[getpolarized]

About a year ago I was trying to figure out how important dark mode was for our app so I created a poll on Twitter and linked to it here on HN.

https://getpolarized.io/2019/11/19/Dark-Mode-Should-Be-The-D...

The idea being, if you were FORCED to pick one, would you rather have light or dark mode.

90% preferred dark mode with nearly 1000 votes.

That blew me away honestly.

Before that I thought that dark mode was a 'nice to have' but clearly I was wrong.

The other issue isn't just dark mode but 'true black' mode for mobile devices and OLED. True black just looks better on mobile devices.

Most dark mode skins can usually be converted to true black but you have to make sure the fonts don't become too strong.

[raunakdag]

I mean, is HN really an unbiased sample source? Ask my mom or grandma if she prefers dark mode over light mode and she’ll say whatever she has right now on her phone.

[bigbubba]

Is that because your grandmother doesn't understand the question/choice, or did she evaluate the two options and decide which she prefers? I think if I asked my grandmother a question like that she'd probably get concerned that I was about to change something she was already accustomed to, without necessarily understanding what change was being proposed, and would default to invoking the 'don't fix it if it ain't broke' principle.

My mother on the other hand is younger and still has an adventurous willingness to try new things, and last I saw was using the dark mode in Windows 10.

[hombre_fatal]

It's not surprising that power users are more acquainted with the options available with a developed preference from trial and error.

Polling someone who likes light themes because they know no better is an answer to a completely different question.

Also, while trendy, "bias" isn't a word you should throw around unless you also have established the question being asked and what the bias is. Informed answers to the poll aren't biased, especially compared to someone who doesn't know what a dark mode is.

[bpye]

Whilst a majority in your case (and that of Discord) may prefer dark, I wonder if it’s more complicated that that. I use light mode everywhere. I like some others have mentioned have astigmatism and I find dark mode only tools much harder to use - to the point that if a code editor only supported dark I would probably not use that editor. I wonder if any that prefer dark have the same issue with light mode only applications, and if so for which is your application usable by a greater number of people, even if it’s not their first preference.

[DenisM]

If you tested "option to have a dark mode" vs "that other feature which was already requested 150 times", you might have come to an entirely different conclusion.

[neop1x]

I am using black or dark where I can - android, terminal, code editors, desktop theme, etc.

I wouldn't be able to stare at big white areas for the whole day. White is painful for my eyes.

[arendtio]

Did you make a similar poll before you decided to change Polar to being cloud-only?

While I hate that move, I am genuinely interested into the answer ;-)