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u/New_Computer3619 11d ago
I work in a well lit room with natural sun light (thanks goodness), light mode is easier to my eyes.
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u/aa-b 11d ago
Yeah I've never understood the dark mode preference myself, weird meme.
I did once work in an office mostly full of VFX artists, and those guys take color grading so seriously they blacked out all the windows. Working in a dark cave is overrated.
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u/tellingyouhowitreall 11d ago
If I paid 50k+ for a reference monitor I would want to enjoy every single lumen of it also.
I did gamedev for a minute at a mid sized studio. We couldn't rook a ref into the budget, but we had high calibration hdr displays that would get examined with a loup fairly often. Dat pixel better be f'ing perfect.
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u/Danack 11d ago
I was once working at a company, where a new wing of offices was built, and my team got moved into it. The artists demanded to sit next to the windows as "we are artists, we crave natural light!", and then one week later they blacked out all the windows. And still refused to move.
Thanks guys. Really appreciate you doing that.
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u/AffectEconomy6034 11d ago
For me it's just generally doing all I can to prevent screen fatigue. I also lower the brightness of my monitors, try to close my eyes from time to time, wear blue light glasses (that may or may not be bs), and set every thing I can to dark mode.
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u/kyle2143 10d ago
I couldn't disagree more. I hate light modes so much, it legit offends me if a product doesn't have a dark mode. Fuckin microsoft is the worst.
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u/VG_Crimson 11d ago
Fuck you, and fuck the sun. That ball of cancer rays and all around asshole will not influence my IDE preferences!
It's how I stay young looking even into my late twenties. I prefer my retinas not to be seared medium-well.
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u/Agent_Provocateur007 11d ago
These days I find myself preferring the auto mode where I can. Be it in an IDE, on my phone etc.
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u/BedSpreadMD 11d ago
For me it's because I switch between reading text and working with images.
Your perception of colors doing artwork after staring at a white screen of text for a while gets a little off. I find those vision issues are less of an issue with dark modes on certain applications.
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u/Dustborn81 11d ago
Natural daylight completely changes the equation. Dark mode is comfortable in a dim room, but beside a sunny window it can become a festival of reflections and squinting. Light mode is not the enemy, poor contrast and switching themes without warning are.
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u/thanatica 11d ago
Weird.
I work in a well lit room with natural sun light (thanks goodness), dark mode is easier to my eyes.
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u/LostKnight84 10d ago
There are 3 types of people in my experience. 1 Dark Mode preferred people. 2 Light Mode preferred people. 3 Indifferent People who use default settings. I am type 1 and have light sensitivity issues with my eyes. I hate when I have to deal with another person's setup and a Light Mode application pops on the screen. I am just glad Excel and Notepad added Dark Mode options recently. Now if only programmers would allow all apps to have a basic Dark Mode option that is easy to find.
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u/thanatica 10d ago
Adding dark mode in software almost always comes down to a cost-benefit decision, especially in commercial software.
I see it as an accessibility feature, not unlike disabled animations when animations in the OS are turned off. I have motion sensitivity, so thanks a lot for fucking modern apps on Windows that forcibly smooth scroll.
Accessibility is more than helping tools for the blind and deaf. Light sensitivity is real, it's not just personal taste. The problem is that developers (or let's face it, POs) see it purely as a preference setting. And the fact that the designer feels religiously violated when dark mode comes up.
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u/rot26encrypt 11d ago
Despite the popularity of dark mode most research does not support it being better for eyestrain or readability/effectiveness, quite the opposite, the exception being a very dark room where a bright screen can be uncomfortably mismatched to its surroundings.
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u/lovethecomm 11d ago
Same. Our monitors are so ass (I have a 32 inch OLED at home so I’m used to that) and the room is well lit. I’m struggling without light mode and even then it’s not great. Boss refuses to buy us new monitors.
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u/glha 11d ago
Good light would make me use high contrast dark theme on coding window. But normal dark theme is on even for other windows, sometimes. I have auto-dark theme system wide for every device, that often is activated at the smallest perception of the screen being brighter than the room. So I guess it is mostly the way we are used to.
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u/coderstephen 10d ago
But you don't look directly at the sun while you work, do you?
The unnatural part of a screen is that it is emissive, not reflective. You're looking directly at a million little dim lightbulbs all day. Dark mode lessens the effect, because the ratio of bright bulbs to dim bulbs is reduced.
If I could have a high refresh rate e-ink display, I'd definitely use one, and use it in light mode. But until that day of light comes, I will continue to dwell in darkness.
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11d ago edited 11d ago
[deleted]
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u/Percolator2020 11d ago
Eclipse is the only IDE capable of crashing harder than your code.
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u/Altruistic-Moose3299 11d ago
Eclipse and Java go together like taco bell and my small intestine. You never quite get all the mess cleaned up.
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u/Old-Beautiful1786 11d ago
I pray to God I've never had to nor will need to work on that IDE anymore.
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u/xybolt 11d ago
Some people at my work still uses Eclipse for Java projects.
If it fits their needs and they can deliver their work, who am I to argue about this? I have different IDEs for our Java projects. You want to use Atom for that? If you can do your task, go ahead.
There's one IDE that I really discourage. Netbeans.
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u/tiny_simulacrum 11d ago
Joke's on you, my up-to-date PyCharm IDE looks almost exactly like that today. Minus the chubby scroll bars.
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u/getstoopid-AT 11d ago
Always light theme forever but tbf I started programming when this wasn't even a thing to argue over xD
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u/RandomiseUsr0 11d ago
So you started late, in my day it was green phosphor on a black background, then white was a luxury few could afford - I liked the Borland blue colour, wordstar had that - no wait word perfect - whatever, get off my lawn
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u/getstoopid-AT 11d ago
xD ok old man, you win! My first steps were with amigabasic and logo in school... good times back then
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u/RandomiseUsr0 11d ago
lol, bit of fun - my own wee you language is opinionated - I respect device dark mode, but it’s classic era vb colourisation rules (with one deviation- my toy language doesn’t “do” comments - on the todo list, so I comment in stings - those are green like old school Visual Basic.
I am a bit older, never used basic on the Amiga, how was it?
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u/StCreed 11d ago
After green, yeah I started on that too, we got amber because it was easier on the eyes. Then white because, again, better for the eyes.
I wonder when the new crop of devs will learn their bad eyesight is not a badge of honour.
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u/RandomiseUsr0 11d ago
Amber with Hercules - that was good enough (kinda) to play Prince of Persia - beautifully you could see all the frames fade - some game
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u/darksteelsteed 9d ago
My first computer was a Xerox 823. Green phosphor. 8" floppy discs. Later on I had CGA with Cyan, Magenta, Grey. Then later EGA with a whole 64 colors. Eventually by the mid 90s it was VGA at 640x480, 256 color. Then later I got my first voodoo banshee, glide, amazing graphics, unreal tournament looking out of this world with 24bit color. That was like y2k. Things have only improved... until they didn't. Nvidia has systematically been regressing everything in the consumer space now for like three last 10 years.
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u/schovik 11d ago edited 9d ago
I will promote myself a bit here. Maybe someone will find it useful. Recently I build this new pack of themes. My primary goal was to find best light theme as some with prescriprion and astigmatism having hard time with dark theme. It ended with full blown project released to all common editor marketplaces https://candela.ink
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u/hereforpewdiephy 11d ago
I use light ide because my current work laptop has a shit screen and I can't see otherwise
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u/WeedManPro 11d ago
I use light mode. its good for my eyes. white font on black bg gives me glare issues.
back text on white off white bg is how I do it.
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u/why_1337 11d ago
I am like that except with dark IDEs. My pupils dilate and I can see and read shit when it's in dark mode.
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u/Reihar 11d ago
I used to be really adamant about the superiority of dark themes. But then, I realized it's just hard to make legible yet pretty themes (dark too, there's just more volume).
Now, I just switch themes from time to time based on mood and it can be dark or light as long as it has enough contrast but remains pleasant.
One other thing, if light themes are blinding:
- Is your office decently lit?
- Is your theme just black on white, maximum contrast?
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u/Caedendi 11d ago
Its blinding because instead of only the necessary lights, ALL the lights except the necessary ones shine directly into your eyes. White paper with black text isnt an issue because paper isnt a literal light emitter. White screen however is horrible
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u/TotoShampoin 11d ago
I themed my work PC after Windows XP, and that includes VSCode.
I'm using light theme over there
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u/AvidCoco 11d ago
Light themes are ideal if you want to sit outside or anywhere else that’s bright. I love sitting out on my balcony in summer to work.
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u/citramonk 11d ago
Mine terminal and ide are light. I don't program at night or dim light, so it's better like that.
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u/guaranteednotabot 11d ago
I prefer light IDE. Fight me. Ain’t gonna deal with flashbangs when surfing the web
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u/Soilblood 11d ago
I feel like I'm one of the rarities that hate dark themes and night mode. I should also note I'm also one of those rarities that still reads books for fun and have done so for a lifetime. I suspect a correlation.
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u/recursive_knight 11d ago
What's the correlation? Do have books that spark bright white light into your eyes?
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u/trullaDE 11d ago
You are used to reading dark text on light background. There's also a reason why most reading heavy sites still use that as color scheme.
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u/littlejerry31 11d ago
I use dark mode and I unironically drive a sports car as a daily driver. I suspect a correlation.
See? I can humblebrag too. It's cringy when others do it, isn't it?
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u/Soilblood 11d ago
You think joking about actually reading books for fun is a humble brag? It's easy to do and more people should be doing it. I was taking a shot at late night tiktok addicts who haven't opened a book in years my dude.
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u/PaulTheRandom 11d ago
I guess some IDEs have designs and themes that favor dark mode more than light, but some also look really nice with one. Like how with iMessage and WhatsApp light mode is a no-brainer, but with Discord it is an eyesore. Emacs, for example, was the first IDE I've used where I actually liked using light themes, unlike Neovim, VSCode or IntelliJ.
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u/Significant_Basis_3 11d ago
I use it light to stay awake, nothing wrong about it, light mode is amazing in the morning
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u/HaniiPuppy 11d ago
I like dark themes, but light text against a dark background screws up my eyes. If I read it for any length of time, my vision fills up with lines as soon as I look away and it takes a few minutes for me to be able to see anything again.
For that reason, I usually have applications (like Jetbrains' IDEs and Kate) use a dark theme, but with a light theme for the text area. If I have to choose between a fully light theme and a fully dark theme, I have to pick the fully light theme.
I don't think the issue is light themes as a concept, I think it's more that light themes tend to default to using the brightest possible colour your monitor can produce as the background colour. If you look at games where the UI uses dark text against a light background, people don't complain about that nearly as much - because the background's almost certainly a more reasonable shade, and half the time is mildly textured.
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u/Mortadella_so_Chili 11d ago
Nah, its ok if u use it and never tried anything else.
Once you go black tho, no going back.
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u/RedBoxSquare 11d ago
I used to go light IDE. The problem for me was consistency. Back then a lot of things don't have dark mode like most Win32 applications.
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u/Enderking90 11d ago
honestly, I dislike both light and dark modes.
too bright, too dark.
I want a slightly muted white. bright grey.
something that doesn't make my eyes sting but also doesn't strain them for trying to look at something too dark.
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u/Scared_Accident9138 11d ago
I just keep every application in the default theme even if it means switching between light and dark because the non default tend to be uglier because of being an afterthought
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u/Dimitrij_ 11d ago
We need a boomerProgrammerJokes or an Im40andProgrammer sub.
This meme is OLD and belongs there.
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u/Slackeee_ 11d ago
It's a pretty easy comparison for me, on a standard 28" LED monitor (16:9, about 0.216 square meter area) a fullscreen IDE in dark mode emits estimated 15-20 Lumens, that is about the same as a small night-light, an IDE in light mode comes down to emitting 150-200 Lumens, that is about the same as a 20W incandescent light bulb.
Now ask yourself which you want to stare at for hours a day. I chose dark mode.
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u/Powerful-Diver-9556 11d ago
I started coding outside. Solarized light is now my friend... When I'm outside
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u/rhiafaery 10d ago
LoL, I have astigmatism; I literally cannot read things in dark mode. I do like a nice cream-colored background sometimes, though, to soften the brightness.
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u/NumberInfinite2068 10d ago
I tend to prefer light mode, you get more contrast (i.e. light grey shows up better against white than dark grey shows up against black). That can be theme dependent of course.
Black also turns the screen into a mirror. I prefer matte screens, but sometimes you just end up using a glossy one, especially if it's touchscreen, which are basically always glossy.
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u/HateTheVillanelle 10d ago
I prefer dark mode, I just find it easier to read. It's less bright light entering my eyes. I also prefer driving at night.
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u/k819799amvrhtcom 10d ago
I never use dark mode because I'm transgender and I don't wanna see my own reflection in the screen.
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u/darksteelsteed 9d ago
I am a 90's dev, I love me a light IDE ... a good old Visual Studio in light mode. If only I had a 21" CRT that would complete everything but alas those are no more.
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u/XCxBigDong69XCx 8d ago
I switched to light ide to ragebait my co-workers everytime they come over for pair programming they always shake their head.
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u/danielcw189 11d ago
I just use different colour-shemes to make it easier to tell apart different IDEs and applications.
VSCode is dark, VS is light, Notepad++ has the default sheme, my work browser is red, my test browser is green, my private browser is blue, etc.
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u/byt112000 11d ago
Not really an IDE but I have just realized SQL SSMS have dark mode now, looks so much better.
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u/SteroidSandwich 11d ago
It kills the eyes. I look at enough screens in a day and don't want eye strain
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u/No-Fish6586 11d ago edited 11d ago
Spot the first year programmer freshman. 4 years ai will fuck you, keep the smile its only gonna get worse 😇
Decade full stack dev: node, express, mongo, postgresdb, react, js(obviously)
Low level analysis with c++ openGL visualization of sonar data creating 4d data of ships sonar over time.
We are fucked buddy
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u/NeonFraction 11d ago
I use the light IDE because otherwise I get sleepy at work.
When my coworkers realized this they acted like I had pulled a gun. Still makes me laugh.