Switched from pure black #000000 to a dark charcoal #121212 for my app backgrounds and my users stopped complaining about eye strain within a week

I used to think pure black was the way to go for dark mode until a beta tester with astigmatism told me it actually made things worse for them, so I tweaked it to a softer dark gray and the feedback flipped completely, has anyone else found that true black causes more issues than it solves?

2 comments

2 Comments

reeseanderson3d ago

I gotta push back on the "softer dark gray" thing a little. Pure black at #000000 does create that weird halo effect for some people with astigmatism, I get that. But going all the way to #121212 seems like overkill to me, lmao. I use #1a1a1a on my stuff and it still feels properly dark while avoiding the worst of the eye strain issues. The key for me was actually adjusting the text contrast ratio rather than the background shade itself. If the text is too bright against any dark background it's gonna cause problems no matter what color you pick.

kim.hannah3d ago

Good point about the text contrast ratio thing, I think that actually matters more than people give it credit for. I've been using a slightly lighter gray myself after noticing the pure black started bothering my eyes after long coding sessions. Your point about the text brightness makes a lot of sense I never really thought about it that way before. The whole thing is really just trial and error until you find what works for your own eyes.