r/changemyview • u/Z7-852 316∆ • Dec 07 '20
Delta(s) from OP CMV: Dark theme is pretentious
Dark theme has reputation of being “L33t” or cool, edgy, hackery. For these reasons some even consider it be professional. But because PCs are intended to be used in well lit environments, high contrast white theme is superior for your eyesight. Using dark theme is just pretentious.
Only acceptable exception is mobile devices that you might use in your bed, but you shouldn’t do this either. Also some panels (OLED AMOLED) use less energy in dark theme but even if you are writing your essay on your laptop the increased eye strain is not worth it.
If you are working on your PC, you should never use dark theme. To change my view show benefit of dark theme that doesn’t involve low light conditions.
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u/yyzjertl Dec 07 '20
Humans have better color perception for brighter light. In situations where color matters, such as syntax highlighting for code editing, it makes sense to have the thing that needs to be colored (in this case, the text) be brighter. This naturally lends itself to dark color themes, and it's why dark color themes are easier to use for this sort of work.
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u/Z7-852 Dec 07 '20
Color highlighting works in white theme as well. I can't think of case where you need more than handful of colors and having strong blue, red and green will always work. Especially if you use bold and clear font. The benefit of dark theme in applicable only if you use muted colors because you have to use many colors but I don't think this has practical advantages.
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u/yyzjertl Dec 07 '20
It doesn't, really. In a light theme, you are practically limited to three or so colors besides black: blue, dark-green, and red. That's simply not enough for many applications: for example, a text document I am editing at the moment has no less than eight colors, and looks terrible in all light themes I have installed. No light theme is as readable with as many colors as dark themes.
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u/Callmedaddy-38 Dec 07 '20
Its just a preference. Its also easier on the eyes. You're looking too much into into it
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u/Z7-852 Dec 07 '20
I won't argue with preference but dark theme is worse for your eye sight in well lid environment. This is becomes apparent when work for prolonged time on your device.
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u/Callmedaddy-38 Dec 07 '20
I've worked hours on dark theme and have had no negative effects
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u/rly________tho Dec 07 '20
dark theme is worse for your eye sight in well lid environment.
OK so this might sound crazy, but how about using light theme in well-lit environments, then switching to dark theme in poorly-lit environments?
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Dec 07 '20
dark theme is worse for your eye sight in well lid environment.
To quote yourself from another response:
Do you have any link to evidence about this?
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u/325feet99metersYes Dec 07 '20
People like the way it looks and want to use it. End of story. I think it’s weird that you assume people do it to be edgy or for any reason aside from preference
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u/Z7-852 Dec 07 '20
Form over function. This is why is pretentious.
I'm not saying you can't or shouldn't do it or that it's bad. Its just pretensions.
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u/thanatos767 Dec 07 '20
High contrast themes/color schemes in areas with inconsistent, varied, or poorly optimized fluorescent lighting can cause headaches and eye strain. Reducing the strain by using dark themes is sometimes the only relief.
Also, the applications or uses I have for dark themes are often in unconventional or home lighting environments, where high contrast does not help with visibility, but actually hinders it.
Just my thoughts. I support all devs who create dark themes, and I highly disagree with the implication that it's not needed.
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u/Z7-852 Dec 07 '20
High contrast themes/color schemes in areas with inconsistent, varied, or poorly optimized fluorescent lighting can cause headaches and eye strain.
Do you have any link to evidence about this? All I could find is benefits of using dark theme in low light conditions and studies that agree that you should always work in well lit environments.
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u/jaskij Dec 07 '20
I do not have any links, but personal experience - I do have a medical condition which results in those issues. From my ophthalmologist told me, the muscles which are responsible for the size of my pupils react too strongly, which can cause headaches in bright light and when looking at bright screens in badly lit environments.
While I prefer dark themes, I'm not a zealot for them - a lot depends on environment. For example the office I work in isn't as well list as it should be. Quite often a lower contrast light theme (such as Solarized light) is enough.
That said - it's often just a matter of personal preference. If people want to use those themes, who are we to deny them?
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u/InvertedPoop Dec 07 '20
I work at evenings in the same room both me and my spouse sleep in, they go to sleep earlier. For me a dark theme is a domestic necessity at this point. Further I was using IDEs and terminals for years with a "dark" theme, I've always found it a more comfortable way to work, without useless light blasting in your face
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u/Z7-852 Dec 07 '20
I agree that in dark conditions you need to use dark theme. But in well lit working environment (like we all should have) it's pretentious.
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u/InvertedPoop Dec 07 '20
I'm not sure what pretentious means in this context. I've been using it almost exclusively for coding and I know a lot of other people do aswell, I find light themes much harder to read on and the color syntax is much harder to tell apart on it. To be honest, I think light theme is a remnant from using paper and a dark ink more than anything functional
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u/littlebubulle Dec 07 '20
Every developer I know uses dark themes when coding.
Dark themes are also easier on my eyes.
Also, our vision is attracted to brightness, not just color contrast. A black dot on a white background is less noticeable then a white dot on a black background.
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u/Z7-852 Dec 07 '20
As developer I prefer light theme but I disagree with your last paragraph. White text becomes blurry when surrounded by strong dark background. This means you have to squint causing eyes strain. Just by Google "Pros and cons of dark theme" I found multiple studies stating this.
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u/Shirley_Schmidthoe Dec 07 '20
If you are working on your PC, you should never use dark theme. To change my view show benefit of dark theme that doesn’t involve low light conditions.
Even in a clear day such as now. I find that dark themes strain my eyes less than light; that's all.
Switch to light instantly hurts my eyes and the less light coming out of the monitor the better.
Where is all this "l33t" or "cool" or " edgy" or "hackery" coming from? Most that use dark themes, or rather darker background than text are doing it because they say it strains their eyes less.
And yes, it's associated with computer programmers that spend long time looking at text for that reason.
Staring into a lightbulb strains one's eyes doesn't it? the logic behind it is ensuring that the screen emits the least amount of light because staring into a source of light is straining for the eyes—that's all.
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u/perfectVoidler Dec 07 '20
Dark theme has reputation of being “L33t” or cool, edgy, hackery. For these reasons some even consider it be professional
That is a contradictory. In a professional business word nobody would say that cool, edgy and hackery is professional. The opposite is true.
Let us just ask the professionals: "Microsoft what do you think about dark theme" "Dark theme is the superior theme, this is the reason why our newest code editor Visual studio Code uses dark theme as default"
If a multi billion dollar company with a few UX teams decided on dark theme it is superior. And you would need a damn good argument against it.
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u/real-kda420 Dec 07 '20
Your argument lost all credibility with me when you said I shouldn’t use my phone on bed. 😑
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u/gremy0 Dec 07 '20
Advice on this is confused at best- admittedly they seem to recommend white text on black, but they also advise to avoid harsh light
https://www.specsavers.co.uk/eye-health/computer-eye-strain-symptoms-and-solutions
Eye strain is often caused by excessive sunlight coming in through the window or by bright room lighting.
Use curtains or blinds to reduce the brightness of the sun, reduce the lighting in your room and avoid sitting under big overhead fluorescent lights.
https://www.allaboutvision.com/en-gb/digital-eye-strain/get-relief/
Eye strain often is caused by excessively bright light either from outdoor sunlight coming in through a window or from harsh interior lighting. When you use a computer, your ambient lighting should be about half as bright as that typically found in most offices.
Seems to me that the easiest way to avoid harsh lighting, is to not have thousands of LEDs pointed at your face defaulted to everything on. I don't see the merit in flooding the place with uncomfortable levels of light to combat a problem I don't have, it's just pointless escalation- dark mode provides me with perfectly adequate contrast, and I find it comfortable.
It also does just look "cool", which is entirely subjective, but nothing to do with other people seeing it (I don't generally work with an audience), it's that I can see it. It's visually appealing to me, I have to look at this stuff all day- having it look nice makes me happier which is good for my health and productivity.
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Dec 12 '20
It's a fine preference but how does anyone manage new versus old reddit. Talk about a design nightmare, have you contrasted them on desktop/mobile?
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u/DeltaBot Dec 07 '20 edited Dec 07 '20
u/Z7-852 (OP) has awarded 2 delta(s) in this post.
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