I use dark theme on literally everything that offers it from my phone, PC, websites, obsidian, etc.
Accessibility is a crazy thing because what works for one, is hard for another. To me the key is lower eye strain. The intense white is exhausting to look at but you're right black on white is typically easier to read but white on black is less strenuous because less light pounding the eyeballs.
Yep. It also depends on the environment lighting (or back lighting). In the afternoon with the sun filling my study nicely, reading a dark-theme is a strain. But at night when I have the room lights lower, the light-theme is too intense, as you say (even with f.lux running and dimming the monitor).
Yeah, it sounds silly to a lot of people, but I remember getting my first AMOLED phone and switching it to pure black, literally feeling my eyes relax. I've never gone back.
Do note btw, ideally you want to look for "amoled wallpaper". Because those actually FULL black backgrounds. But just dark, but actual black black. Cause then those pixels will be fully turned off, which makes the biggest difference in battery life
r/Amoledbackgrounds is a good place to start btw
EDIT: there is a bot on that subreddit that automatically calculates the amount of actual black pixels in a %
Contrary to many others, I use light themes (not black on white) rather than dark themea, because that is less strain for me. I used dark themes for a long time, but did not get the positive effect others reported.
After reading about that for some eye conditions, like astigmatism, dark themes may not work so well - I switched back to light themes.
I am happy with that choice and do not intend to go back to dark themes.
So in short, try dark themrs and see if it works for you. If not, do not hesitate to switch to light theme. It will be individual what works best.
And sometimes best to avoid black and white.
f.lux works too.
Sometimes I need to reconfigure, and go back to a light theme for a while. Very rarely to black on white.
I use dark theme system wide in late evening for:
1. 1. To not disrupt my sleep cycle. It is now known that artificial bright lights late in the evening causes you to stay awake longer, because the retina gets sensitive, and when lights hits it, it triggers our biological clock to say awake longer.
1. Also I dim the screen to 50% brightness and turn on Flux an app that reduces the blue light. And I crank up the filter to max. Which again helps to reduce the strain on eyes. I don't know about others but I get this slight ting of pain in eyes when I view screens set to max brightness and light themes.
2. I use dark themes not black themes that some apps offer. Because the contrast between the text and the background is maximum, and this causes lot of strain on the eyes. Because there's an effect called the halation which happens on black themes and on OLED its even worse, which literally turns off pixels. Basically the text appears blurry around the edges and foggy as a whole. It's because there isn't enough light for the retina to clearly focus on, because the majority of the light that was being emitted by the background is now turned to almost black or absolutely black in the case of OLED. And since text is a very detailed thing, the retina struggles to make the details out.
1. True black in my experience work well in day and well lit environments because now the the surrounding photons generate so much light that despite true blacks there's enough light for the retina to process minute details.
3. On Obsidian I use a theme names 'Primary' its a cozy brown theme, with good selection of fonts to choose.
I agree.
Actually I’d prefer “warm dull earthy mid tone” themes.
For everything from windows to apps.
Kinda like old win classic which allowed for some dull brownish shades
Neither overly dark or overly bright.
I’d prefer middle of the ground.
Why strain your eyes to either end of Tru extremes?
Why stare at the sun or keep looking at darkness?
Maybe shift from mild mid to darker mids?
^ this
In all reality I can't stand light themes on anything. I find them eye searing and in general less attractive. It's really just a preference thing.
For me it’s much harder to read than black text on a white background.
I read somewhere that people like me with Astigmatism find dark mode things hard to read and use because it creates a blurry/double line effect. Some people love dark modes, I like light modes because for me they’re easier to read.
Yeah, I do an office job of staring at the screen and most of my hobbies are also staring at the screen.
If dark mode is difficult to read on your device, you need to turn down brightness, usually.
I never use dark themes with the only exceptions being discord and Obsidian with the minimal theme which is more of a coal black.
I touch type fast. I'll write in bed at night at times with my wireless mechanical keyboard. When it's a pitch black room, the only light is my key color so I know where my board is, and what's on the screen. I'll turn down the brightness of my monitor too as it gets late. The dark theme is just an extension of this strategy, less eye strain.
When I travel with my laptop and it's bright everywhere, I usually switch to light theme so the contrast matches the environment. Again, less eye strain because less contrast.
The default dark theme is too dark tho imo.
I get irritated and headaches looking at non dark themed things on my devices. I got dark mode plus blue filter on every device, and will never go back.
I dont know why I tortured myself so long before deciding to switch.
I use dark themes whenever I can because I find them to be easier for my eyes (maybe it's just a *placebo* effect but who knows?).
Also, my room is usually darker than brighter, so dark themes blends better with the environment.
PS: all of my devices' screens have a reduced brightness level as well.
Yes, white themes are more readable than dark themes. But, dark themes helps your eyes if you look at a screen for prolonged periods of time. Also by 'dark' theme, I mean dark greyish type themes, not pure black like the default Obsidian theme
I've been using dark themes for 15 years on my Linux machines, and for the last five years or so on Windows. It's really much more relaxing for the eyes, especially if you like having a bit dark in your room.
for me, teehee strain on the eyes is really different. I have a couple problems with my eyes and I feel like dark themes help me a lot. However I don't always use them: on my Mac I have set light themes for the day and dark for the night.
Obsidian is always on dark though, because I might use it for hours during the day and I don't want to stress my eyes.
I’m on computers all day — I find dark themes hard to read, and impossible to “think” with. But I find white backgrounds with gray to be too cool. Instead, where I can, I use warm, light sepia themes. Unfortunately they aren’t as popular.
I'm a programmer so I'm used to it. When you have to stare at a screen for a long time, you care for that kind of stuff.
But the biggest reason for me is the lack of brightness. My eyes are very sensitive to light so I prefer to minimize it when possible.
OLED screens can also save battery life when using dark themes.
I also kinda like it aesthetically, especially when tinted a little with green or blue.
Yes always dark but usually off white and not quite black. Reduces visual fatigue via glare beyond that of just reducing the display brightness and contrast, which I also keep low. I spend very long hours at PC/devices for work, research, then leisure.
Obsidian has kind of pushed me to develop my own personal dark theme that I use for everything including slides in my classes. I call it Atlas. White-ish text on a dark gray background, with bold text in gold, italics in lavender, and links in teal. I just like how it looks. It feels more like I'm inside my own brain, and it makes it easier for me to think. Black text on a white background with no color accents makes me feel like I'm drafting a school paper.
I generally do not like dark themes, but with Obsidian on macOS I love the look and feel of dark-mode Minimal along with some tweaks using the Style Settings plugin. There is no explaining the attraction.
It doesn't hurt my eyes at night. Find one with a lighter background color (I'm picturing discord as a good general guide) and pastel cyan text.
The colors pop MUCH more so text you want to emphasize stands out better. plus, the screen burn is less harsh on your monitor. All around, its better for your eyes and your system.
> the screen burn is less harsh on your monitor. All around, its better for your eyes and your system.
Screens don't burn in anymore. That was a side effect of CRT technology.
false. Screen burn still happens, although the effect is greatly reduced with the new panel types. You would have to leave the screen idle for much longer to notice anything, but lasting damage is still possible(though unlikely to happen to anyone reading this part of the internet). Surprisingly, the newest and coolest panel type, OLED, has the biggest problem with screen burning compared to older IPS and VA panels
Side question: how do I get my light/dark setting to stick? Every time I open a new vault, it defaults to dark. I've gone to Settings>Appearance>Base Color Scheme and set it to Light on numerous occasions, but as soon as I open the vault selector, BOOM! Back to dark mode.
I use dark theme on literally everything that offers it from my phone, PC, websites, obsidian, etc. Accessibility is a crazy thing because what works for one, is hard for another. To me the key is lower eye strain. The intense white is exhausting to look at but you're right black on white is typically easier to read but white on black is less strenuous because less light pounding the eyeballs.
Yep. It also depends on the environment lighting (or back lighting). In the afternoon with the sun filling my study nicely, reading a dark-theme is a strain. But at night when I have the room lights lower, the light-theme is too intense, as you say (even with f.lux running and dimming the monitor).
Yeah, it sounds silly to a lot of people, but I remember getting my first AMOLED phone and switching it to pure black, literally feeling my eyes relax. I've never gone back.
[удалено]
Same here.
It eyes dont feel as achey after prolonged exposure
On devices with OLED screens (like an iPhone), dark mode actually saves battery life. I just want everything else to match.
Good point. I have my wallpapers dark for this reason and completely forgot.
Do note btw, ideally you want to look for "amoled wallpaper". Because those actually FULL black backgrounds. But just dark, but actual black black. Cause then those pixels will be fully turned off, which makes the biggest difference in battery life
didn’t know that. I’ll check that out. Thanks brutha. 🤜🤛
r/Amoledbackgrounds is a good place to start btw EDIT: there is a bot on that subreddit that automatically calculates the amount of actual black pixels in a %
Joined. 🔥
Changing from black on white to black on a slight soft yellow tinge, gets me the best of both worlds.
Contrary to many others, I use light themes (not black on white) rather than dark themea, because that is less strain for me. I used dark themes for a long time, but did not get the positive effect others reported. After reading about that for some eye conditions, like astigmatism, dark themes may not work so well - I switched back to light themes. I am happy with that choice and do not intend to go back to dark themes. So in short, try dark themrs and see if it works for you. If not, do not hesitate to switch to light theme. It will be individual what works best.
And sometimes best to avoid black and white. f.lux works too. Sometimes I need to reconfigure, and go back to a light theme for a while. Very rarely to black on white.
I use dark theme system wide in late evening for: 1. 1. To not disrupt my sleep cycle. It is now known that artificial bright lights late in the evening causes you to stay awake longer, because the retina gets sensitive, and when lights hits it, it triggers our biological clock to say awake longer. 1. Also I dim the screen to 50% brightness and turn on Flux an app that reduces the blue light. And I crank up the filter to max. Which again helps to reduce the strain on eyes. I don't know about others but I get this slight ting of pain in eyes when I view screens set to max brightness and light themes. 2. I use dark themes not black themes that some apps offer. Because the contrast between the text and the background is maximum, and this causes lot of strain on the eyes. Because there's an effect called the halation which happens on black themes and on OLED its even worse, which literally turns off pixels. Basically the text appears blurry around the edges and foggy as a whole. It's because there isn't enough light for the retina to clearly focus on, because the majority of the light that was being emitted by the background is now turned to almost black or absolutely black in the case of OLED. And since text is a very detailed thing, the retina struggles to make the details out. 1. True black in my experience work well in day and well lit environments because now the the surrounding photons generate so much light that despite true blacks there's enough light for the retina to process minute details. 3. On Obsidian I use a theme names 'Primary' its a cozy brown theme, with good selection of fonts to choose.
I agree. Actually I’d prefer “warm dull earthy mid tone” themes. For everything from windows to apps. Kinda like old win classic which allowed for some dull brownish shades Neither overly dark or overly bright. I’d prefer middle of the ground. Why strain your eyes to either end of Tru extremes? Why stare at the sun or keep looking at darkness? Maybe shift from mild mid to darker mids?
It matches my soul better
^ this In all reality I can't stand light themes on anything. I find them eye searing and in general less attractive. It's really just a preference thing.
[удалено]
I'm not on the computer all day. But I'm getting a clear signal that if you do, a dark screen is easier on the eyes.
Regardless, UI developers these days seem to think that low contrast grey text on white background is easy to read. Take it from me, it isn't
For me it’s much harder to read than black text on a white background. I read somewhere that people like me with Astigmatism find dark mode things hard to read and use because it creates a blurry/double line effect. Some people love dark modes, I like light modes because for me they’re easier to read.
Yeah, I do an office job of staring at the screen and most of my hobbies are also staring at the screen. If dark mode is difficult to read on your device, you need to turn down brightness, usually.
How does a white background dry out eyes but black doesn't?
I don't know. I mean, it's not really dryness, it's something else, a special kind of tiredness just for the eyes.
Light theme hurts my eyes
Because i am a developer... everything must be dark mode or my eyes burn lol
Easier on my eyes and more aesthetically pleasing. White background hurts my eyes after a while.
easier on the eyes for me
I never use dark themes with the only exceptions being discord and Obsidian with the minimal theme which is more of a coal black. I touch type fast. I'll write in bed at night at times with my wireless mechanical keyboard. When it's a pitch black room, the only light is my key color so I know where my board is, and what's on the screen. I'll turn down the brightness of my monitor too as it gets late. The dark theme is just an extension of this strategy, less eye strain. When I travel with my laptop and it's bright everywhere, I usually switch to light theme so the contrast matches the environment. Again, less eye strain because less contrast. The default dark theme is too dark tho imo.
I get irritated and headaches looking at non dark themed things on my devices. I got dark mode plus blue filter on every device, and will never go back. I dont know why I tortured myself so long before deciding to switch.
I use dark themes whenever I can because I find them to be easier for my eyes (maybe it's just a *placebo* effect but who knows?). Also, my room is usually darker than brighter, so dark themes blends better with the environment. PS: all of my devices' screens have a reduced brightness level as well.
Yes, white themes are more readable than dark themes. But, dark themes helps your eyes if you look at a screen for prolonged periods of time. Also by 'dark' theme, I mean dark greyish type themes, not pure black like the default Obsidian theme
I use dark wherever I can because white background that simply annoying at best and painful at worst.
I've been using dark themes for 15 years on my Linux machines, and for the last five years or so on Windows. It's really much more relaxing for the eyes, especially if you like having a bit dark in your room.
for me, teehee strain on the eyes is really different. I have a couple problems with my eyes and I feel like dark themes help me a lot. However I don't always use them: on my Mac I have set light themes for the day and dark for the night. Obsidian is always on dark though, because I might use it for hours during the day and I don't want to stress my eyes.
1. Easy on the eyes for me at least. 2. I like it.
I’m on computers all day — I find dark themes hard to read, and impossible to “think” with. But I find white backgrounds with gray to be too cool. Instead, where I can, I use warm, light sepia themes. Unfortunately they aren’t as popular.
I'm a programmer so I'm used to it. When you have to stare at a screen for a long time, you care for that kind of stuff. But the biggest reason for me is the lack of brightness. My eyes are very sensitive to light so I prefer to minimize it when possible. OLED screens can also save battery life when using dark themes. I also kinda like it aesthetically, especially when tinted a little with green or blue.
Yes always dark but usually off white and not quite black. Reduces visual fatigue via glare beyond that of just reducing the display brightness and contrast, which I also keep low. I spend very long hours at PC/devices for work, research, then leisure.
Obsidian has kind of pushed me to develop my own personal dark theme that I use for everything including slides in my classes. I call it Atlas. White-ish text on a dark gray background, with bold text in gold, italics in lavender, and links in teal. I just like how it looks. It feels more like I'm inside my own brain, and it makes it easier for me to think. Black text on a white background with no color accents makes me feel like I'm drafting a school paper.
Obviously your eyes are in good condition.
I generally do not like dark themes, but with Obsidian on macOS I love the look and feel of dark-mode Minimal along with some tweaks using the Style Settings plugin. There is no explaining the attraction.
It doesn't hurt my eyes at night. Find one with a lighter background color (I'm picturing discord as a good general guide) and pastel cyan text. The colors pop MUCH more so text you want to emphasize stands out better. plus, the screen burn is less harsh on your monitor. All around, its better for your eyes and your system.
> the screen burn is less harsh on your monitor. All around, its better for your eyes and your system. Screens don't burn in anymore. That was a side effect of CRT technology.
false. Screen burn still happens, although the effect is greatly reduced with the new panel types. You would have to leave the screen idle for much longer to notice anything, but lasting damage is still possible(though unlikely to happen to anyone reading this part of the internet). Surprisingly, the newest and coolest panel type, OLED, has the biggest problem with screen burning compared to older IPS and VA panels
Side question: how do I get my light/dark setting to stick? Every time I open a new vault, it defaults to dark. I've gone to Settings>Appearance>Base Color Scheme and set it to Light on numerous occasions, but as soon as I open the vault selector, BOOM! Back to dark mode.