I pointed out that Eclipse content is loaded regardless of the mode selected in the browser, because it may not be obvious to people using it and you mentioned wanting to have a “different set of light and dark graphics”. If you want to change the color of text or backgrounds, then a lot of the Foundry stacks have dark-mode settings to set those colors. It’s really the swapping of images and other graphics that adds to page weight.
Browsers do not pass any header information indicating if they are running light or dark mode, so you cannot use server-side code (like PHP) to only send the content needed.
But they don’t and that is my point. If you get to the point where every stack has it’s own dark mode functions then that would be a bit of a different consideration.
I understand that dark mode is listed in documentation and I remember reading through the documentation for stacks like Navigation Pro when redoing my site. The problem is something I read six months ago isn’t going to be at the forefront of my mind at the point when I go to utilize the stack. I am not going to memorize every detail of 100+ stacks. If you want to put a moon in the corner of a stack icon that would work too but just being able to filter it would be more convenient.
Or at least an easier way to tell which ones have it while the feature gets rolled out to more stacks.
I can’t buy into such a statement without any citation. Dark mode is widely used and has been around for a long time. 100% of TV interfaces use some kind of dark mode since they very first ones started coming out in the 2000s and have been that way ever since. There is no no such thing as light mode on TV UIs with a pure white background. The modern screens with double brightness make it impossible to even consider go back to pure white interfaces. Many interfaces will offer a range of between white and black, sometimes with a slider to pick different grey points.
Print is different from UI design. If I remember right type with thin strokes can get lost in a reverse “dark mode” like layout. I think that is due to the way ink spreads out slightly on uncoated paper but we aren’t dealing with ink in web design. Ideally I would look for solutions were it is not always white text on a black background but I don’t necessarily even have a major problem with that. White backgrounds set at full screen brightness is like looking straight into someones headlights when their brights are on.
Both are about UI design I was just trying to show that isn’t just a gimmick tech company starting doing recently as a trivial feature given that light on dark text has been the norm in this area since around 2006 or perhaps before. I remember video game systems would be similar too.
It also isn’t an old MS DOS era feature that has gone out of date but has been in regular use for quite some time. I use a product called Mac Journal that has had it’s own dark mode like setting called “focus” long before dark mode started came out.
I guess if I had a main point to make it is that this pure white background doesn’t work as well in UI design as it used to. That is true whether it is websites or other UI design. Many of the same factors are at play whether its an in app, TV UI, etc. If someone wants to make the case that the color be other then black text on white I could understand that. But the bright white doesn’t work as well these days. Some e-readers come with options like sepia or grey as an alternative to the dark black and that is fine.
Recently returned to RW as i need to build a few sites and would rather learn and do it myself.
I will be utilising dark mode and across all sites and all pages.
I use Dark Mode settings anywhere and everywhere i can. The reason is, i am colourblind and light mode often uses colours that become fuzzy or just unreadable, sometimes they cause me a headache from prolonged exposure. This is especially relevant for Social Media sites. The mode also prolongs battery life and at night or indoors i find the mode is less obtrusive and more discreet. Personally i think dark mode is essential and when i saw some stacks and developers were incorporating it i favoured them over others that did not.
Hope that helps, it’s just my view and in no way a reflection on other colourblind people, some will have no issues in light mode, i do and a few of my friends also have the issue.
Yes, this is one reason for my saying that light mode is a bit dated. Once upon a time nearly everyone was using desktops with monitors that were only moderately bright. Now most people use mobile computers and tablets where power consumption becomes a big issue. In fact many screens get automatically dimmer when you unplug the power cord.
In some ways this gives even more reason to make darker screens then perhaps with a dark TV UI where battery consumption isn’t even an issue.
I’m sure everyone knows this already, but we don’t need dark-mode to be able to design a website that doesn’t utilize a light or white background. We just use a dark pallet. We only need dark-mode if we want to design a website with light backgrounds and still want people who have their browser set to dark-mode.
We’re essentially designing two different websites with both light and dark color pallets. Some of us have found that clients like the idea of light/dark-mode until you give them a price for the extra design and implementation work to develop both designs.
A little late, sorry. I think the dark mode settings in Foundry are fantastic. It is not a gimmick IMO. I’m in an older age group and it held me read content on a page. I keep dark mode on all the time. The only change I suggest is if Foundry could have a toggle switch that a user can flick to move from day to dark mode (or visa versa) across the entire website without having to go into the settings to do this or ding it page by page. Maybe something in Nav Bar Pro? Other than that please keep it in Foundry!
This would require using cookies to store the user’s preference. This would then mean you’d have to have a stack for disabling cookies until the user consents to their use on your site. This is not something most RW users want to deal with in my experience.
I am assuming you mean in your OS, right? Do you use it in your site design as well? If so, I’d love to see the site as an example.
Thanks Adam. I have created a private members site where users can switch from day to night mode based on their computer or OS settings. As it is private I cannot provide access, sorry. Instead I have uploaded a couple of screen shots. I have used Foundry and the Partitions stack as the main backbone and layout. They work well. The ability to toggle between day and night mode without having to go to the computer settings each time would be convenient and not a ‘must have’. It really depends on what is being viewed. I currently do this by using a seperate MacOS app known as ‘One Switch’ (One Switch - Fireball Studio) which makes it very convenient to switch between settings. Having a toggle switch within each web page might make it more easier for some users to read certain content, particularly Windows based users. Only a thought.
The point of the CSS media queries for Dark Mode, which Foundry uses, is to match the user’s preference based on their OS setting. If they’ve set their Mac to dark mode in their OS settings, you’d assume they want it for other things.
Sure Adam, agree. Maybe it’s my silly way where I use dark mode mainly but sometimes switch to light mode depending on the content or whether I drafting a long document. As mentioned, it’s not a must have issue. I appreciate your buy-in. And BTW I absolutely love Foundry and all the addons. It is my favourite stacks system. Well done.
