From Newsgroup: comp.misc
On 2025-02-20, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
I don't know why everybody is embracing "Dark Mode" display settings
these days. Some say it's for power saving, others say it's easier
on the eyes.
And it's very well possible that it works one way for some, and
the other for others.
For instance, the Ars Technica post you've referenced explicitly
mentions that "dark mode" results in lower power consumption (even
if slightly) for OLED displays, not (currently more common) LCDs.
My understanding is that electrons hitting phosphor produce
(waste) heat, too, and even more so for those electrons that
hit the /mask/ rather than the phosphor; hence I'd venture to
guess power savings are to be expected for CRT displays as well.
For "backlit" LCDs (i. e., computers, not digital multimeters),
power consumption is largely that of their backlight source, which
indeed directly depends on the brightness setting; and on the
"mode" only as much as user's brightness preference depends on it.
The only reason I've heard that makes sense is graphic artists doing
colour work use it (together with appropriately set-up ambient lighting--important!) to get a more consistent viewing environment,
crucial for ensuring those colours come out correct. As far as I'm concerned, everybody else is following a fad.
Fad or not, it's worked for me so far. I've had "setterm
-foreground white -background blue -bold off -store" in my
~/.bash_profile since 2004-10-07 at the latest, CRT and LCD
alike. (I don't recall ever using an OLED display yet.) E. g.:
http://users.am-1.org/~ivan/misc-2022/sfn.oIXvO0FgwKI2peJnKbe__sn-K4uXM97sK2lAyDNgcMs.png
In the 1990s, I've used "DOS" software, which didn't exactly
offer an easy way to change system-wide color scheme. (Not that
X is /that/ much better in this respect, all things considered.)
Though I still remember using a light-on-dark preset for
DOS Navigator.
I mostly stick to fbcon these days (and just direct images
straight to /dev/fb0 whenever I need to view any), but when
I need X, I actually use a reverse color scheme, e. g.:
http://users.am-1.org/~ivan/misc-2022/sfn.KHoLfg7SXl33RP3NDuSt-RkvFiORw9AEtzhSj3tOK5A.png
I've had "XTerm*background: gray" and "XTerm*foreground:
navyblue" in my ~/.Xresources since 2013-12-25 at the latest.
(I've used "Wheat" on "DarkSlateGray" before.)
Can't say I've noticed all that much difference in eye strain
between these two settings. So far as I can tell, for me, eye
strain depends more on information density than on specific
colors (provided there's adequate contrast, of course.) Say,
I can read 80 characters long lines, and I'd rather not read
160. I can comfortably use a horizontal toolbar with 15 buttons
across the entire width of the screen (or a vertical one with 12,
similarly), and much less so that with 50. And so on.
The "easier on the eyes" excuse is nonsense.
... Lastly, ambient lightning indeed /does/ matter: using
"light" mode in a dark room is ought to result in the strain
to the intrinsic eye muscles, as the moving eye will have to
adapt to the difference in brightness between the screen and
the environment.
Though perhaps too dark ambient lightning should be avoided in
the first place, as dilated pupil will result in blurred image
on the retina. (As perhaps any photographer would know.)
I say this as someone whose computing career began with CRT terminals
that displayed light text (or, if you were lucky, graphics) against
a dark background. As soon as the display technology allowed for
dark text on a light background, a lot of us made the switch,
As has already been pointed in this thread, CRT flicker is more
noticeable on light backgrounds, so that might've been a factor
for dark background popularity (such as it was) back when CRTs
were common.
for the same reason that printed paper usually has dark text on a
light background, and not the other way round: because it's easier
on the eyes.
I'm inclined to agree with Computer Nerd Kev here in that we
have dark ink on light paper largely because that's the way
technology's been evolving so far. At this point, dark-on-
light is simply way cheaper than the other way around.
(If anything, I don't recall ever seeing white toner on offer
for my HP LJ 1020.)
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