Dark mode 2.0 — the light in the unlit tunnel
One of those tiny ideas with significant potential impact over time.
It’s a winter Friday evening. You’re huddled in your bed like a sleepy brown bear, planning not to crawl out of it before spring starts showing signs of existence. You got these tons of articles saved in Medium and nights are the only quiet and comfortable time you’re able to delightfully feed your ever starving curiosity. The lights in the bedroom are soft, caressing, barely noticeable. Your phone is on dark mode as you’re trying not to harm your already tortured eyes, which have withstood two whole decades of staring at a plethora of screens, still refusing to wear prescription glasses. You move through the lines and thirstily absorb the pieces of information. Then, suddenly, boom, the brightest image on Earth emerges from the bottom of your screen and gets stuck in your eyes like a bow arrow. It feels painful, almost as an intense laser beam, trying to burn the inside of your head. The bedroom is lightened up like a stadium amid a match. You’re pretty sure a dozen of pixels have died in each of your eyes.
Night owls like myself probably find the picture above way too familiar. So yes, we are grateful for life to the guy that invented the dark mode, but I think it needs to update to 2.0 as quickly as possible before we start losing our eyesight.
Just imagine a world in which all articles have alternative images for dark and light modes, and no light will harm your tender, nighty eyes anymore!
Apple is already doing it with their wallpapers set, but that’s just the beginning.
Sure, there will be challenges for the writers; they’ll have to invest more time and effort finding both light and dark images for their articles, but it’ll be worth the experience. On the other hand, a possible automatic conversion will probably make their lives easier by offloading additional efforts.
Here are the main benefits of this feature:
- Longer battery life. Brighter screens use significantly more energy.
- Longer eyes life. Well, we’re not DSLRs with replaceable lenses.
- Less energy consumption. Your phone won’t need charging that often.
- More engaging user experience. Customers will read longer.
- Longer device life. Greener World.
As the list of the articles I’m planning to read through my life is not shrinking, I’m looking with hope towards all product owners and developers, trying not to stomp my feet too nervously. Sometimes the tiniest yet clever ideas have a significant impact over time.
