nancy3•26d ago

Chat with a night shift nurse changed my whole approach to dark mode

I've always been a "just invert the colors" type for dark themes. Last week my neighbor Sarah who works overnights at County General saw me coding and asked why my dark mode was so blue. She said it hurts their eyes after 4 hours in a dark room. Turns out they use a warm gray with like 15% saturation at her hospital. I tried it on my dashboard and it's way easier on my eyes after midnight. Has anyone else experimented with warm tones vs cool tones for their dark mode?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylor_moore25d ago

Hey @michael_wood32 I used to think the same thing about brightness being the main issue. But my buddy Dave tried warm gray tones after I suggested it and he said the blue light was what was messing him up. He works in a server room with dim emergency lighting and the cool blue theme made his eyes feel like sandpaper after six hours. He switched to a warm gray with 15% saturation and now he can actually finish his shift without headaches. Have you ever tried it for more than a day to let your eyes adjust?

michael_wood3226d ago

Is your eye strain really from the temperature though or is it more about the brightness? I code in a totally dark room with a cool blue dark theme at like 20% brightness and my eyes feel fine after 8 hours. Warm tones just make everything look muddy to me, like the screen is dirty. I tried that yellow amber thing once and it actually gave me a headache after an hour. But I get that everyone's eyes are different, what works for night shift people might not work for someone staring at code all day.

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