I mentioned it a couple of years ago Dark Theme - reduce contrast
No problem. It was a long time ago!
Googleâs Material Design guidelines for dark themes recommend avoiding black as a background colour so the contrast between interface elements is less starkâŚ
Twitter has two dark modes:
Adobe and many other creative apps offer at least 2 dark modes:
Ableton Live has 3:
Oh, the confusion! =p
1 Like
Weâre not using black, but #181818 instead. Google Material Design guideline recommends #121212, which is even darker. I think weâre following the design guideline alright (https://material.io/design/color/dark-theme.html#properties).
Any thoughts on the rest of my post? (All the examples of a second dark theme being pretty much industry standard.)
You can use Custom CSS to change any color of the app your want. This setting will also sync across the desktop app and the browser web app.
Iâm not particularly against more dark themes but I think on the topic of other âappsâ have more than 2 dark theme:
Windows 10:
MacOS:
Discord:
If the current, single dark theme of Dynalist would be as pleasant and as considered as the dark theme of macOS, this feature request would not exist. 
Not sure, if you know that the dark theme of macOS has this magical feature called Desktop Tinting.
âWhen active, Desktop Tinting causes window backgrounds to pick up color from the userâs desktop picture. The result is a subtle tinting effect that helps windows blend more harmoniously with their surrounding content.â
So, in a way, macOS has millions of dark themes.
Are you (@Shida) using the stock Dynalist dark theme yourself, for longer periods of time? @Erica, are you?
When scanning long lists of bright text on almost black backgrounds, donât you get these trails in your eyes? I do. On âdimâ themes (as opposed to âlights outâ or almost black themes) the light-trails are not so bad. This phenomena is the reason why I started this thread. I would love to stick to discussing this key idea.
That little bit of almost-black (behind âWeekly statsâ) is #121212.
The color behind the text elements, is a lighter #1E1E1E.
(Obviously, I do not want for the contrast to be too low. Something like the way Twitter does it, I feel like thatâs the ticket. Donât you?)
Are you implying that I want a lighter dark theme just because there is a trend out there?
In my book, dark âmodeâ is the default since:
As I mentioned above:
When scanning long lists of bright text on almost black backgrounds, I get these trails in my eyes. On âdimâ themes (as opposed to âlights outâ or almost black themes) the light-trails are not so bad. This phenomena is the reason why I started this thread.
Just wanted to follow up - any reason why this canât be done via custom CSS? I donât think we should use our extra bandwidth to add new themes because of personal preferences (which can already be tweaked via custom CSS).
I am trying to have a conversation; a debate on UX experience.
Pleeease answer this: do you use your own default dark theme a lot? If yes, do you get light-trails when scanning text (especially in low-light conditions)?
If you do not use your own default dark theme â how can you say much meaningful things about it?
What I have shown above is that having a lighter dark theme âin-the-boxâ is a matter a good, wholesome UI design; an established UX practice by now â not (just) a personal preference. Your refusal to take this fact on board, even if you wonât include it in you app, baffles me.
(In the examples you posted, Discordâs default dark is way lighter than yours; macOS is in a league of its Desktop Tinting; Windowsâ dark mode is still laughable.)
(Bandwidth? Please enlighten me.)
You didnât answer my question:
any reason why this canât be done via custom CSS?
As for your question:
do you use your own default dark theme a lot?
Not recently, but Iâve used it for a year in the past and itâs been ok. Perhaps itâs because of the different contrast on my monitor, but I find it just fine.
(Bandwidth? Please enlighten me.)
Itâs another term for developer time.
Anyway, Iâm sure our themes could use some improvement. The theming system has been changed quite a few times but we havenât really touched most of the colors for a few years already. May take a look at it some day and put some tweaks but thatâs not a priority right now.
Again I just want to say this once more: You can tweak any color you want of the dark mode using custom CSS. This post for the screenshot.
1 Like
Thatâs correct. As a free user you can use a browser extension like Stylish on web or inject using the developer console on desktop. Custom CSS is part of the âconvenienceâ package for a built in solution but you could always accomplish the same another slightly more involved way.
Iâd suggest using the Stylus Chrome Extension rather than Stylish. Stylish had some bad press relating to privacy issues.
Also, itâs notable that youâve got CSS baked into Obsidian. I suspect that feature parity between Dynalist and Obsidian may be an ongoing discussion. Nobody said it was easy being a Developer! 