Tried dark mode with pure black vs dark gray and my eyes noticed immediately

I was building a dark theme for a dashboard last week and used #000000 for the background out of habit. Then I switched it to #1E1E1E on a whim and honestly the difference was huge - way less eye strain after staring at it for 4 hours straight. Has anyone else found that dark gray beats pure black for readability, or is it just a personal preference thing?

3 comments

3 Comments

val_taylor1mo ago

Yeah I dunno I switched to a sepia theme once and now I can't even look at normal white screens.

taylor_moore1mo ago

lol @val_taylor i feel that so hard. i tried a blue light filter once and now my eyes legit hurt if i look at a normal screen for more than like 5 minutes. it's like my retinas forgot how to see normal colors or something. now i'm stuck in dark mode forever and can't go back. honestly i think my phone's been on night shift since like 2019 and i don't even know what real white looks like anymore. rip to us both i guess.

ross.jessica4d ago

Wait, am I the only one who switched to dark gray for a few months and now my eyes feel weird on any screen that isn't that exact shade? @taylor_moore i feel you on the night shift trap though, i've had mine set to max warmth for like 2 years and now normal white screens look blinding blue to me. i legit had to switch my work monitor to a dark gray wallpaper because my eyes started watering on pure black backgrounds during late night coding sessions. guess we're all just ruining our eyes together at this point.

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