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kleibatoday at 3:18 PM5 repliesview on HN

I cannot read light on black. I don't know, maybe it's a condition, or simply just part of getting old. But my eyes physically hurt, and when I look up from reading a light-on-black screen, even when I looked at only for a short moment, my eyes need seconds to adjust again.

I know dark mode is really popular with the youngens but I regularly have to reach for reader mode for dark web pages, or else I simply cannot stand reading the contents.

Unfortunately, this site does not have an obvious way of reading it black-on-white, short of looking at the HTML source (CTRL+U), which - in fact - I sometimes do.


Replies

jbrittontoday at 7:54 PM

I find dark mode much easier to read and far less eye strain. I guess it just shows that users should be the ones to set the preference. There are studies on monkeys showing light mode leading to myopia. Although lately I have come to learn there are lots of poorly done studies.

newsofthedaytoday at 4:25 PM

Same for me, has been my whole life. I complain about it all the time. It's well documented that people can read black on light far better and with less eye strain than light on black; yet there seems to be a whole generation of developers determined to force us all to try and read it. Even the media sites like Netflix, Prime, etc. force it. At least Tubi's is somewhat more readable.

Sometimes a site will include a button or other UI element to choose a light theme but I find it odd that so many sites which are presumed to be designed by technically competent people, completely ignore accessibility concerns.

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cambrianentropytoday at 6:00 PM

Yeah I am the same.

Definitely in the minority on this one as dark mode is really popular these days.

Really hard to describe how it is literally physically painful for my eyes. Very strange.

embedding-shapetoday at 3:33 PM

Do you sit in a bright room? Right now, during the night, I see your comment like this: https://i.imgur.com/c7fmBns.png, but during the day when the room is bright, I also see everything with light themes/background colors, otherwise it is indeed hard to see properly.

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lainprolianttoday at 5:52 PM

I feel your pain. For me it is the opposite: I get headaches from bright backgrounds because I'm light-sensitive.