Post #2532842

2026-05-14 04:36 UTC

I love dark mode, but it mustn’t be the only option. For a lot of people, white text upon a dark background is illegible. Common eye conditions like astigmatism, myopia, and presbyopia can make content look foggy, become hard to focus on, and cause eye strain. #a11y #Accessibility

Replies (4)

@vale@fedi.vale.rocks 2026-05-14 04:48

The above effect is especially exacerbated by strong contrast, like pure white on pure black. However, different conditions benefit from different levels of contrast. For example, people with conditions such as cataracts, aniridia, and achromatopsia can benefit from low-contrast visuals. The prefers-contrast CSS media feature is fantastic for tailoring to your user’s needs.

Open ##3868798
@kura@hai.z0ne.social 2026-05-14 08:45

@vale@fedi.vale.rocks also some (cheap) monitors bleed the light tones into the dark ones, if the contrast between both is too high.

Open ##3868801
@SRAZKVT@tech.lgbt 2026-05-14 08:46

@vale@fedi.vale.rocks i have specifically crafted my dark color theme (which i use everywhere, from my text editor to a fair few guis and is the one on my website) so that it doesn't look like that to me (i have astygmatism), i can look at these colours for hours and i'll never see anything like that (though, just because it works for me doesn't me it'll work for everyone)

Open ##3868806
@TeflonTrout@beige.party 2026-05-14 08:50

@vale@fedi.vale.rocks GAH FUCK ok you can keep light mode. Noted.

Open ##3873746