This is my third post on the burning issue of whether light-mode or dark-mode is better and, more importantly, what do we mean by “better”. Given the frequency of my revisiting the matter, you might think it’s something I care deeply about or are obsessed with. The truth is, though, I don’t really care one way or the other. I’ve always considered it an aesthetic choice that reasonable people can differ about, even if I did find it odd that some—okay, most—people prefer dark mode.
It wasn’t until the hipsters adopted the issue and tried to cast all us right-thinking light-mode people into the darkness that I ever thought about the matter in other than an idle way. Now, of course, the battle is joined.
Of my previous two posts, the first concentrated on research showing that light-mode is actually easier to read and “more natural” than dark-mode, while the second reported on Andrew Couts’ theory that the whole thing is really a fashion statement by the dark-mode adherents.
Over at Fast Company, they have an article that asks if dark-mode is really better for you. The article is more neutral than the other two and doesn’t energetically assert one position or the other but it does note that the research shows that light-mode is easier to read. On the other hand, some applications really are bettered served with dark-mode and the article mentions some of those and explains why dark-mode works better for them. Their conclusion, like Couts’, is that it’s mostly a matter of fashion.