In recent years there has been a feature, a trend if you will, thatโs making the rounds within the tech community, becoming almost mandatory amongst websites, computer and mobile operating systems โ dark mode.
๐ Dark Modes ๐
๐ Dark Themes ๐
Why are they getting so popular? ๐
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Essentially, itโs an either entirely or partially blacked-out version of the website or operating system interface in question.
Any harsh, bright, white light is replaced with an entirely blacked out or greyed out color scheme to help users avoid being blasted with white light constantly and to achieve a more easier on the eyes user experience.
It sounds simple enough as it is, but the reason itโs become so popular amongst avid computer users is the amount of headaches, migraines and eyesight issues it has helped avoid, along with how practical and beneficial it can be to maximize the performance of your device.
Is dark mode an entirely new feature?
Dark mode and dark themes, in general, have been popular within certain apps and operating systems for quite some time now, but it has been only fairly recently that the feature has started to spread through the entirety of desktop and mobile operating systems and not just certain applications and/or aspects.
Some major websites like YouTube and Reddit were amongst the first to pick up on the trend in recent years.
On both platforms the dark mode feature greyed out any and all harsh white-colored elements and replaces them with a darker color to be easy on the eyes – needless to say the feature was swiftly picked up on and quickly adopted by the community of users and became quite popular and praised for its health, practical and aesthetic benefits.
Android and iOS have recently implemented the feature in their software themselves and have added the option for a dark mode version of their mobile operating systems, starting with their most recent software updates as of 2019.
Why dark mode and dark themes matter
Dark themed software and interface is not a new thing as in the past black was the only color besides green that monitors were able to produce.
Back in the good old days of DOS and other basic operating systems, the only output from a computer screen was a black background with green text on top.
Back then monitors and graphical interface werenโt developed enough to produce anything more complex as visuals, but with time the images we started seeing on our screens became lighter and brighter, as well as more colorful and complex.
In the case of software applications like Microsoft Word and Excel for example, white being the predominant color with black colored text on top is used to make text seem more realistic and easy on the eyes, replicating the visuals of ink on paper.
Ironically, while visually and aesthetically more pleasing to the eyes, the software becomes almost painful to use with prolonged use.
What we end with today is harsh, bright, blue light saturated white light blasting us from almost every corner of the internet and operating systems, especially with social media websites like Instagram and Facebookโs interface being predominantly white-colored.
Additionally, with the average time users spent on either platform sometimes exceeding the recommended amount, we start to see how in the long-term this can cause health issues related to migraines, headaches and sore eyes – issues dark mode and dark themes can help avoid.
More advantages of dark mode and dark themes
Along with white light not being constantly blared at your eyes, dark mode has even more pros than just health ones.
For example:
#1
Dark mode can help save battery life on your device: If youโre using a laptop or a smartphone especially for work and business-related tasks, you know how crucial battery life is on portable devices – dark mode can help resolve the issue of short battery life even if itโs by a little amount.
#2
Although battery savings are much more prominent and effective on OLED panels (panels without backlight where blacks are produced by the pixels simply not lighting up) even back lit panels can benefit from dark mode and dark themes, since to produce white color all 3 pixels from the RGB matrix have to light up making the device consume battery.
#3
Dark mode and dark themes produce less white light, using less battery power for the production of white color in both LCD and OLED panels and help for maximizing the performance out of a single battery charge.
#4
Colors look better: The majority of colors (with the exception of grey) look better in dark mode or with a dark theme applied, especially brighter colors.
Most colors tend to get washed out when in contrast with white, but with a dark theme applied or by using dark mode colors pop out more and are more vivid.
#5
In situations and tasks where color accuracy is of the highest importance (like photography or graphic design for example) dark mode and dark themes can be quite beneficial for productivity when it comes to color.
#6
Itโs reported by a majority to be aesthetically more pleasing to the eye: Of course personal tastes and preferences vary and are almost always very subjective, but more and more users report that they prefer dark-themed software over light-themed one as it looks more simplistic and sophisticated, as well as generally more โcoolโ.
The takeaway
After years and years of using white light predominant software and technology, it seems that the tech community, developers and the general public have become aware of the negative effects and impacts the harsh, blue-light filled white light has on health and sight.
Switching to dark mode and dark themes and making both options available in future tech and operating systems, be it a desktop or mobile, is an important step in the right direction for maximizing the performance of our devices and resolving the many modern-day health issues that have arisen from using white light-emitting technology.
Since we donโt only care about dark mode and dark themes and the improvements and benefits they have, but also the many other ways improvements can be achieved, we ourselves have developed our software with the intent of maximizing performance and improving usersโ productivity and health quality.
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Author: Yasen Nedelchev
