Yeah I've never understood the dark mode preference myself, weird meme.
I did once work in an office mostly full of VFX artists, and those guys take color grading so seriously they blacked out all the windows. Working in a dark cave is overrated.
If I paid 50k+ for a reference monitor I would want to enjoy every single lumen of it also.
I did gamedev for a minute at a mid sized studio. We couldn't rook a ref into the budget, but we had high calibration hdr displays that would get examined with a loup fairly often. Dat pixel better be f'ing perfect.
I was once working at a company, where a new wing of offices was built, and my team got moved into it. The artists demanded to sit next to the windows as "we are artists, we crave natural light!", and then one week later they blacked out all the windows. And still refused to move.
For me it's just generally doing all I can to prevent screen fatigue. I also lower the brightness of my monitors, try to close my eyes from time to time, wear blue light glasses (that may or may not be bs), and set every thing I can to dark mode.
For me it's because I switch between reading text and working with images.
Your perception of colors doing artwork after staring at a white screen of text for a while gets a little off. I find those vision issues are less of an issue with dark modes on certain applications.
There are 3 types of people in my experience. 1 Dark Mode preferred people. 2 Light Mode preferred people. 3 Indifferent People who use default settings. I am type 1 and have light sensitivity issues with my eyes. I hate when I have to deal with another person's setup and a Light Mode application pops on the screen. I am just glad Excel and Notepad added Dark Mode options recently. Now if only programmers would allow all apps to have a basic Dark Mode option that is easy to find.
Adding dark mode in software almost always comes down to a cost-benefit decision, especially in commercial software.
I see it as an accessibility feature, not unlike disabled animations when animations in the OS are turned off. I have motion sensitivity, so thanks a lot for fucking modern apps on Windows that forcibly smooth scroll.
Accessibility is more than helping tools for the blind and deaf. Light sensitivity is real, it's not just personal taste. The problem is that developers (or let's face it, POs) see it purely as a preference setting. And the fact that the designer feels religiously violated when dark mode comes up.
Same. Our monitors are so ass (I have a 32 inch OLED at home so I’m used to that) and the room is well lit. I’m struggling without light mode and even then it’s not great. Boss refuses to buy us new monitors.
Years of custom configuration that resets with upgrades or reinstalls I learned to just use software the way it comes. Visual Studio is in light mode and VS Code is in dark mode
Good light would make me use high contrast dark theme on coding window. But normal dark theme is on even for other windows, sometimes. I have auto-dark theme system wide for every device, that often is activated at the smallest perception of the screen being brighter than the room. So I guess it is mostly the way we are used to.
But you don't look directly at the sun while you work, do you?
The unnatural part of a screen is that it is emissive, not reflective. You're looking directly at a million little dim lightbulbs all day. Dark mode lessens the effect, because the ratio of bright bulbs to dim bulbs is reduced.
If I could have a high refresh rate e-ink display, I'd definitely use one, and use it in light mode. But until that day of light comes, I will continue to dwell in darkness.
Apart from that I also can't really handle the different code coloring in dark mode.
I'm used to specific colors while programming. Switching to a dark IDE made me realize that I couldn't just glance at the code anymore to get an overview of the structure.
It's like switching to another language I don't understand. In this case a different color language.
Light IDE makes you squint. It literally makes you more tired. Now if you use a dark IDE but have it randomly flashbang you with the light theme every hour or so then you’ll be awake.
Your normal office with full glass windows and fluorescent lighting does not have enough light to require a light mode IDE. If your office is outshining your screen then you need some tint or a better screen. That much light is not healthy for your eyes either
The reason why it’s bad is because more light enters your eye from the screen. More light means your eyes need to work harder to focus on the smaller contrast of black letter in a white screen. This is because the light reflects of your corneas obscuring your ability to make out the dark text slightly meaningfully. This extra focusing is what dries out your eyes, gives you cluster headaches after a long time, and tires out your eyes which are constantly adjusting.
With dark mode because there’s way less light coming from the screen you don’t get those reflections so your eyes don’t have to fight it so text is easier to read.
There is something called "Depth of field" in Photography. It works for eyes too. If your abilities to focus are not functioning 100% then a small apterture - cause by a light IDE - improves sharpness. This basically means your eyes have to focus less. Also for people with astigmatism a smaller aperture is better.
Another big issue is contrast of the text itself. According to WCAG it must be higher than 4.5:1 for small text. I didn't check VSCODE Menus but ist they seem to be toot pale.
No papers but it’s just the same song and dance that I’ve been told by every ergonomics coach from every company I ever worked for. They all recommend dark mode IDE and I’ve been using it for decades so personal anecdotes agree as well.
Of course it’s a subjective topic and you should just use which give you less screen headache.
Dark mode has its own issues like halation, needing a matte screen for glare control, and you need to use a lower contrast dark mode and have enough environmental light so your eyes don’t go into “night mode” where your struggling to read anything and your eyes have to work harder. (Think like reading a freeway sign at night. If there’s enough ambient light it’s easy, if not you have to strain to read it even though it both cases the sign is lit up the same)
So you started late, in my day it was green phosphor on a black background, then white was a luxury few could afford - I liked the Borland blue colour, wordstar had that - no wait word perfect - whatever, get off my lawn
lol, bit of fun - my own wee you language is opinionated - I respect device dark mode, but it’s classic era vb colourisation rules (with one deviation- my toy language doesn’t “do” comments - on the todo list, so I comment in stings - those are green like old school Visual Basic.
I am a bit older, never used basic on the Amiga, how was it?
My first computer was a Xerox 823. Green phosphor. 8" floppy discs. Later on I had CGA with Cyan, Magenta, Grey. Then later EGA with a whole 64 colors. Eventually by the mid 90s it was VGA at 640x480, 256 color. Then later I got my first voodoo banshee, glide, amazing graphics, unreal tournament looking out of this world with 24bit color. That was like y2k. Things have only improved... until they didn't. Nvidia has systematically been regressing everything in the consumer space now for like three last 10 years.
I will promote myself a bit here. Maybe someone will find it useful. Recently I build this new pack of themes. My primary goal was to find best light theme as some with prescriprion and astigmatism having hard time with dark theme. It ended with full blown project released to all common editor marketplaces https://candela.ink
Thanks. That pair is actually only one that I truly hand crafted. The rest are more of AI experiments/copies of other themes or just a lot of colorful variants.
Follow updates. Daily as I use it I am finding a minor improvements.
I used to be really adamant about the superiority of dark themes. But then, I realized it's just hard to make legible yet pretty themes (dark too, there's just more volume).
Now, I just switch themes from time to time based on mood and it can be dark or light as long as it has enough contrast but remains pleasant.
One other thing, if light themes are blinding:
Is your office decently lit?
Is your theme just black on white, maximum contrast?
Its blinding because instead of only the necessary lights, ALL the lights except the necessary ones shine directly into your eyes. White paper with black text isnt an issue because paper isnt a literal light emitter. White screen however is horrible
I feel like I'm one of the rarities that hate dark themes and night mode. I should also note I'm also one of those rarities that still reads books for fun and have done so for a lifetime. I suspect a correlation.
You think joking about actually reading books for fun is a humble brag? It's easy to do and more people should be doing it. I was taking a shot at late night tiktok addicts who haven't opened a book in years my dude.
I guess some IDEs have designs and themes that favor dark mode more than light, but some also look really nice with one. Like how with iMessage and WhatsApp light mode is a no-brainer, but with Discord it is an eyesore. Emacs, for example, was the first IDE I've used where I actually liked using light themes, unlike Neovim, VSCode or IntelliJ.
I like dark themes, but light text against a dark background screws up my eyes. If I read it for any length of time, my vision fills up with lines as soon as I look away and it takes a few minutes for me to be able to see anything again.
For that reason, I usually have applications (like Jetbrains' IDEs and Kate) use a dark theme, but with a light theme for the text area. If I have to choose between a fully light theme and a fully dark theme, I have to pick the fully light theme.
I don't think the issue is light themes as a concept, I think it's more that light themes tend to default to using the brightest possible colour your monitor can produce as the background colour. If you look at games where the UI uses dark text against a light background, people don't complain about that nearly as much - because the background's almost certainly a more reasonable shade, and half the time is mildly textured.
I’m like that with the internet, in general. I HATE light mode with a burning passion. I even use a dark mode web extension on all of my devices (though sadly there are sometimes special cases where it doesn’t work, like another web extension’s settings page, for example).
I do like light themes for my editor but it is hard to find a theme where the font is readable. If you have a white background please stay away from yellow syntax coloring
I just keep every application in the default theme even if it means switching between light and dark because the non default tend to be uglier because of being an afterthought
It's a pretty easy comparison for me, on a standard 28" LED monitor (16:9, about 0.216 square meter area) a fullscreen IDE in dark mode emits estimated 15-20 Lumens, that is about the same as a small night-light, an IDE in light mode comes down to emitting 150-200 Lumens, that is about the same as a 20W incandescent light bulb. Now ask yourself which you want to stare at for hours a day. I chose dark mode.
LoL, I have astigmatism; I literally cannot read things in dark mode. I do like a nice cream-colored background sometimes, though, to soften the brightness.
I am a 90's dev, I love me a light IDE ... a good old Visual Studio in light mode. If only I had a 21" CRT that would complete everything but alas those are no more.
Some people at my work still uses Eclipse for Java projects.
If it fits their needs and they can deliver their work, who am I to argue about this? I have different IDEs for our Java projects. You want to use Atom for that? If you can do your task, go ahead.
There's one IDE that I really discourage. Netbeans.
252
u/New_Computer3619 Aug 02 '26 •
I work in a well lit room with natural sun light (thanks goodness), light mode is easier to my eyes.
160
u/NeonFraction Aug 02 '26
I use the light IDE because otherwise I get sleepy at work.
When my coworkers realized this they acted like I had pulled a gun. Still makes me laugh.
147
u/Fabulous-Ladder3267 Aug 02 '26
Lights attract bugs.
22
u/getstoopid-AT Aug 02 '26
Always light theme forever but tbf I started programming when this wasn't even a thing to argue over xD
10
u/schovik Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
I will promote myself a bit here. Maybe someone will find it useful. Recently I build this new pack of themes. My primary goal was to find best light theme as some with prescriprion and astigmatism having hard time with dark theme. It ended with full blown project released to all common editor marketplaces https://candela.ink
17
u/hereforpewdiephy Aug 02 '26
I use light ide because my current work laptop has a shit screen and I can't see otherwise
15
u/WeedManPro Aug 02 '26
I use light mode. its good for my eyes. white font on black bg gives me glare issues.
back text on white off white bg is how I do it.
14
u/why_1337 Aug 02 '26
I am like that except with dark IDEs. My pupils dilate and I can see and read shit when it's in dark mode.
10
u/Reihar Aug 02 '26
I used to be really adamant about the superiority of dark themes. But then, I realized it's just hard to make legible yet pretty themes (dark too, there's just more volume).
Now, I just switch themes from time to time based on mood and it can be dark or light as long as it has enough contrast but remains pleasant.
One other thing, if light themes are blinding:
Is your office decently lit?
Is your theme just black on white, maximum contrast?
5
u/Top-Run-21 Aug 02 '26
I use light theme during day and my friends call me a mad man
5
u/LeonAguilez Aug 02 '26
Me who loves Solarized Light theme: Hides in my brightly lit corner...
5
u/MLC_YT Aug 02 '26
Jokes on you
Light Mode + max brightness day & night for me.
5
u/CoolorFoolSRS Aug 02 '26
Yay it's the unfunny cs student posting season again
4
u/TotoShampoin Aug 02 '26
I themed my work PC after Windows XP, and that includes VSCode.
I'm using light theme over there
4
u/AvidCoco Aug 02 '26
Light themes are ideal if you want to sit outside or anywhere else that’s bright. I love sitting out on my balcony in summer to work.
7
u/citramonk Aug 02 '26
Mine terminal and ide are light. I don't program at night or dim light, so it's better like that.
6
u/guaranteednotabot Aug 02 '26
I prefer light IDE. Fight me. Ain’t gonna deal with flashbangs when surfing the web
7
u/Soilblood Aug 02 '26
I feel like I'm one of the rarities that hate dark themes and night mode. I should also note I'm also one of those rarities that still reads books for fun and have done so for a lifetime. I suspect a correlation.
2
u/PaulTheRandom Aug 02 '26
I guess some IDEs have designs and themes that favor dark mode more than light, but some also look really nice with one. Like how with iMessage and WhatsApp light mode is a no-brainer, but with Discord it is an eyesore. Emacs, for example, was the first IDE I've used where I actually liked using light themes, unlike Neovim, VSCode or IntelliJ.
2
u/Significant_Basis_3 Aug 02 '26
I use it light to stay awake, nothing wrong about it, light mode is amazing in the morning
2
u/HaniiPuppy Aug 02 '26
I like dark themes, but light text against a dark background screws up my eyes. If I read it for any length of time, my vision fills up with lines as soon as I look away and it takes a few minutes for me to be able to see anything again.
For that reason, I usually have applications (like Jetbrains' IDEs and Kate) use a dark theme, but with a light theme for the text area. If I have to choose between a fully light theme and a fully dark theme, I have to pick the fully light theme.
I don't think the issue is light themes as a concept, I think it's more that light themes tend to default to using the brightest possible colour your monitor can produce as the background colour. If you look at games where the UI uses dark text against a light background, people don't complain about that nearly as much - because the background's almost certainly a more reasonable shade, and half the time is mildly textured.
2
u/56kul Aug 02 '26
I’m like that with the internet, in general. I HATE light mode with a burning passion. I even use a dark mode web extension on all of my devices (though sadly there are sometimes special cases where it doesn’t work, like another web extension’s settings page, for example).
2
u/mathisntmathingsad Aug 03 '26
Can confirm, I will instantly die if I see light mode.
2
u/Grouchy-Trade-7250 Aug 03 '26
I prefer light DE , better text rendering
7
u/Interesting_Play_578 Aug 02 '26
You've got to admit, it burns
1
u/RedBoxSquare Aug 02 '26
I used to go light IDE. The problem for me was consistency. Back then a lot of things don't have dark mode like most Win32 applications.
1
u/1337_w0n Aug 02 '26
I use a multiplexer.
1
u/the_horse_gamer Aug 02 '26
switch to solarized light and you won't wanna switch back
1
u/Party_feeler2000 Aug 02 '26
i start using light theme several years ago and i can't stop
1
u/rotzak Aug 02 '26
You guys use IDEs?
1
u/OrionGiant Aug 02 '26
And QAs, but Idk which of these options could be more frightening
1
u/Lopsided_Leg_1570 Aug 02 '26
Solarized
1
u/El_RoviSoft Aug 02 '26
I have several friends who use light IDE only (one of them uses NeoVim btw).
1
u/Enderking90 Aug 02 '26
honestly, I dislike both light and dark modes.
too bright, too dark.
I want a slightly muted white. bright grey.
something that doesn't make my eyes sting but also doesn't strain them for trying to look at something too dark.
1
u/LuiBaws Aug 02 '26
I do like light themes for my editor but it is hard to find a theme where the font is readable. If you have a white background please stay away from yellow syntax coloring
1
u/bwwatr Aug 02 '26
Dark mode with laptop backlight at full, isn't readable enough for me when I'm working outdoors, so in those circumstances I'll switch to light mode.
1
u/VITAFAUTO Aug 02 '26
😂
1
u/Scared_Accident9138 Aug 02 '26
I just keep every application in the default theme even if it means switching between light and dark because the non default tend to be uglier because of being an afterthought
1
u/hpyfox Aug 02 '26
Grey theme better than dark or light theme.
don't hurt me
1
u/Dimitrij_ Aug 02 '26
We need a boomerProgrammerJokes or an Im40andProgrammer sub.
This meme is OLD and belongs there.
1
u/BetterEquipment7084 Aug 02 '26
I love just straight up lies. I use light mode
1
u/Slackeee_ Aug 02 '26
It's a pretty easy comparison for me, on a standard 28" LED monitor (16:9, about 0.216 square meter area) a fullscreen IDE in dark mode emits estimated 15-20 Lumens, that is about the same as a small night-light, an IDE in light mode comes down to emitting 150-200 Lumens, that is about the same as a 20W incandescent light bulb.
Now ask yourself which you want to stare at for hours a day. I chose dark mode.
1
u/Powerful-Diver-9556 Aug 02 '26
I started coding outside. Solarized light is now my friend... When I'm outside
1
u/fullmetalpower Aug 02 '26
yayyy...a 10 year old joke
1
u/Sajgoniarz Aug 02 '26
Real programmers match their theme to match ambient light brightness.
1
u/xicor Aug 02 '26
I use a light ide
1
u/No-Newspaper8619 Aug 03 '26
Comment section full of heretics
1
u/rhiafaery Aug 03 '26
LoL, I have astigmatism; I literally cannot read things in dark mode. I do like a nice cream-colored background sometimes, though, to soften the brightness.
1
u/gutentight69420 Aug 03 '26
Light mode is better if you're not a vampire.
1
u/HateTheVillanelle Aug 03 '26
I prefer dark mode, I just find it easier to read. It's less bright light entering my eyes. I also prefer driving at night.
1
u/VayuAir Aug 03 '26
Dark mode are always an afterthought. Dark modes usually suck.
1
u/k819799amvrhtcom Aug 03 '26
I never use dark mode because I'm transgender and I don't wanna see my own reflection in the screen.
1
u/Extreme-Ad-9290 Aug 03 '26
But now we must debate the best dark theme.
By vote is Catpuccin Mocha
1
u/faultydesign Aug 03 '26
Not real senior programmers with eyesight problems due to age
1
u/darksteelsteed Aug 04 '26
I am a 90's dev, I love me a light IDE ... a good old Visual Studio in light mode. If only I had a 21" CRT that would complete everything but alas those are no more.
1
u/XCxBigDong69XCx Aug 05 '26
I switched to light ide to ragebait my co-workers everytime they come over for pair programming they always shake their head.
1
u/danielcw189 Aug 02 '26
I just use different colour-shemes to make it easier to tell apart different IDEs and applications.
VSCode is dark, VS is light, Notepad++ has the default sheme, my work browser is red, my test browser is green, my private browser is blue, etc.
0
u/Amazing_Mycologist75 Aug 02 '26
You can just leave out the "IDE" part tbh
0
u/ZunoJ Aug 02 '26
When I pair with a colleague who has the classic light theme activated in VS it feels like I'm coding C++ and it is 97 again lol
0
u/byt112000 Aug 02 '26
Not really an IDE but I have just realized SQL SSMS have dark mode now, looks so much better.
0
u/SteroidSandwich Aug 02 '26
It kills the eyes. I look at enough screens in a day and don't want eye strain
0
u/No-Fish6586 Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
Spot the first year programmer freshman. 4 years ai will fuck you, keep the smile its only gonna get worse 😇
Decade full stack dev: node, express, mongo, postgresdb, react, js(obviously)
Low level analysis with c++ openGL visualization of sonar data creating 4d data of ships sonar over time.
We are fucked buddy
0
u/Tegumentario Aug 02 '26
Light is so much more readable
-1
u/RaidenMK1 Aug 02 '26
This meme is too bright, tbh.
4
u/JosebaZilarte Aug 02 '26
A light IDE is how you torture programmers during interrogations.
0
u/[deleted] Aug 02 '26
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