Reddit has finally received a 'Night Mode' feature for late-night browsing

[Polycount]

It's no secret that browsing websites with particularly bright color schemes late at night can be an uncomfortable experience.

Not only can these websites cause eyestrain, but some users find that the bright colors can negatively impact their sleep quality, especially if they tend to bring their devices to bed.

This is one of the main reasons many popular services and websites now offer a dark mode feature. For example, YouTube has rolled out their "dark theme" feature to both desktop and mobile (iOS) users over the past year or so.

The latest website to chase this trend is Reddit. The company on Friday announced their own "Night Mode" feature, which works pretty much exactly like YouTube's solution. Once you turn on Night Mode, Reddit's default white color scheme will be inverted, and any black text will convert to white or light grey text.

If you're using Reddit's new redesign, accessing the feature is pretty straightforward; just tap your profile name in the top right corner and toggle the Night Mode option in the drop-down menu.

If you don't want to use Reddit's new redesign, but you'd still like access to a Night Mode-like feature, the Reddit Enhancement Suite browser extension offers virtually the same functionality within its own settings menu.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/74815-reddit-has-finally-received-night-mode-feature-late.html

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

Too bad Windows and MacOS don't offer a similar UI solution... Particularity Office 2016 is horribly washed out in a sea of blinding white and light grays.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Night mode isn't just for night viewing. Just saying.
It's easier on the eyes no matter what time of day.

 

[merikafyeah]

A lot depends on ambient lighting but in general dark text on light backgrounds is more legible.
For long reading sessions like articles or novels the ideal environment is a brightly lit space with the light temperature closer to natural daylight, with actual daylight being preferable but not direct sunlight as that is too bright. Text should be black or really dark grey and the background should be a slightly off-white or very light grey. Cooler hues tending towards blue or violet should absolutely be avoided as background colors due to increased strain.

Dark backgrounds are better for programmers working long hours because it reduces total eye strain and improves contrast for syntax highlighting. It is also more preferable to content designers who need the content to stand out from the UI e.g. Photoshop, Netflix etc.
Naturally, dark backgrounds are more suited for dark environments, but in this case text fonts should have a lighter weight with letters and lines being more widely spaced apart. Text and other elements should also not be too bright as very bright text on dark backgrounds will cause even more strain than a bright background.

More info:
https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/53264/dark-or-white-color-theme-is-better-for-the-eyes
https://ux.stackexchange.com/questi...ions-that-require-long-work-hours/52947#52947

 

[captaincranky]

Too bad Windows and MacOS don't offer a similar UI solution... Particularity Office 2016 is horribly washed out in a sea of blinding white and light grays.

Oh, I don't know about. My Windows 7 has a steady stream of sci-fi fantasy landscapes, all of which are dark, moody, and mysterious.

Now if a person chooses to join the avant garde and embrace Windows 10, it would seem you're pretty much stuck with whatever Satya Nadella wants you to have.

Plus, there's always "Office Libre". But as I can't read because I used to work for the Post Office, I should probably keep quiet about the M$ office issues..

I will say that white text on a black background is horrific, bordering on impossible, for these old eyes to adapt to.

EDIT: As an after thought, many of the new monitors are incorporating blue cutoff filters, and every video driver and monitor has controls for brightness, contrast, and color saturation.

Assuming you're not profiling for printing photos from digital files, it seems to me a person could employ those controls for at least some relief from Windows visual onslaught..

 

[drjekelmrhyde]

Too bad Windows and MacOS don't offer a similar UI solution... Particularity Office 2016 is horribly washed out in a sea of blinding white and light grays.

Google dark grey theme for Office 2016. The newer builds of Windows 10 have a lot of dark theme elements(like explorer and settings)

 

[Polycount]

Night mode isn't just for night viewing. Just saying.
It's easier on the eyes no matter what time of day.

True. I personally use Dark Mode features 24/7, but their benefits become even more evident at night.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

Google dark grey theme for Office 2016. The newer builds of Windows 10 have a lot of dark theme elements(like explorer and settings)

Yeah I use the Office 2016 dark theme, but it makes inactive windows title bars nearly impossible to read. As for Windows 10 File Explorer dark theme, glad to see... will have to try the latest Windows 10 build. We don't go with the latest and greatest at my place of work because of the huge amount of time we have to spend dealing with issues introduced with updates and such. And I went back to Windows 7 at home because I got tired of all the annoyances I have with 10.

 

[Camikazi]

Too bad Windows and MacOS don't offer a similar UI solution... Particularity Office 2016 is horribly washed out in a sea of blinding white and light grays.

Oh, I don't know about. My Windows 7 has a steady stream of sci-fi fantasy landscapes, all of which are dark, moody, and mysterious.

Now if a person chooses to join the avant garde and embrace Windows 10, it would seem you're pretty much stuck with whatever Satya Nadella wants you to have.

Plus, there's always "Office Libre". But as I can't read because I used to work for the Post Office, I should probably keep quiet about the M$ office issues..

I will say that white text on a black background is horrific, bordering on impossible, for these old eyes to adapt to.

EDIT: As an after thought, many of the new monitors are incorporating blue cutoff filters, and every video driver and monitor has controls for brightness, contrast, and color saturation.

Assuming you're not profiling for printing photos from digital files, it seems to me a person could employ those controls for at least some relief from Windows visual onslaught..

Windows 10 has dark theme, only explorer doesn't go dark everything else does and Office 2016 also has a dark theme. I know this because my Windows and Office 2016 are dark right now and it was simple to do.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

Windows 10 has dark theme, only explorer doesn't go dark everything else does and Office 2016 also has a dark theme. I know this because my Windows and Office 2016 are dark right now and it was simple to do.

Yeah but it doesn't cover everything... so you get blinded when you open something that doesn't have a dark theme.

Windows 10 is still incomplete. It's been over three years and they still haven't completely replaced the Control Panel. I'll admit the new Settings interface is pretty slick but it is still lacking in advanced functions Control Panel applets provided.