Not sure I like dark mode; am I weird? Be nice! :-)

We had “dark” mode in the dark ages using 3270 terminal to the IBM Mainframe…

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I want to like it, but I find it too low-contrast in areas for me.

I think app developers are still trying to find the right balance of contras for dark mode in their appst. It’s not a simple of matter of turning everything to white text on black background. It’ll get better as user feedback rolls in to the developers about contrast issues and they figure out a nice balance.

i think dark mode is still growing on me. For most of the time, I’m OK with dark. But for final output such as a publication ready to go to press, I want to simulate text and images on white paper for newspaper advertisements that I’m ready to submit.

I’m enjoying dark mode for the most part.

Some apps are a bit problematic, or conflict with other apps. For instance, when selecting text in Day One a dark pop-up appears … but so does PopClip right next to it. And it’s cluttered and confusing:

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As I think Katie pointed out in the last show, I find for me at least there isn’t enough of a distinction for window borders in dark mode. I also find it’s just harder to tell info apart, even in the same window, but that may just be because I’m not used to it.

That said, I like to use it occasionally. I did make a dark mode toggle in LaunchBar, so switching is just a few keystrokes away.

That’s an idea. I have to see how I could accomplish that with Alfred.

I messaged both Day One and Pilotmoon Software about this issue this morning, asking if they might consider making their pop-ups, um, pop more. Someone at Day One responded already, said they weren’t sure but would pass it along to “the team”.

Clearly, Day One’s pop-up is better, more distinct than PopClip’s. PopClip was designed to replicate the look of an iOS pop-up but with Dark Mode all these pop-ups need to be more distinct from the background.

I don’t like Dark Mode that much. It doesn’t feel finished and ready to me. That being said I do use it when I’m in bed and I have my laptop with me, then I use it and I use the menubar item NightOwl to automatically shift Dark Mode on and off between 10 pm and 7 am

I’m with Casey Liss on this: I’m sticking with Dark Mode for the time being - but I don’t really like it.

I like dark mode, but at times I find it irritating, so I use an applescript triggered by a keyboard shortcut to toggle it on and off as required

Dark mode is to be used in a dark environment (ie in a dark room, not a well lighted room). You would use it for example if you are editing films in iMovie or editing picture in Photo. You wouldn’t use it in a sunny day, to write a document.

BTW, did you notice iMovie and Photo are “naturally” getting dark when you switch to edit mode ? It’s no accident.

Great responses everyone. At least I’m not alone and I agree with the comments that dark mode is best for a darker room. I guess I got caught up in the hype around dark mode. :slight_smile:

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I automatically initiated it on my Air and iMac. Looked good for a while but eventually grew tired of it as some menu items were hard to read. Back to Light Mode now.

I installed Mojave today. Was looking forward to using dark mode, as I already had a dark menu bar and some applications in dark mode (e.g. BBEdit and Firefox). Well, it turned out to be a disappointment. First of all, if not all applications support dark mode it gets a bit messy. Secondly, it’s like it says on the can… dark mode. But I must admit it’s very dark. Perhaps even too dark.
So after less than an hour I switched back to light mode.

It may make me squint every now and then, but I am in LOVE with dark mode.

I’m also a dark side of the force kind of person. That may explain it.

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I’m still not convinced about dark mode. Every now and then I switch it on, only to switch it off half a day later.

It looks dark mode is much harder to design for than light mode. Some elements of the UI just don’t seem right (yet). That might be because developers and UI designers - both at Apple and third parties - still need to find their way. But some things that naturally look good in light mode, are either looking “wrong” or “out of place” in dark mode.

For some applications, like editors, I do prefer a dark screen. But for all of the UI to look good in dark mode much work is yet to be done in my opinion.

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I went back to Light Mode on my iMac, and it’s kind of a relief. I may be headed that way on my laptop too.
Something seems a bit off about Dark Mode. It could be that it’s harder to discern the boundaries of UI shapes since they aren’t filled in. Not sure.

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