Dark Mode Should Be The Default

I understand it takes some time for a website or app to properly set up dark mode, but it’s been years at this point. It’s 2023; dark mode is no longer a new, trendy thing. The fact that several major websites and services haven’t implemented such a simple and useful feature baffles me to no end. Maybe it’s not such a deal-breaker for other people, but personally, I’ve literally stopped using otherwise helpful and enjoyable products simply because they didn’t take this feature seriously.

I won’t name any names, but it should be telling that across hundreds of technical support forums that I’ve visited, dark mode is always in the top five most upvoted feature requests. What does it say about those companies that some of those forum posts were posted nearly ten years ago and have thousands of enthusiastic replies yet never received even one response from the technical support team?

Maybe the real question to ask is why dark mode ever stopped being the default in the first place. According to this article, “light mode” was introduced by early PC manufacturers who were enamored with then-new CRT displays and trying to onboard the non-technical public with skeuomorphic design. It’s been nearly forty years since then, but we’re still stuck with an artifact of a time when spreadsheets were written by hand and clipart reigned supreme.

Dark mode should be the default for web design. If you enjoy staring into a low-power lightbulb for hours on end every day, then you should be the one who has to hunt through the settings menu, not me. That was my first consideration when designing this website; I didn’t think it wise to shine a flashlight into my visitors’ eyes the very first time they navigated to my homepage (You’re welcome!). It makes sense for individuals and smaller companies to put in the effort necessary to make the web experience enjoyable, but I guess some bigger players feel too comfortable in their positions to even bother.

None of this even touches on issues of accessibility, which should be a good enough reason on its own to fast-track dark mode. For now, I’m very happy to pay Night Eye - Dark Mode extension about $2 a month to make the internet usable, but obviously it can’t work for every single website. Until these websites and apps get on the ball, we should all agree to meet a lack of dark mode with suspicion and mockery.