Dark Mode second thoughts anyone?

[polbit]

I was one of the people looking forward for dark mode in Mac OS forever. When (Sierra I think?) got ability to darken the menu bar and the dock, I turned that on immediately.

Now that I have tried Mojave in dark mode on my MBP, I have to say - I really hope they keep the prior options as well... Maybe I'm just getting old, but what sounded good on paper just doesn't work as well in practice for me - Dark Mode is, well, too dark. It's harder to read, and just doesn't look all that good. Anybody else?

 

[freedevil]

I don't like it either.

 

[Scary Spice]

Dark mode sounds cool but is horrible to use for real work. It would never be released when SJ was around.

 

[Fishrrman]

I didn't even bother to try it.
The traditional "light" mode has worked well with the Mac for me... for 31 years.
I'm stickin' with it.

 

[smirking]

I'm looking forward to trying it when the full release comes out. All of my programming environments are in dark themes and I find I'm able to read better against a dark background. When I have to read against a bright background, I read slower and my eyes start to hurt if I do it for too long.

Of course, how it's implemented really matters. All you need are a few discorcant UI elements to completely destroy a dark mode theme. If there are really sharply bright spots in the theme, your eyes can't adjust and it becomes the worst of both worlds.

 

[fisherking]

i've been using it since the public beta dropped, and still getting used to it. it's definitely flawed, but... am enjoying the 'newness' of it, and will hang in, see how it looks by the time it's formally released...

 

[dontpokebearz]

I'd love to hear if anyone else is having the same results...but dark mode looks like crap on a 1440P monitor. The blending doesn't work out right and you get a 1-2 pixel white border around all windows. It's horrendous. And there's no option to go back to dark menu bar and dock.

I really don't like how Apple optimizes the UI for "retina" displays only. Whenever they switched from Mavericks to Yosemite it made everything look blurry.

 

[henkej]

Dark mode looks and feels great!

 

[thingstoponder]

I prefer a consistent light theme or dark theme over them having just a dark menu bar and dock. But yeah, I'll keep light mode on most of the time. Dark mode can be fun though.

 

[redheeler]

Dark mode sounds cool but is horrible to use for real work. It would never be released when SJ was around.

It works well for photography, as you don't want a bright UI to distract you from the photos you are looking at. There are other reasons to use it aside from aesthetic preference.

But you can always just stay on the light mode if it doesn't work well for you. I went back to light on my 2012 MBP running the Mojave beta.

 

[anp27]

I love Dark Mode! I'm too chicken to install Mojave on my work computer but I really wish I could. I absolutely love Dark everything especially Dark Finder and Dark Notes

 

[nordique]

I was one of the people looking forward for dark mode in Mac OS forever. When (Sierra I think?) got ability to darken the menu bar and the dock, I turned that on immediately.

Now that I have tried Mojave in dark mode on my MBP, I have to say - I really hope they keep the prior options as well... Maybe I'm just getting old, but what sounded good on paper just doesn't work as well in practice for me - Dark Mode is, well, too dark. It's harder to read, and just doesn't look all that good. Anybody else?

Do you mean the Dark menu bar, but keep the normal appearance? (FTR: it was Yosimete that introduced it in late 2014)

No doubt Mojave will continue to allow a toggle between light/normal and dark themes

I haven't been on my Mojave beta partition much since release, as I needed to work on High Sierra for now but are you able to change the mode to light and then change the menu and buttons to a dark theme? I'm not sure if that works or not, it might require some tinkering in the general settings.

Personally I prefer the dark mode, but I know not everyone will prefer it. My mother prefers the lighter themes, the white and silver colours on Apple products, as opposed to dark. Hopefully they do allow for some middle ground but I feel it will be a light/dark theme scenario

 

[oldhifi]

another gimmick

 

[0970373]

I was one of the people looking forward for dark mode in Mac OS forever. When (Sierra I think?) got ability to darken the menu bar and the dock, I turned that on immediately.

Now that I have tried Mojave in dark mode on my MBP, I have to say - I really hope they keep the prior options as well... Maybe I'm just getting old, but what sounded good on paper just doesn't work as well in practice for me - Dark Mode is, well, too dark. It's harder to read, and just doesn't look all that good. Anybody else?

Ditto. I wish they would let you set the grey/black level. It's definitely too dark.

 

[fisherking]

another gimmick

how's this a gimmick? it's a very-different look from the default, and, for some of us, preferable (altho, for me, not quite right yet)...

 

[Icaras]

I feel the same, however I think I would appreciate it more if Mojave featured a dynamic mode to match its wallpaper and like how tvOS changes from a light to dark home screen depending on time of the day.

 

[smirking]

how's this a gimmick? it's a very-different look from the default, and, for some of us, preferable (altho, for me, not quite right yet)...

People around here are too quick to discount anything that's software as fluff.

I find that I read better on dark themes. All of my programming environments are rendered in dark themes. I realized many years ago that I could look at the screen longer without fatigue when the screen used a dark color as the background.

If it's done well, I can see myself adopting it.

 

[thingstoponder]

I feel the same, however I think I would appreciate it more if Mojave featured a dynamic mode to match its wallpaper and like how tvOS changes from a light to dark home screen depending on time of the day.

I think they'll do this. In the latest beta they separated out the dynamic wallpapers yet there's still only one of them. I'd be shocked if they didn't add more and make them compatible with dark mode also.

 

[AZhappyjack]

It's still in beta and I am seeing some issues with various parts... like the search bar on some websites is dark and so is the typed text, making it virtually invisible. Give Apple time to sort it out... report the issues and see where it goes... I have confidence that it will be fully functional come release day. For now, it's a work in progress.

 

[SDAVE]

You have the option of not using it.

Also remember, this Dark Mode is a very complicated process. Watch one of the developer keynotes about Dark Mode.

Also remember as well that Apple will most likely use OLED in the next gen MacBook Pros/Apple Cinema Displays (probably 2020) so Dark Mode (or true dark mode) will help with battery life on mobile devices.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

It's pretty good if you want color photography and videos to stand out. It makes labels easier to read too. Apple did a good job here. Some apps get messed up though, particularly Mail sigs.

No it doesn't necessarily make text easier to read. We are adapted to reading dark on light and we have always known it's not good to read in the dark That doesn't mean it is bad, just that you will need screen brightness set to max so that white fonts are always bright.

 

[waquzy]

I was one of the people looking forward for dark mode in Mac OS forever. When (Sierra I think?) got ability to darken the menu bar and the dock, I turned that on immediately.

Now that I have tried Mojave in dark mode on my MBP, I have to say - I really hope they keep the prior options as well... Maybe I'm just getting old, but what sounded good on paper just doesn't work as well in practice for me - Dark Mode is, well, too dark. It's harder to read, and just doesn't look all that good. Anybody else?

Yep, I switched back to light mode after 2 days as well, it's actually less draining for my eyes IMO. Dark mode is cool but it ain't for me.

 

[maflynn]

I had it on for a period of time, but then switched back to normal mode. Since then I've removed Mojave, but my point is that for me, its a gee whiz feature that was nice, but I tired of it rather quickly.

 

[Julien]

Title of thread is fundamentally WRONG and so are several responses. No need for second thoughts or any animosity towards Dark Mode since it is an easy toggled OPTION and default off. You either like it/use it or don't like it/don't use. The only TRUE complaint anyone can have is "the selection takes up too much space in the Settings> General menu".

 

[fisherking]

IWe are adapted to reading dark on light and we have always known it's not good to read in the dark That doesn't mean it is bad, just that you will need screen brightness set to max so that white fonts are always bright.

i have always read (kindle app, iphone) white text on a black background, and find it more comfortable than the reverse. am adapting to dark mode on the mac, and (think) i will eventually only use that.

we're not all wired the same...