Do you offer a light and dark theme?

[Shawn Gossman1]

Some people prefer a light theme.

Some prefer a dark theme.

Some themes are easier on the eyes than others.

Which do you prefer on a personal level?

Do you offer both options to your community?

 

[Tracy]

Yes... default is a dark style (because of the niche) with a light one available. There is a second dark one based upon Blackened Pro that I started out using but then went with Bolt from PixelExit.
Right now I'm starting on a "new" style that will be a "night vision" one that will be basically black and red.... targeted at use at remote sites at night. It's still a WIP but this is what I have so far.

I've got to work on toning down the avatars and such... but I've only been playing with it for about 30 minutes. Also going to need to disable the sidebars for the style.
Edit.. and both done with about 8 minutes worth of work.

I still have to modify all the custom prefixes I use for it... but that's not to bad.. only about 150 to do.

 

[Uncrowned]

I offer both and keep light as the default as this allows mobile devices to force it into a dark theme if the user has that setup on their device. Personally, I prefer dark themes most of the time, but I do switch back and forth.

 

[Shawn Gossman1]

I've just now started experimenting with it on my off-topic community.

There is a basic dark theme and a basic light theme of the same theme package I use from Pixel Exit.

I've not really noticed a big feedback on its use but then again, the forum is small, and growing.

 

[ZandraJoi]

I think forums should offer both themes. My forum is on Proboards so we have a Library we can download themes if we don't want to create our own. I honestly prefer the Light mode on sites & forums I frequent. The Dark tends to hurt my eyes. I'm actually amazed at those who use Dark to HELP their eyestrain! I have all the lights on when I'm on the computer, same with watching TV. Maybe that is why the Dark doesn't do so well with me.

 

[Uncrowned]

I use both, I used to run the dark as the default, but I have gotten significantly better results running the light as a default. Is that due to the theme, we may never know, but figured it was worth throwing out there.

 

[Tracy]

The nice thing... XF is supposed to support "time based" style (light/dark) in an upcoming version.

 

[Shawn Gossman1]

The nice thing... XF is supposed to support "time based" style (light/dark) in an upcoming version.

What do you mean by time-based?

 

[Tracy]

What do you mean by time-based?

If it's night, you can get dark style shown... daytime, light.
Similar to how your phone can have a "night view" mode, or a Kindle can be set to lower light intensity based upon daylight settings.

 

[Shawn Gossman1]

If it's night, you can get dark style shown... daytime, light.
Similar to how your phone can have a "night view" mode, or a Kindle can be set to lower light intensity based upon daylight settings.

That would be interesting to see if that feature actually comes to be.

I'll be interested to see how they implement it.

Maybe based on the time zone the user has selected on their profile.

 

[Excommunicado]

Yes, I offer both on my forum. I bought the ‘Pro’ version of my theme which includes light and dark and these can easily be switched between with the click of one button.

 

[Shawn Gossman1]

Yes, I offer both on my forum. I bought the ‘Pro’ version of my theme which includes light and dark and these can easily be switched between with the click of one button.

I've done it with one of my forums and do it like that.

I might have to do it here as well.

 

[Uncrowned]

The nice thing... XF is supposed to support "time based" style (light/dark) in an upcoming version.

So, would you use it? As the default for your members?

This is actually a really cool feature to add, but I myself find it annoying at times when I'm sitting in a bright office at 10 p.m. and the apps go dark. Be curious to see how a forum's users enjoy it.

 

[Shawn Gossman1]

So, would you use it? As the default for your members?

This is actually a really cool feature to add, but I myself find it annoying at times when I'm sitting in a bright office at 10 p.m. and the apps go dark. Be curious to see how a forum's users enjoy it.

And can members select to enable/disable it per account preferences?

 

[joelr]

My understanding is that the IPS dark mode will detect your system mode. So if your mobile system is using dark mode, it will be detected by the website and present as dark mode.

 

[Uncrowned]

My understanding is that the IPS dark mode will detect your system mode. So if your mobile system is using dark mode, it will be detected by the website and present as dark mode.

I was so happy to see this! I hope it is the same for mobile as they didn't specify if it was desktop only or not, but the part I saw was on the desktop and they didn't touch on it during the mobile part.

 

[Shawn Gossman1]

My understanding is that the IPS dark mode will detect your system mode. So if your mobile system is using dark mode, it will be detected by the website and present as dark mode.

That's a cool feature!

I think more software should mimic that ability.

That way it doesn't change when someone doesn't want it to change.

 

[Tracy]

So, would you use it? As the default for your members?

This is actually a really cool feature to add, but I myself find it annoying at times when I'm sitting in a bright office at 10 p.m. and the apps go dark. Be curious to see how a forum's users enjoy it.

As a default? No, as I prefer to leave that choice up to the end user.
That's why I currently offer 2 dark styles, a light style and a night vision style.
But there are many that like the feature in IOS that changes what the appearance is based upon whether it's night time or day time.

 

[Tracy]

My understanding is that the IPS dark mode will detect your system mode. So if your mobile system is using dark mode, it will be detected by the website and present as dark mode.

similar to what XF is targeting. Usually your dark mode/light mode is based upon times. If it's night, it will give you dark mode, if day, light. But you can over ride that option and force dark or light modes. I think you'll find this becoming pretty much a standard in all paid scripts.

 

[Uncrowned]

But there are many that like the feature in IOS that changes what the appearance is based upon whether it's night time or day time.

This is actually something that has caught my eye with how numerous devices are forcing dark modes now. I have seen my sites where instead of switching to the provided dark mode, the user is using their browser or OS to change the light theme to a dark theme and the results are not bad, but subpar compared to the actually designed dark theme.