Chrome on Windows 10 To Get Dark Mode Feature Soon (hothardware.com)

Last year, Google pushed 'dark mode', a feature that replaces the shiny, whitespace background on a web page with a dark color, to its Android operating system and YouTube service. The company is now working to expand the feature to Chrome's Windows 10 application. Peter Kasting, a Chrome developer, confirmed the move in response to a user's query on a Reddit thread. He said a "native dark mode support is in progress" for Chrome's desktop application. Until then, reminded Kasting, "we generally suggest people use a dark theme" for Chrome via a third-party extension.

Comments

Just look at Slashdot

[CptLoRes]

This page is a prime example of something in need of a dark mode.

Re:Just look at Slashdot

[jfdavis668]

or an off mode.

Re:Just look at Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

https://darkreader.org

Re:Just look at Slashdot

[ClickOnThis]

This page is a prime example of something in need of a dark mode.

You're not wrong.

But consider that content-providers might want to have some control over the look of their content on peoples' devices. No doubt they can't stop dark-mode from happening anyway, and I'm certainly not going to shed a tear over that. Arguably it's a consumer-friendly option that should be embraced.

We already have injected, targeted content (ads) in various media, including browsers, live sporting events, and cable broadcasts, that content-providers may not be able to control or consent to. But messing around with the way the page looks and feels -- first with color-maps, and potentially with other things such as fonts, frame-placement, link actions, and so on -- might be going too far.

Imagine a browser that converts certain sites into 1990s-style retinal-torture pastels, with flashing backgrounds and headlines on fire. An extreme and unlikely example, but it illustrates how a device can alter someone's experience of a site in a way the content-provider might object to.

Re:Just look at Slashdot

[DontBeAMoran]

Or a UTF-8 support mode.

Re:Just look at Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

I couldn't give a single absolute (not relative) shit what some pesky designer thinks I should be seeing.
Most of the time their sites look like shit anyway. (the ones that whine about this)

The easiest, non-intrusive way to fix most websites shit color schemes is changing * and invert the colors and background-colors (not background because it will undo background-images sometimes on crap websites that use it)
In fact, since we are speaking CSS here, which blows 10 kinds of ass due to specificity, go a step further and do * * and add !important to each. Even that doesn't work all times. HUZZAH specificity!
You can then play around with changing borders if you want.
No fannying around trying to deal with web designers artificially inflating their worth by changing everything ever 3 times a year because chaaaaange.
CSS, possibly the worst thing to happen to the web. Massive clusterfuck of redundant attributes and hacky tricks to get desired outcomes instead of just making that a frontline feature. Na, let's make animations instead, but make them even more complicated than need be. WOO progress!
Holy shit CSS animations are hilariously bad.

Although there's a big "FUCKYOU" if you dare do it on some sites because they will end up a total mess because of hidden transparent layers all over the place, or ones with semi-transparent background-colors like Youtubes crappy player with its pointless fade-to-video background when the navigation bar is open.
Seriously, try it on a Youtube video. HUGE big faded gradient that turns solid. Again, see above "css is trash".
You know what you do in that case? Hooktube.com, or youtube-dl. No, don't even use theirs, if you can find the damn thing, it doesn't even show in my Youtube. Again. Oh boy its another day of playing "wheeeeere's that feature!?"
Google like to say a lot of things, but they sure don't support it anywhere themselves.
So don't support them. Be a leech. Ruin their ad grouping systems just to be a bigger leech by using those extensions that feed their sites crap random searches and other data.

Re:Just look at Slashdot

[ChatHuant]

Imagine a browser that converts certain sites into 1990s-style retinal-torture pastels, with flashing backgrounds and headlines on fire.

I fail to see the problem, as long as this is the user's choice. Maybe some people like 1990 style. Other people may choose to see black text on a white page, or green text on a dark background. Yet other people may have some eye problem and pick the combination of colors, fonts and sizes that let them see best. It's unclear to me why you'd think users having choices is bad.

Consider the reverse though: what if the page "artist" decides to use the "1990s-style retinal-torture pastels" etc., and users would be forced to suffer through it if they wanted to access the contents at all? How would this be in any way good?

Re:Just look at Slashdot

[CaptainDork]

Well, it doesn't need a command mode, or as we say in the biz, a commode.

Re:Just look at Slashdot

[datavirtue]

Oh thank god. Where have you been my whole life?!

Re:Just look at Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

Content-providers do not own or control my computers or devices, I do. My computers/devices display only what I want, the way I want, when I want.

Re: Just look at Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

I came here to post the same link. I've been using Dark reader for many months now. Best extension I've ever used.
Quite intelligent about how it works.

Re: Just look at Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

How many Messengers did they have to ritually sacrifice to make this happen?

Re:Just look at Slashdot

[Hognoxious]

It's unclear to me why you'd think users having choices is bad.

Because *I* have better taste than them, and I have a piece of paper and 40k of debt to prove it.

Signed,
    Some vegafarian twat with a beret, ethnic tattoos, and piercings in places most people don't even have places.

More Leftist Propaganda

[Anonymous Coward]

Trump demands an orange mode with walled borders on the chrome to honor his superior presidency.

Re:More Leftist Propaganda

[Oswald McWeany]

Trump demands an orange mode with walled borders on the chrome to honor his superior presidency.

When I was a kid my Dad had a monitor that was an "orangescreen". It had nice thick bezels (walls), as did everything then. They did used to exist. Not all greenscreens were green.

"Keeping up with Google"

[Anonymous Coward]

This kind of "news" are on the same level as gossip about what Kim Kardashian is planning to wear next summer.

Re:"Keeping up with Google"

[DontBeAMoran]

Oh, what is she planning to wear next summer?

Wait, who the fuck is Kim Kardashian and why should I care?

Re:"Keeping up with Google"

[bn-7bc]

Some kind of realiry tv female with rather low inteligence iirc, but as I dont care to much about it (reality tv rates very low with me) i could be wrong

Re:"Keeping up with Google"

[Anonymous Coward]

Some kind of realiry tv female with rather low inteligence iirc

So says the guy who can't spell "intelligence". That said, she probably is making more money that pretty much everyone on /. could ever imagine to make. There is that...

Re:"Keeping up with Google"

[Hognoxious]

Someone from DS9 I think.

Chrome sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

Chrome is just a tracking tool for Google to get information to sell more ads.

Re:Chrome sucks

[DontBeAMoran]

If they really wanted to sell more ads, they would stop trying to guess what I'm interested in and ask me directly. And stop adding things to my ads choice profile without asking me.

Proper UI programming

[Anonymous Coward]

There would be no need to implement a "dark mode" if google just used whatever color scheme a user has chosen in the windows control panel.

But no, they had to skin their own UI components over the top of the windows UI like stupid "bubbly interfaced" programs did in the 90's

You know what i'm talking about, the stupid shit like this that was all to common back then https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/66soci/windows_media_player_skins/

Re:Proper UI programming

[The MAZZTer]

Windows 10 no longer allows you to switch color themes so there's really no point in Google supporting that/ The only options it provides the user with are High Contrast themes (where certain colors can be customized) and dark mode (which doesn't actually adjust system colors).

This change was probably made since lots of programs don't respect system colors anyway. I used to try to set white text on a black background. Many apps hardcode black as a text color so this usually will break a number of apps.

Re:Proper UI programming

[Anonymous Coward]

Or a reasonable plugin/theme interface.

Re:Proper UI programming

[Anonymous Coward]

I hate that crap interface so much.
But let's face it, it's better than the alternative, a Windows theme.
Windows theming system has always been terrible. It's especially bad from Windows Vista onwards.
In fact, I will go out and say there are no such thing as a good window theming system right now, in any OS. All of them suck. They are all too rigid, all "me me me" and not about the developers needs.

As much as I despise CSS, it can make better interfaces when used by a proper programmer and not a retard like most sites developers.
The worst thing with CSS is the fact it needs to use HTML, and that dumbass specificity feature, also the lack of features usually expanded on by things like SASS that add proper inheritance.
But to be honest, if you are making any significant UI, JS is actually so much easier to work with.
You don't need to worry about CSS and its crappy inheritance, or its major lack of basic features like changing an already-existing color (such as halving the brightness, or switching hue, or adding more red, etc.)
With JS, you can apply every attribute exactly, in order, and tell the inheritance engine to fuck off.
But then you need to deal with the fact that JS can be disabled.
Isn't the web FUN?!
XUL, likewise, was really good, but it came with a bit of a crutch, Mozilla made it, and Mozilla are the worst at everything when it comes to implementing and growing things. Now it is dead.

A hybrid of JS + XUL that is explicitly for UI would be the ultimate UI system.

Re:Proper UI programming

[Anonymous Coward]

>I used to try to set white text on a black background

Absolutes. A dark gray will retain, at the least, diagnostic capability.

A light gray background brings you only partial relief, but can be used with locked-to-black text. In fact, many websites lean slightly away from #FFFFFF towards a hint of beige or cream or gray, for this reason.

Not slashdot because fuck the users right? Or wait, it probably has something to do with Glorious Mobile at this point.

Re:Proper UI programming

[Billly Gates]

Funny. They are copying from edge after copying the horrible tabs from Firefox lol. Dark mode rocks on Edge and Windows Explorer.

Re:Proper UI programming

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

Google really doesn't care about innovation anymore as evidenced by dragging ass in putting a silence button on tabs with sound, especially autoplay.

Re: Proper UI programming

[Anonymous Coward]

Truly strong evidence.

Re:Proper UI programming

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows 10 is crippleware/malware/spyware/adware.

Re:Proper UI programming

[Anonymous Coward]

"work is in progress"

It's changing the damn colors! Just how hard did they manage to make it to change colors these days. That used to be a simple setting in many programs. lol.

About time

[thsths]

A system wide setting for dark mode is logically better than a site by site or program by program setting, so this seems well overdue.

Of course for legacy sites like Slashdot, it will need to work some magic.

Re:About time

[DontBeAMoran]

They can't even support UTF-8 and you're hoping they add support for dark mode? That's what I call optimism.

Re:About time

[Anonymous Coward]

Can you confirm that Apple devices are submitting UTF-8 and everything else is submitting some other encoding? Slashdot supports the characters that I usually see getting mangled.

Re:About time

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey come on now. I at least managed to get most of the site dark and fonts white.
The only things that stuck out were the buttons and post headers.
I think that is just specificity ruining it. There are so many rules targeting that button I have no clue what is happening. There also seems to be 2 global instances of box-sizing.
That's not much when you consider some websites, like Googles own Youtube.
Their new video player UI has some faded gradient. You can't do blanket replacements and expect that to work. The gradient becomes opaque and the navigation bar becomes opaque. It looks awful.
RGBA is the worst. It has made changing things a nightmare.

But even when you do manage to figure your way around it, it still doesn't help, because there are lots of websites that make custom UI elements for doing things, like Slashdots comment expansion slider.
Doing a blanket background-color replace destroys the thing.
This monster:

* html, * *, * body { background-color:#555!important; color:#fff!important }

I picked a gray just to show you the issues more clearly on here with clashing.
Even that horrible thing doesn't get around specificity. It should, but it doesn't. Because FUCK YOU, that's why.
The Shadow DOM could help with that, but let's face it, even most people reading this probably don't know what that is. I only learned of it a few weeks ago myself and it has been around for a while. (even Google don't use it where it matters! They had to have Microsoft whine to them about invisible DIVs over their video-player!)
It can let you make discrete child-DOMs that don't get influenced by outside stuff by default, such as styles and the like. This would allow you to make your own custom UI elements that don't get shit on by user styles.
Why is there no color:invert? Definitely don't use CSS filter invert. Never worked anyway, only made a mess.
Definitely don't (do) apply a drop-shadow filter to the root selector because of curiosity. Holy hell my FPS.
If you want to see something fun, just after me bashing RGBA, apply this:

* {
    background-color:rgba(100,100,0,0.2)!important;
    color:#ff0!important;
}

Oh no the buttons, I forgot. This looks horrible on some sites. Oh my does it look horrible.

There is no easy solution to this problem. While most generic sites can be blanket-themed, any reasonably complex site like here, Facebook, Youtube and others all require some manual work to get it not-crap.
Designers are the biggest asses in most industries. Especially because they constantly change things for literally no reason other than change.
They think they are special and that they should get to choose how you view something.
Google, hilariously, are the biggest offenders in this area.

Re:About time

[Anonymous Coward]

This is kind of the point of the OS. It's responsible for your core GUI. Programs can try to scurry away as much as they want, they exist in an empty void without it. Your precious crapp is a nested existence, the OS presentation has a subset presentation, temporary and subject to toggle. This is pretty clear when you write "for [OS]", and you're forced to learn and obey the foundation under the building.

But naturally everyone wants to dissociate from the OS as much as possible and be their own hotness. I did this, me, not windows, don't look at them look at me. Chrome is awesome and only chrome, because chrome is chrome.

And then they kludge the "same trip twice" to seek the dark functionality. And it'll be kludge anyway so we still have to kludge ourselves (greasemonkey etc).

And then slashdot burns your eyeballs anyway. And suits are pleased with their reported results, the shirts who provided them are pleased simply by pay, and nothing has actually happened. I should try to coin a phrase on that, happens too much. Not just in design, lots of contracted services sell tiger rocks, like swarm watchers making ISPs send letters. Hmm, maybe something with "tiger rock"...

Re:About time

[Anonymous Coward]

Woops.
I forgot to post the most interesting one that I actually DO actively use for those few websites that are blindingly bright.

html:after {
content:' ';
background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.65)!important;
z-index:100000000000!important; /* gotta be sure! */
position:fixed;
top:0px; left:0px; width:100%; height:100%;
pointer-events:none;
}

It is obviously not the best solution since it globally dims everything on the page, but it is better than being blinded in to the next life!
This simply places a pseudo-element over the top of the document, sets a dark semi-transparent background, anchors it to the viewport, and most importantly, disables pointer-events for it so you can click through.
If you can't read the text, you're already in too bright a room so it is moot.
There is a HUGE flaw with this, though, it goes on top of videos and pictures. That may or may not be a good thing.
Mind you, this on top of setting the screens backlight brightness and using, say F.Lux to set the screen darker at the driver level, you could get around these issues globally.
Alt+ Page up and Down on F.Lux is great. Best addition.
This combined with F.Lux makes blinding sterile sites tolerable if you're ever burning the midnight oil.

Crap

[Anonymous Coward]

Chrome for Mac should get it no less than a year before Chrome for Windows. Apple invented dark mode. Honor them.

Re:Crap

[ClickOnThis]

Chrome for Mac should get it no less than a year before Chrome for Windows. Apple invented dark mode. Honor them.

Apple 'invented' dark mode? The original CRT with a CL prompt was dark-mode by design, and it predates Apple's very existence by many years.

Re:Crap

[Anonymous Coward]

LOLzzzz! Look everyone! It's another retarded Slashfag who doesn't know that he's being trolled!!!!!1!1!!1!!!!1

LOLLLALAALLAAZZZZZ

Just shut the fuck up you stupid faggot.

Pot calling Kettle Dark

[xack]

So they won't let us have the classic Chrome UI, yet they will give us a gimmicky dark mode as a replacement. Enough is enough, we need a "Pale Moon" of Chrome.

Re:Pot calling Kettle Dark

[thegarbz]

yet they will give us a gimmicky dark mode

One man's gimmick is 10000 other men's default. The reality is few people give a crap about classic UI, but many people care seem to care about light and dark mode for all programs on all platforms.

Re:Pot calling Kettle Dark

[oogoliegoogolie]

Although not totally useless considering how much UI space today is wasted by empty white-space, dark themes are just a fad that is driven by the 30-and-under crowd rediscovering something that has existed at least since the Windows 3.1 days of the early 90's: THEMES and SKINS.

Stop with the stupid fads. NOT WANTED.

[Anonymous Coward]

Stop with the stupid fads. NOT WANTED.

Re:Stop with the stupid fads. NOT WANTED.

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh yes indeed .. It's panto

Re: Stop with the stupid fads. NOT WANTED.

[baker_tony]

I love dark mode everywhere. Reduces my ocular migraines and eye strain substantially.
One woman's fad is another man's godsend.

Re:Stop with the stupid fads. NOT WANTED.

[Anonymous Coward]

Then get rid of those fad white backgrounds that are so dated that they are supposed to resemble ink on paper. In reality it is staring directly into a light bulb. Black backgrounds are the original look for operating systems and are much easier on the eyes.

Re:Stop with the stupid fads. NOT WANTED.

[Stephen Chadfield]

The first GUIs I used were DECWindows on VMS and OPEN LOOK on Solaris. Both used dark text on a light background. That is what I am used too and what I still prefer. I find it hard to read light text on dark backgrounds.

And don't get me started on the fad for low contrast affecting Linux GUI themes and trendy website designs...

Re:Stop with the stupid fads. NOT WANTED.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice strawman, but the first operating systems did not have GUIs. Light backgrounds are murder on the eyes.

Re:Stop with the stupid fads. NOT WANTED.

[Oswald McWeany]

Nice strawman, but the first operating systems did not have GUIs. Light backgrounds are murder on the eyes.

For some people. I don't find it murder on my eyes- but, I'm In a well lit room. If you're in a dark room with little ambient lighting, then dark backgrounds may indeed be better.

The brightness of the backgrounds changed because where we use devices (and who uses devices has changed).

Re:Stop with the stupid fads. NOT WANTED.

[Stephen Chadfield]

I am talking about the colours used for graphical user interfaces not those for primitive text terminals. From the start GUIs were dark text on a black background. That includes the console emulators like xterm.

Use of light text on dark backgrounds is, like low contrast use, a modern fad and is hard to read.

Re:Stop with the stupid fads. NOT WANTED.

[Stephen Chadfield]

Of course I meant "dark text on a light background". Where is my coffee..

Re:Stop with the stupid fads. NOT WANTED.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not a piece of paper, it's a self illuminated display. The ambient lighting has fuck all to do with it.

Re:Stop with the stupid fads. NOT WANTED.

[Anonymous Coward]

I am talking about the colours used for graphical user interfaces not those for primitive text terminals. From the start GUIs were dark text on a black background. That includes the console emulators like xterm.

Use of light text on dark backgrounds is, like low contrast use, a modern fad and is hard to read.

Absolutely wrong and clueless. ALL computers originally used light text on dark backgrounds. Dark text on white backgrounds is the fad that has been trying to make computing "relatable" to computer newbs. "See here, it's not so scary, it's black on white like ink on paper. See? It's like your real life office supplies!" Fuck off, plebe. White backgrounds are horrible for the eyes.

Of course I meant "dark text on a light background". Where is my coffee..

You would make fewer typographical errors if you weren't staring into a giant fucking lightbulb all of the time. Your retinas must be fried.

totally racist

[Anonymous Coward]

it's 2019 for fuck's sake. African Americans do not need a segregated browser. And don't blame this shit on white conservative men -- google fired all them. Are there any actual brothers working at google? (No, Leroy the janitor doesn't count).

What took so long?

[Anonymous Coward]

The concept for going black to save power, even specifically calling out Google, has been around for like 15-20 years already.

blackle.com

Re:What took so long?

[Anonymous Coward]

Literally doesn't work.
Way to fall for a dumb meme.
Most screens are not OLED. They have a persistent back-light that is never off unless the screen is physically off..
Changing the color of pixels from white to black does nothing to save any significant power since the actual pixels are meaningless next to back-light power demands.
Turning off lights the instant you leave rooms would save more in a day than this would in a year. Considerably more. Like, turning them off if your life depended on it! Some times you even drop and break things trying to turn it off! If you didn't ruin your dinner you aren't going fast enough!

A bigger issue is people having stupidly bright house lights on for several hours at night for no reason at all.
A time when you would be going to sleep anyway, nope, sun-brightness levels because they need to see everything ever.
A typical nightlight in most rooms would do for lighting to get around during the evening and early night. If you are doing bright light tasks at evening and night, you should re-evaluate your life.
Something around the levels of a typical fire. It would also help you sleep better. All these super bright white LED light bulbs are ruining peoples health.
Nice RGB+WW LED strip set to low reds would look nice.
We put some in the kitchen around bottom of the cabinets and it looks real nice. Since it is a functional space that requires light to be used safely, an LED strip goes a long way to get light where you need it.

pancake mode or it doesnt happen

[Anonymous Coward]

pancake mode or it doesnt happen

Re:pancake mode or it doesnt happen

[jfdavis668]

with syrup and butter.

Re:pancake mode or it doesnt happen

[datavirtue]

I like hamburgers better.

Re:About time - Green Hercules Graphics

[Anonymous Coward]

I think I need to go and dig out my old green on black monitor with a Hercules graphics card... err... maybe not... Now get off my lawn anyway!

Remember when html was mostly color agnostic?

[Fly Swatter]

And most pages were rendered in your preferred colors? I miss those days. So chrome is trying to bring that back. How innovative.

Tab style back?

[Billly Gates]

They do not even have to make it default. I just want the option to put it back as it makes it easier to sort through tabs

Cry me a river.

[Anonymous Coward]

My XTerm can do dark mode since... 1984?

No, seriously. Why do I have the feeling that those folks are just making fun of us?

This is not news

[DarkRookie2]

Software with the options to change some RGB values is not new or news.
Stop treating it as such.