequently look away or do something like a shared follow mode where I use a light theme on my end - it sucks.
And maybe the science is old now, but in HS I did a report on eye strain and light backgrounds are typically better across the board. But who knows now.
As a Gen Z who is the same - I really don’t think it is age-related.
There are times I prefer light mode but dark mode feels better designed.
A few days ago I switched to light mode because it was too sunny outside and switched right back after I was done. The Android UI was unbaerable for me.
No. Dark mode is just a new hype that’s why it gets so much traction. None of it’s alleged benefits can be scientifically proven, it’s nothing but personal taste.
It’s easier on my eyes. Which is anecdotal, but a large enough portion of the population use dark modes for the same reason. That is not coincidence, and it’s not something I’d write off as merely being hype.
There’s nothing new about dark mode either. Wikipedia is just slow in the uptake. Besides Wikipedia, dark modes have existed for more than a decade.
Ok so just use it but stop making it your whole personality
Having read lots of books, I tend to prefer printed text a lot. Yet I still use dark mode as much as possible; it’s the glare. It’s irritating to read something on a white, glaring surface. Paper doesn’t have that.
I’ll read Wikipedia on e-ink, but on LCD I’ll use dark mode.
Just use what you like, you don’t have to theorize about it