Wikipedia talk:Dark mode

Usage

Special:GadgetUsage shows how many people are currently using the darkmode gadget. As of Nov 2021, just under 900 people had the gadget active.Dialectric (talk) 10:24, 26 November 2021 (UTC)

It's up to 11,789 as of 13 June 2022. I would also note that number may under-represent dark-mode users because the gadget does not stay enabled. If it's switched on during one visit, it will be turned back off without user input in a subsequent visit to the site. This happens in a browser that retains a login sessions. As a result, some users may, like me, leave it disabled and instead use browser add-ons to get a consistent dark-mode UI. Heliosyne (talk) 03:20, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

i didn't consider this was even conveniently possible until i stumbled onto someone asking it on the helpdesk and a respondent linking here.

current numbers can not be viewed as an objective representation of the ratio of users who would be interested in dark mode imho. Bart Terpstra (talk) 18:26, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

Toggle functionality as a gadget

There's a discussion open at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Make dark mode toggle script a gadget? about adding dark-mode toggle functionality as a gadget. – SD0001 (talk) 05:47, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

Images

Hello! So I think it would be a good idea to change the images to shows the Wikipedia Desktop mainpage in each of the dark mode themes as the first one appears to be the mobile view, second image is a specific page in desktop view, and the third image is of a Wikibooks page (Language appears to be French? not sure) with the mobile view in a small "UI". I don't think having 3 images all showing different things really shows the differences between the 3 different ways to have a dark mode all that well. ― Blaze The Wolf^Talk_{Blaze Wolf#6545} 19:03, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Hi, I just downloaded a screenshot of wikipedia home page with latest DarkTheme :

   ◄ David L • discuter ► 13:48, 9 September 2022 (UTC)

Black & green

May be worth mentioning the green text-on-black gadget. Preferences/gadgets/appearance/Use a black background with green text. DuncanHill (talk) 06:11, 4 December 2021 (UTC)

Yes, sounds like a good addition. I can add it in a few days if no one else does first.Dialectric (talk) 21:43, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

Community Wishlist entry

For those interested, meta:Community Wishlist Survey 2022/Larger suggestions/Dark mode czar 00:20, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

Security concern using Chrome chrome://flags/ #enable-force-dark

The Options for unregistered users section says "This is provided by Chrome's development team, so security should not be a concern". This advice contradicts the warning at the top of [./Chrome://flags/ chrome://flags/] which states "WARNING: EXPERIMENTAL FEATURES AHEAD! By enabling these features, you could lose browser data or compromise your security or privacy..."

Fairthomas (talk) 08:07, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

@Fairthomas: The section is right. Using features built into Chrome is much safer than installing random browser extensions. The warning for chrome://flags only exists to make clear that these settings are meant for advanced users. Dexxor (talk) 14:05, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

I think the warning exists to make it clear that these are experimental features that could compromise your security. Chrome has many complicated and advanced settings that do not come with this warning. I think advising people that it is secure is irresponsible. Fairthomas (talk) 02:32, 24 February 2023 (UTC)

Idea to add dark-mode

Is it possible to add a simple dark-mode checkbox in a new color tab to the languages-menu\Display settings and change it's name to just settings. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kevincrans (talk • contribs) 19:42, 8 August 2022 (UTC)

Do your Work Wikipedia

Thank you ! When will you add a lil' night button ? how long does our eyes have to suffer because some form of conservatism or "feature seeking" attitude ??

It's really a shame, that WP does have no dark mode in 2023!

Especially in summer it's very annoying when it's hot and you have to open the windows at night and all the insects fly into the room because WP doesn't have a dark mode. 84.140.204.50 (talk) 21:58, 14 July 2023 (UTC)

New dark mode option

I've been working on a dark mode that's a bit more minimal than the existing options for quite some time now - I feel like it might be completed to a point where it could be added here, but I don't just want to go ahead and put it in without any explicit support for that. I have some information on my user page along with a photo and link to the source; if anyone is willing to give it a look and possibly some feedback (perhaps @Dialectric or @DavidL?) that would be greatly appreciated. A direct link to the source is User:Tollens/darkTheme.css. Tollens (talk) 03:27, 28 July 2023 (UTC)

Having more options is good with so few currently available; go ahead and add it - if you haven't done so already, you might test the Compatibility with various skins so you can add your theme to the Compatibility table.Dialectric (talk) 09:22, 28 July 2023 (UTC)

@Dialectric: I've added the theme - would it perhaps be helpful to provide images for each compatible skin in the table? I'm not sure what the best way to do that in a way that doesn't make the table huge though. Tollens (talk) 23:28, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for adding your theme. I think it would be best to have 1 image of each different theme. As someone mentioned above, these images would be more useful if they were all of the same page, probably the main page, and probably using vector if supported since that is the default and most popular skin, but nobody has gotten around to implementing this yet. If you have more information about your theme including images of the variations for different skins, you might want to create a userpage that contains this info.Dialectric (talk) 19:37, 9 September 2023 (UTC)

I've already created that page - it's linked from this page as well. I can definitely take screenshots using Vector of the main page - I'll use the 2010 version for the ones that don't support 2022. Tollens (talk) 20:00, 9 September 2023 (UTC)

I've just had a thought - would it maybe be better to use an article rather than the main page? It seems most themes display articles quite differently to it. Tollens (talk) 20:41, 9 September 2023 (UTC)

I also see [[1]] has wikipedia-specific dark styles, and I may add this to the project page soon.Dialectric (talk) 02:53, 20 August 2023 (UTC)

Why only in english ?

I'm a new user on wikipedia, and I'm not sure if it is the best place to ask this but, as it is a CSS matter, why dark mode is only available in English ? What's the point ? Why not put a button (as most website do) so any (unauthenticated) user can switch between themes, without being forced to start a throughout journey through complex configuration ? Johnkravicz (talk) 21:03, 30 August 2023 (UTC)

Currently, there is no official dark mode. There's a significant amount of work required for the site and its skins to support a dark mode. This is made harder by the fact that so much of the site's appearance, particularly the colours used, can be altered by the community for each individual wiki. As linked in the first sentence of the dark mode page, the task to implement an official dark mode is tracked under Phabricator ticket T26070. Regarding supporting this option for non-logged in users, there is a performance impact which would require additional computing resources to address. So while this is not impossible, there is a cost that the WMF has to weigh. isaacl (talk) 21:32, 30 August 2023 (UTC)

Why no native dark mode?

What are the technical reasons why Wikipedia STILL does not have a native dark mode option for guests? Who is determining the priorities on the UI design and why don't they prioritize the #1 most requested feature? Onlyloggedinfordarkmode (talk) 18:41, 23 September 2023 (UTC)

Thanks. I 100% agree. 31.17.92.45 (talk) 20:14, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

I have refused to donate to Wikipedia until this feature is available. 73.197.80.116 (talk) 09:52, 7 April 2024 (UTC)

URL manipulation

Shouldn't this page describe accessing this mode with a URL hack?

• httpWikipedia/wiki/page?withgadget=dark-mode
• httpWikipedia/w/index.php?title=page&withgadget=dark-mode

-- 65.92.247.90 (talk) 03:12, 30 October 2023 (UTC)

The color choice for native dark mode

Guys, the shade of the background color and font color must be changed. The background is black. That's too dark. You know that sensation where you look at white text on a black screen, and the text sticks out like a sore thumb? That weird visual distortion effect that makes it harder to read the text? That can be eliminated by 1) making the background dark but not black, and then 2) making the font color light but not completely white. Doing so reduces the contrast between the text and the background, which both reduces eye strain from bright screens while also making it easier to read the content. Derwos (talk) 13:08, 27 April 2024 (UTC)

Agreed! And the blue link color is just a pain in the eyes. It's hard to believe Wikimedia is suffering from a lack of UI/UX engineers. Maduka Jayalath (talk) 01:45, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

Text: #fffc

Background: #19191c

Link border: #959595 Maduka Jayalath (talk) 02:13, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

Absolutely agree. Background color needs to be lighter and text perhaps a tad darker (with the possible exception of titles and headers). The screenshot posted above is definitely an improvement over the current version. Come on guys, it's such an easy fix. Throast ^{{{ping}} me!} (talk | contribs) 18:59, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

I love #000 background, AMOLED. Vitaly Zdanevich (talk) 23:30, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

The current color (#202122) is already difficult enough to deal with if you're trying to have sufficient color contrast for accessibility purposes. Snowmanonahoe (talk · contribs · typos) 11:27, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

Are you saying any reduction in contrast compared to what we currently have would cause accessibility issues? Throast ^{{{ping}} me!} (talk | contribs) 11:58, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

No, but the lighter we make the background, the fewer text/foreground colors we have available. At the current background color we already have to make the contrast of links slightly below WCAG AA because we can't have that and sufficient contrast against the white text simultaneously. Snowmanonahoe (talk · contribs · typos) 12:02, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

If WCAG bars us from having anything approaching, say, dark-mode Google Search (#1F1F1F background, #BEBFC3 prose, #E8E8E8 titles), then WCAG are the problem. Throast ^{{{ping}} me!} (talk | contribs) 12:18, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

Wikipedia articles have way more colors to worry about. Snowmanonahoe (talk · contribs · typos) 13:27, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

Forgot to add link color, my bad. Way more though? I don't think that's true. As far as I can tell, we have colors for text, background, and links (including red and visited), and shades derived from the background color for elements like infoboxes/buttons. It really shouldn't be too hard to come up with a color scheme that's both pleasant to the eyes and accessible. Throast ^{{{ping}} me!} (talk | contribs) 14:31, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

Oh, wait, are you talking about the gadget or the web team dark mode? Snowmanonahoe (talk · contribs · typos) 19:25, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

I'm talking about the official beta feature you can activate under Special:Preferences > Beat features. I'm all confused now though because that dark mode indeed seems to be just an inverted version of light mode contrary to what Tollens says below. I've never used the gadget. Throast ^{{{ping}} me!} (talk | contribs) 20:33, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

But #202122 is nearly identical to #1F1F1F. Snowmanonahoe (talk · contribs · typos) 20:37, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

#101418 is the background color I see in "my" dark mode. I'm not sure how but we seem to be talking past each other. I'll leave this be. Throast ^{{{ping}} me!} (talk | contribs) 22:17, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

I'm certain the beta feature applies colours directly (you can check the browser console if you like, not sure where the code lives). The gadget does a simple invert (see the stylesheet). Tollens (talk) 05:24, 15 June 2024 (UTC)

Just a quick note to mention that the colours are being changed, and that the colours can't be changed in the old gadget. If you follow the instructions under the "Special:Preferences" section of this page, you can see that the colours in the officially-supported dark mode will not be pure white-on-black. The reason for the gadget being that way is that it simply inverts the colours of the entire site, and doesn't actually "have" any set colours per se (so they can't be changed as you all seem to be suggesting). If you want to use a dark theme you are more than welcome to use any one of the multiple other options listed on the page, or if you don't like the set colours of any of them, mine allows you to easily change the colours to whatever you like. Tollens (talk) 18:42, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for the suggestion! I'll be sure to try it out. I assume OP and I were talking about the officially supported dark mode. If the colors aren't inverted as you say, they sure look like they're pretty close. I just thought I'd voice my criticism of the beta feature since I wouldn't want Wikimedia to roll it out for everyone with a color scheme this harsh. Throast ^{{{ping}} me!} (talk | contribs) 20:42, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

I am almost certain that the original comment of 27 April was not talking about the beta feature, I don't think it was released at that point in time (and it says the background is just black, which is only true in the gadget as far as I can tell). I assumed all the following comments were also talking about the gadget but clearly I was mistaken. Tollens (talk) 05:26, 15 June 2024 (UTC)

On a semi-related note, this is probably not a good place to suggest improvements to the beta feature – mw:Talk:Reading/Web/Accessibility for reading would be a better location. Tollens (talk) 05:37, 15 June 2024 (UTC)

Thank you and sorry for causing confusion. Throast ^{{{ping}} me!} (talk | contribs) 13:50, 15 June 2024 (UTC)