Ask HN: Why doesn't HN have dark mode yet?
5 points by schappim 1 month ago | 6 commentsThe web standard `prefers-color-scheme` media query has been widely supported since 2019, allowing sites to automatically respect users' system preferences. Implementation would involve straightforward CSS additions.
This feature would serve users with light sensitivity, those working in dimly lit spaces, and anyone who simply prefers dark interfaces. Given that many developers already use dark themes in their editors and terminals, there's likely meaningful demand within HN's user base.
The absence of this option stands out among text-heavy sites that have adopted dark modes. While not urgent, it represents a quality-of-life improvement that would cost little to implement but provide genuine value to a subset of the community.
Here are the current styles with dark mode support:
https://gist.github.com/schappim/d688c7090ea2e946e9379e2678d4d820
Previous requests:
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=hn%20dark%20mode&sort=byPopularity&type=story
- david927 1 month agoEarly on, Paul mentioned how sites will redesign and lose their charm, like the quaint restaurant around the corner which was quirky but always booked, and then expanded, tripling its size but also destroying its character, and then went out of business. He didn't want that to happen here.
Personally, I disagree. I think this place got big anyway. It's not the same as it was when it started, and a redesign would reflect that.
- jasonthorsness 1 month agoI built my own front-end for hacker news and it supports dark mode. However now my problem is to comment (like this one) I have to switch back to hacker news itself, and the flipping back and forth from dark mode back to light mode is intense; I am still looking at after-images from the dark-mode text right now. So I will definitely support a native dark mode option :P.
- JohnFen 1 month agoWhy not use a custom style sheet to do this? That way you can have a dark mode when using HN directly.
- JohnFen 1 month ago
- cratermoon 1 month agoLack of dark mode is the least of the sites UX problems. HN fails hard on all vision-related accessibility criteria.