Dark mode mistake I caught after 2 years of coding

I was building a dark theme for a dashboard and kept getting complaints about eye strain from testers. Turns out I was using pure black (#000000) for backgrounds the whole time. A UX buddy on Discord finally showed me that deep gray like #121212 works way better. Have any of you switched off pure black after thinking it was the right choice?

2 comments

2 Comments

derekwalker2d ago

Three months ago I finally switched my entire code editor to #1e1e1e and it was like taking a weighted blanket off my eyes. I spent two years staring at pure black backgrounds thinking it was the "proper" dark mode because it looked cool in screenshots. The worst part was my testers kept saying "my eyes feel fried" and I just brushed it off as them being picky. Now I feel like an idiot because even a 5% gray makes text so much easier to read after 10 hours of coding. I actually started using #2d2d2d for my terminal and it's even better for long sessions. You're definitely not alone in this trap, it's one of those things nobody tells you until somebody finally does.

eric3591d ago

Yo ever try going even lighter like #323232? I messed around with it after seeing a post about how pure black actually creates ghosting on OLED screens cause the pixels turn completely off and on again. Once I switched my code editor to that shade, the contrast felt way more natural and my eyes stopped burning after like 3 hours of grading papers and writing lesson plans. Even on my phone at night, apps using pure black still give me that weird afterimage effect. It's wild how such a small change in hex codes can make such a huge difference in how long you can stare at a screen without wanting to close your eyes.