I wrote about the fast rise of Dark Mode in apps and websites. Programmers have always preferred dark screens because they stare at them all day and night. Now all of us stare at screens all day and night. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a... - ThreadSky

ibogost.bsky.social • 53 days ago

I wrote about the fast rise of Dark Mode in apps and websites. Programmers have always preferred dark screens because they stare at them all day and night. Now all of us stare at screens all day and night.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/01/rise-of-dark-mode-apps/681162/

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peteypolo.bsky.social•52 days ago

Makes me long for the days of 80-column green text on black via Apple II or Tektronix workstations. #oldschool

nabsiddiqui.bsky.social•53 days ago

As a person with astigmatism, I loathe very few things as much as "dark mode." It is even worse when you switch to an app without dark mode while using it, and some app is like "no, you will be blinded by bright lights and you will like it!": https://stephaniewalter.design/blog/dark-mode-accessibility-myth-debunked/

ibmninja.bsky.social•53 days ago

I've been pounding on this drum my whole life.
I grew up with old hand-me-down PCs/Apples, both UXs had green/white on black. It was great. Then working on Excel, you'd have just a giant white light burning your eyeballs. Light mode is fine... outside in sunlight.

tedherman.bsky.social•53 days ago

You had to experience Plato's Plasma Screen to fully understand dark display. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_display

cirocontns.bsky.social•53 days ago

There's one reason why I think programmers love dark mode, and I feel it's not so mentioned (even when you ask around).

I think programming is less about reading and much more about orienting yourself in a class/file, and for that reason you don't read the words as much as you look at their colour.

cirocontns.bsky.social•53 days ago

So I feel it's much easier to distinguish colours against a dark background than against a bright one.

jayw.bsky.social•52 days ago

this is a good point I have never thought of!

cirocontns.bsky.social•51 days ago

😊

cirocontns.bsky.social•53 days ago

This of course only applies to modern IDEs, and so all of the nostalgia-based reasons you wrote about probably also come into play.

jjarchitect.bsky.social•53 days ago

Maddox wrote about why dark sites are better than white sites in his FAQ and I’ve had that in my head for site design for decades.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=faq

tclark.bsky.social•53 days ago

I dislike most dark modes. You were surely word-limited, but there's an issue with cargo-cult designs that treat FFF on 000 as remotely a good idea, bc light mode is 000 on FFF. Good dark mode design doesn't just max contrast on black, giving everyone just a different flavor of eye fatigue now.

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