a request? dark theme?

[cookiebaker]

i have a request if it all possible...
a dark theme, please! the light colors are hard on sensitive eyes.. a dark theme would be so much easier to look at...
dark grey background, light text (not necessarily white) with appropriate link colors, etc..

Please, and thank you for this forum.

 

[JayCS]

I guess this'd be something for @Dooi / for @sunkacola to pass on....
Not sure what's possible without additional cost.
Praps others will chime in. Personally, "black" forums with white writing are a strain on my eyes...

 

[cookiebaker]

I guess this'd be something for @Dooi / for @sunkacola to pass on....
Not sure what's possible without additional cost.
Praps others will chime in. Personally, "black" forums with white writing are a strain on my eyes...

Yeah, is not for everyone, but it is nice to have the option. Most of the forums i frequent these days have a dark option

and honestly - i dont particularly like black, black backgrounds with bright white text either...
i tend to prefer a dark(ish) grey background, with a light grey - not quite white - text.
I put together a small color sample of what i tend to like.. the text color is very subtle, but it does make a difference...
and the black box is just that.. black, to show the difference in color of the background

 

[cookiebaker]

hmmm... was just thinking.. .maybe something in the blue family... might have to play with that a little and make a sample or two

 

[cookiebaker]

ok, so as a test, i played with the blue that is already used... tone it down, darken a bit.. and this is what I came up with...
I kind of like it.. much easier on the eyes than the bright white... and again.. it should be an option for those of us that have a hard time with the bright white, not mandatory...

 

[sweetkamie20]

A fibromite understands

 

[JayCS]

Can you remind me/us why night shift mode or turning the screen light down doesn't help?

Trying to see if how I can read your dummy text in black print (hard, unless I turn my light up) I realized the 3rd word ironically is dolor = Latin for (continuing) pain, how fitting here , also sorrow, grief, and looking up see that it's even an English word for that, I spose poetic/archaic - didn't know that. Also realized the text looks like meaningless pseudo-Latin to me, and looking it up on the website loremipsum, it is...

 

[cookiebaker]

lol, yes, it is meaningless text, lol... just a way to show how something would look, without getting into copyright problems - a very common practice in mockups.

looking at it this morning - in the light of day - perhaps the main background could be a little bit lighter... as you can see by the timestamp, i was doing that late last night (early morning?) when everything seems brighter than it really is...

...night shift mode...

not sure what you mean by that?

I do have the brightness turned down a little on my monitor, but dont want to go too much because of the occasional image editing/photoshop work i do.

Light sensitivity, aka photophobia, is something i have lived with for a very long time. Fluorescent overhead lights - like used in a work setting - used to be a big problem. My last job started switching over to LED lights to save a little money, and those were even worse - much brighter...

 

[cookiebaker]

@JayCS - does this look any better to you?

 

[sunkacola]

Hi Cookiebaker, I don't know how difficult it would be to change that, but we wouldn't do it unless we had overwhelming requests for it, if it even can be done.

For me, the format you show in your post above is harder to read than the white background.

You might continue to experiment with your screen brightness, or the light in your room...?
You can also change how writing appears on your screen; the size and boldness of it and so on by changing things in the settings.
If you are unsure about all the ways to do that, maybe you can get someone who knows computers really well to help you with it.

 

[cookiebaker]

Hi Cookiebaker, I don't know how difficult it would be to change that, but we wouldn't do it unless we had overwhelming requests for it, if it even can be done.

For me, the format you show in your post above is harder to read than the white background.

You might continue to experiment with your screen brightness, or the light in your room...?
You can also change how writing appears on your screen; the size and boldness of it and so on by changing things in the settings.
If you are unsure about all the ways to do that, maybe you can get someone who knows computers really well to help you with it.

and again.. I am not asking it to be "changed" - meaning for everyone - I am asking for an option besides the bright white.
I do realize that "dark modes" are not for everyone, but on the flip side of that coin, "light modes" are not for everyone either.
having the option to choose between one or the other is what I am asking for.

and i have played with lighting, screen settings, browser settings, and so many other things. I know computers well enough to know how to adjust things - have even built a few - but what works for one site may not work well for another.
like turning the screen brightness down.. sure, it might help here, but at other sites that do offer a dark mode option, it makes those much harder to read. and i detest the "high contrast" settings... those are awful.

Are you familiar with Discord? they have both a light and a dark modes - the user gets to decide which one they want to use. Even youtube has an option for light or dark modes (click on your user icon, and select appearance to choose)

 

[JayCS]

night shift mode

not sure what you mean by that?

That's Apple's blue light reduction from sunset to sunrise, or custom. But doesn't have anything directly to do with your issue of just changing certain websites, see below for that.

Reading up a 2021 study (see wikipedia) it found no difference for a certain type if the brightness wasn't reduced. I do however reduce brightness too and do it just in case. To me the difference is the content. Some things relax, if I keep away from others that excite at night, it doesn't make my insomnia worse at all. (Study: Does the iPad Night Shift mode reduce melatonin suppression?)

dont want to go too much because of the occasional image editing/photoshop work i do.

Ah, that's then a desktop without quick change possibility like on a laptop or phone.

LED lights to save a little money, and those were even worse - much brighter

I remember back when the first LED lights were crummy, much too dark... Now they're exaggerating the other way round.

@JayCS - does this look any better to you?

Yep, a bit. (Apart from the pic making it fuzzy).

but at other sites that do offer a dark mode option, it makes those much harder to read

So you need a browser add-on / extension that allows you to exclude those websites.
Just been searching for Opera and those aren't that good some say, praps best "Dark Mode" with 4.1/5 stars. The comments recommend Chrome's "Dark Reader".
Firefox has "DarkenBackground" another site recommends.
Searching for that comes up with one called "Dark Background and Light Text" with very positive reviews. Tried any/all of those yet?
Most seem to allow you to exclude websites, some to you can switch on and off as needed.

youtube has an option for light or dark modes (click on your user icon, and select appearance to choose)

Ha, funny, I never questioned "my youtube" always being black, altho it's white everywhere else. Don't know how you mean user icon, I'm not registered, but on the left of the user icon there's a 3 dot ('hamburger') menu and that changes the mode. So I've just seen that mine uses what my gadget tells it to, and that's apparently dark, which like you I prefer.

 

[cookiebaker]

yes, PC, not phone or tablet - those are too small for my old eyes, LOL (and i dont use anything apple, sorry)

i do use a dark "theme" for Firefox, (dont use Opera & dont like Chrome, and we can completely forget about M$ offerings, lol) but that does not affect actual websites. it does affect new tabs being opened, before loading a website..and the top tool bar area.. but not the actual websites, like here.

I have experimented with changing colors and applying to all sites, but that simply renders some of them completely unreadable, which is also frustrating. it is like certain sites are just completely incompatible with that idea. *sigh*

 

[Auriel]

I can't cope either with white text/black background, my phone went accidently into dark mode few weeks ago, I was getting googley eyed with it!

 

[JayCS]

i do use a dark "theme" for Firefox, (dont use Opera & dont like Chrome, and we can completely forget about M$ offerings, lol) but that does not affect actual websites. it does affect new tabs being opened, before loading a website..and the top tool bar area.. but not the actual websites, like here.

Not themes: add ons / extensions!

To make it look like the 1st screenshot attached, websearch for "Dark Background and Light Text", click on "Add" (or whatever it says in English), et voilà.

To change any of their preset colours, you go on the Firefox menu above right and then choose "Add Ons", choose this one, then click on its 3 dot menu, then preferences.

For attachment 2 I made the preset background colour (black) lighter, so dark grey.

Next to the 3 dot menu of the Add On, you can simply toggle the whole Add On off and on.
If you'd need to switch often, you could keep that Add On tab open all the time (as this add on doesn't allow for exceptions like others do, but apart from that it has very good reviews for working as it should, which others apparently don't necessarily).