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Old 11-26-2019, 07:29 AM   #41
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Originally Posted by Vagalume View Post
I am curious, How do you know if 10 people like the darker theme? from this thread?
how many are "the rest of us"? let's invent .. 11? Are there 21 users of Reaper?

Frankly I don't see the problem because there are darker versions of default 5, so someone will possibly upload a darker version if it is not dark enough, and the opposite.

... Anyway I am not sure if the default reaper themes are the most used ones.
yes there should be a poll basically
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Old 11-26-2019, 07:54 AM   #42
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I think the stash say something about popularity and how new themes look like vs the oldschool.
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Old 11-26-2019, 05:25 PM   #43
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I just have a problem staring at the sun & "gangstah Interrogation" bright 100% white light in my eye for to long, that's all.
D5-Forum post BG is not 100% white and if you fill it with text of lovelyness, it gets darker, amazing.

My taste is not limited to One thing, I like Amiga beige also for ex and was not the Commodore64 screen blue? ah-ha!

So if REAPER the (DAW) gets some feature you just love, you won't upgrade because of a Theme, that can be themed?

Oh-maaaAaan...

And your avatar thing say sun-sun-sun, so it this about reflection problem on your screen and White can cure it?

Good ones!

Naw it ain't like that, I use dark themed softwares too. Was totally happy finally got dark on the iPhonez too... But not to the extent that I have to over brighten my monitors just to get detail or some type of contrast. When I see a white screen it's brighter but my monitors are adjusted to not be as bright as the sun hahahahaaaa,
And by far if there will be a way to keep my current themes, well that might work, but if those themes look like crap as (imho) this new 6 default does after install??? Ummm no. Just cuz it's dark doesn't mean it's got to be a flat carbon black and un inviting/boring. And I don't work in bright sun. Bright sun is evil. My studio room is indirectly lit enough to easily see but not too bright, and for sure NO reflection in the monitors, ewwwww.
Just when I look at new 6.0 I'm turned off completely. Maybe some theme will get updated or some new ones will be developed which fully work and completely change the default design, in which case I might reevaluate my decision.


P.s. It's freekin raining today. Like first time in almost a year? Grrrrrrrr.....
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Old 11-27-2019, 02:17 AM   #44
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Windows went flat also "just like that", maby the flat is supposed to be practical for touch screen, and dark is supposed to make laptop battery last longer?
I'm not using either (yet) though but my eyes agree with the battery.

If nothing is perfection then try mix-match up your own frankentheme, like oh, cool fader, that will due *grab* / thx.
Might take a while but if you experience a tad of (hey! this is fun) then you will make it, np.

As they say, if you know/see/hear the (your) problem, you know the fix.
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Old 11-27-2019, 04:39 AM   #45
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I like the darker themes. It is easier on my eyes after hours of staring at glaring screens.
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Old 11-27-2019, 04:51 AM   #46
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Windows went flat also "just like that", maby the flat is supposed to be practical for touch screen, and dark is supposed to make laptop battery last longer?
No, for the most part an LCD panel uses much the same amount of power to display a bright scene or a dark one. Actually if anything a dark scene can use ever so slightly more power as the twisting cells have to maximally twist to block the back light, but the difference is negligible if measurable.
If were all using OLED or plasma displays that would be a different story as those displays are self emmisive pixel technologies, hence the bright scenes uses more power and dark scenes use less.

I strongly prefer dark themes as they are far less tiring on the eyes.
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Old 11-27-2019, 07:42 AM   #47
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Really on the LCD part? I am so happy this is not Jeopardy, I would totally have guessed wrong on that *dauym* thanks Softie.
Also, dark does not have to be 100% black and I don't DAW in my closet, just saying.
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Old 11-27-2019, 08:12 AM   #48
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...cant please everyone.
Adobe products have a slider to adjust brightness, going from black to white. All brightness states are properly dealt with by the design, meaning font colors etc.
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Old 11-27-2019, 08:17 AM   #49
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yes there should be a poll basically
A poll or a real user customizability accesible to users.

Curent custom theming is more for programmers == not accessible to users. They require tons of specific previous knowledge, skills and time to create or adjust.
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Old 11-27-2019, 08:25 AM   #50
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I have stuck with default theme 3 because it is clear and easy on the eyes. I've been using this theme for years after trying many of the others I always come back to that one
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Old 11-27-2019, 07:31 PM   #51
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Isn't the design of the Reaper 6 kinda more dark than the default Reaper 5?

i like the default of Reaper 5 a lot and maybe it gets a while before i get used to the design of reaper 6.

but whats ur opinion?

Reaper 6 is too dark?
I much prefer this new default 6 theme, it's very easy on the eyes.
My custom 5 theme has the same dark tone adjustments, so I can use the 6 without changing it.

Spending hours in front of a bright screen is simply not good.
Darker themes are very important for many, it's a health issue.
I also turn down the brightness on my monitor to 0.
Some monitors are much brighter than others, but I think most monitors are way too bright by default, causing fatigue.
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Old 11-27-2019, 09:29 PM   #52
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There is also "night light" mode on windows 10 which I always have enabled, was having eye strain problems for years that went away soon after enabling it (going on 1 year now)

if WT or whomever is okay with it, I would totally share an edited version of the default, I always do things like align faders and meters, change up some colors here and there... doing a generally brighter version of a theme is relatively easy just a bit more time consuming
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Old 11-27-2019, 10:16 PM   #53
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I don't like the look of any DAW. But at least with Reaper I can adjust its looks easily using the "theme tweaker" action.

This is so subjective, no matter how much some people say otherwise. It necessarily is subjective since it's about how different people with different monitors, lighting conditions, eyesight etc. are viewing the DAW.

This theme was fine for me to adjust using the "theme tweaker" included in Reaper (changing some colors, fonts, etc.) I haven't found a single theme for which I haven't wanted to change some basic aspects like this.

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Old 11-28-2019, 09:47 AM   #54
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Really on the LCD part? I am so happy this is not Jeopardy, I would totally have guessed wrong on that *dauym* thanks Softie. )
LCD screens act as "shutters" that is back lighted - which is always on.



+100 for dark themes in general, the sudden societal push towards them across all UIs I give thanks for today.

Frakking frak, where were all of you 20 years ago...? I have debated this topic with Microsoft developers, different plugin developers, here for years... "yuck, nobody wants dark themed UIs!" and it seems like suddenly people realize "wow, I hate having a light shone in my face all day"?
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Old 11-28-2019, 10:00 AM   #55
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Frakking frak, where were all of you 20 years ago...?
Was looking for you, in Sweden.. Oops, my bad, a tad off
Try the old default forum themes with the monitor strength set to stun.
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Old 11-28-2019, 10:31 AM   #56
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Side topic:

Though I use mostly dark themes on my system including reaper, most all monitors have brightness/contrast controls - there is no way I'd run my monitors at full brightness - actually if you professionally calibrate them (which mine are for photo/video editing), the first thing that happens is you have to turn the stock brightness way, way down.

The point there is one should expect to be blinded with non-dark themes running monitors with out-of-the-box, store demo brightness.
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Old 11-28-2019, 11:38 AM   #57
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Oops, have not done it on the new monitor.
I went with a custom 60 cd/m2 and if you tweak RGB manualy so all snap green/OK, lowering the brightness can make them, not green.
Anyway, all you people look beautiful now.
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Old 11-28-2019, 06:11 PM   #58
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About the battery thing:
Most, if not almost all modern smartphones and tablets don't use LCD's anymore, they use some form or variation of of OLED or PLED (Polymer LED) displays which does emit light from every pixel individually and thus dark themes do save significant amount of power.

This is one of the reasons the mainstream use of dark themes started out in the smartphone and tablet apps and then have migrated from there to the desktop since we use so many software on both our cellphones and on our desktops these days.

The main driver for dark themes on desktop is that it reduces eye fatigue and issues with your circadian rhythm (since it's always bright in your brains point of view, your brain doesn't know it's getting late and that it should start producing hormones that are supposed to make you feel tired, so you don't and that messes up with your sleep)

But dark themes were already used by almost all programmers before this current trend for decades on their programming environments. It really helps with eye fatigue when you spend 8 hours a day in front of the screen when the text is light gray instead of white and background is black etc.

I'd recommend everyone who is capable of choosing dark themes instead bright ones... it really does help with eye strain
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Old 11-29-2019, 05:49 AM   #59
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Default v5 themes do not work in v6...? Yes they do!

I don't want to be negative but still... I find the v6 default theme much too dark. Maybe it works for someone sitting in a dark room, but I don't do that. And opening old projects in v6 is painful. Being able to dim them is not the solution.

The default theme should be a compromise that most people can agree on is not the best but ok as a start. This is not it, sorry.

So I tried using the theme I use now with v5. Things were slightly improved, but the colors all come out wrong. Most of them became just grey, which makes a problem for me, as I have the tracks color coded (Drums are green, Bass black, etc). No colors (except various hues of grey) in the TCP at all. Also, in v5 my theme colors the whole of the track, not just a small strip in the MCP.

And how do I expand/collapse folders in the MCP?

I think this should work. Using an old theme does not give all the possibilities of the new theme structure, that is fine. But an old theme should look reasonably similar to what it looked in the previous version of Reaper. Really.

I'm sorry to be negative, I understand that there is a lot of work put into this. However, for me the default theme does not work, and I do not want to spend hours to tweak things; making v5 themes work reasonably well in v6 is crucial.
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Old 11-29-2019, 07:25 AM   #60
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I don't understand...what older theme are you talking about Fabian? Oldest ones I've tried with Reaper v6 pres are themes from the v2 cycle and I have had no problems with them.
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Old 11-29-2019, 11:14 AM   #61
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I don't understand...what older theme are you talking about Fabian? Oldest ones I've tried with Reaper v6 pres are themes from the v2 cycle and I have had no problems with them.
I am using my own mod of one of Janne83's mods of the default v4 theme.

Urged by your comment I tested some more, and the theme works when I copy all of my *.ini files over the *.ini files of v6. I guess the proper way would be to export my configuration from v5 to v6. I didn't do that.

OK, so claiming that my old theme doesn't work was pilot error. Sorry about that.
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Old 11-29-2019, 12:14 PM   #62
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Urged by your comment I tested some more, and the theme works when I copy all of my *.ini files over the *.ini files of v6. I guess the proper way would be to export my configuration from v5 to v6. I didn't do that.
Probably not, the situation I ended up in was properly exporting the config broke things (even selectively importing didn't help because good and bad appear to be in some of the same config files); importing piecemeal got my main theme mostly working but I found no easy way to not lose something in the process. That's super annoying, one should not have to hack just to upgrade and keep the same theme et al which was simply a dark version of the V5 theme for the most part - it was nothing fancy.

I can't deal with things like the V6 text toolbar buttons not giving feedback when moused over, that is visual ergonomics design 101 so someone please tell me what I overlooked? That can't be a conscious decision.
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Old 11-29-2019, 02:02 PM   #63
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Isn't the design of the Reaper 6 kinda more dark than the default Reaper 5?
If you don't like the theme change it. I personally have found all of the default themes aesthetically unpleasing. Thank God they let you do whatever you want to the GUI.
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Old 11-29-2019, 03:25 PM   #64
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If you don't like the theme change it. I personally have found all of the default themes aesthetically unpleasing. Thank God they let you do whatever you want to the GUI.
Unfortunately this is not true. There are several prominent elements that are not theme-able or editable via Walter. I'm hoping the development of the V6 theme opens up some of those areas so this is a more consistent process for both themers and end users.
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Old 11-29-2019, 03:46 PM   #65
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Urged by your comment I tested some more, and the theme works when I copy all of my *.ini files over the *.ini files of v6. I guess the proper way would be to export my configuration from v5 to v6.
You should get used to saving your configuration from the preferences every time before you update REAPER (and preferably once a month anyway), into a new file with date written on it so you can remember what it was and keep them safe with proper backup procedure.

Then when you've updated always import the latest configuration before starting, thus you ensure every setting and action and mouse modifier and preference and theme thing should be as you expect it to be.

Saving your preferences time to time is a good idea because there might be a time when something breaks (you accidentally or deliberately change a setting and it breaks something or the update of REAPER doesn't work well without you telling it to overwrite possible setting defaults) you might want to find out what was the thing that broke and return to the latest working configuration.

that's why the preference export functionality is there

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Old 11-29-2019, 03:56 PM   #66
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Trying version 6 for the first time today and I am really liking the theme.
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Old 11-29-2019, 04:12 PM   #67
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Changed from Bitwig the other day... and found myself not really liking the v5 "bright" theme that much. And I´m kind of the guy, who doesn´t want to change the default settings in the softwares that are being used. Especially when it comes to shortcuts and visual appearance. Because it will somehow limit my workflow pace to my computer. Everytime I work on antoher machine or in another studio I need to assimilate first. Not really productive and sometimes even a little bit embarassing.

Against my inner instinct, while looking for a nice dark theme I came across the v6 Pre-Release. And thank the Lord, my prayers where answered (before I even had them). I REALLY like the new default theme.

Seems like, I had the perfect timing to change the DAW when v6 is arround the corner. Merry Christmas to me... and of course to all of you. :-)


By the way, reaper and the devs are the bomb... (did you know that??? ;-))
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Old 11-29-2019, 10:58 PM   #68
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the V6 text toolbar buttons not giving feedback when moused over, that is visual ergonomics design 101
I've seen this working since theme rc6v4 or so, before, mouse-over didn't register on toolbar icons either.
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Old 11-30-2019, 01:18 AM   #69
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I've seen this working since theme rc6v4 or so, before, mouse-over didn't register on toolbar icons either.
I'll try later builds, thanks for the heads up.
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Old 11-30-2019, 02:40 AM   #70
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From a first quick look, I (also) do not like the new R6 theme.

Not because it's dark (dark is great).

But because I find too many annoyances on first sight.

examples...
  • Contrast is bad overall. Pale buttons. Light gray fonts on dark gray background is a "wtf" type of mistake in my book.
  • Pixel-thin fonts and artwork (e.g. fx/trim buttons) is hard on the eyes.
  • A mix of different styles... Gradient (pseudo 3d) vs Flat knobs and faders. The Theme can't decide the era it lives on... is it 8bit pixel artwork? Perhaps skeuromorphic? Or no.. maybe flat low-contrast material design? Throw them all in let the user decide.
  • Some things still look unfinished... the MIDI editor is partially light themed (piano roll, bottom toolbar). The Cockos fx are still bright. etc...
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Old 11-30-2019, 08:22 AM   #71
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From a first quick look, I (also) do not like the new R6 theme.

Not because it's dark (dark is great).

But because I find too many annoyances on first sight.

examples...
  • Contrast is bad overall. Pale buttons. Light gray fonts on dark gray background is a "wtf" type of mistake in my book.
  • Pixel-thin fonts and artwork (e.g. fx/trim buttons) is hard on the eyes.
  • A mix of different styles... Gradient (pseudo 3d) vs Flat knobs and faders. The Theme can't decide the era it lives on... is it 8bit pixel artwork? Perhaps skeuromorphic? Or no.. maybe flat low-contrast material design? Throw them all in let the user decide.
  • Some things still look unfinished... the MIDI editor is partially light themed (piano roll, bottom toolbar). The Cockos fx are still bright. etc...
Those were all brought up months ago when WT first had the theme out for testing; he's happy with things as they are and doesn't seem interested in discussing it.
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Old 12-01-2019, 12:25 AM   #72
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WT seems like a stubborn ego driven person who doesn't give a rats ass that his ideas are not as perfect as he believes..... it's a shame, how many loyal users are turned off by this new poorly assembled and designed default theme. Maybe Reaper v5 is the apex of its lifespan? I really hope not. However we have seen other editor/DAWS come and go. The only constant is change.
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Old 12-01-2019, 03:39 AM   #73
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I don't like the look of any DAW. But at least with Reaper I can adjust its looks easily using the "theme tweaker" action.

This is so subjective, no matter how much some people say otherwise. It necessarily is subjective since it's about how different people with different monitors, lighting conditions, eyesight etc. are viewing the DAW.

This theme was fine for me to adjust using the "theme tweaker" included in Reaper (changing some colors, fonts, etc.) I haven't found a single theme for which I haven't wanted to change some basic aspects like this.

Here's the edits. Give it a try. (It relies on the Default_6.0.ReaperThemeZip file.) Just don't color your tracks or items too bright / too dark / too saturated.
Thanks for that. Without digging too deeply, did you tweak the fonts at all? A while back I changed my default W10 font and Reaper appeared to go a bit wonky.

Just coloured my tracks and it worked out fine. Reminded me of some of Janne's work with flatter themes.
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Old 12-01-2019, 06:36 AM   #74
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(dark is great).

  • Contrast is bad overall. Pale buttons. Light gray fonts on dark gray background is a "wtf" type of mistake in my book.
  • Pixel-thin fonts and artwork (e.g. fx/trim buttons) is hard on the eyes.
  • A mix of different styles... Gradient (pseudo 3d) vs Flat knobs and faders. The Theme can't decide the era it lives on... is it 8bit pixel artwork? Perhaps skeuromorphic? Or no.. maybe flat low-contrast material design? Throw them all in let the user decide.
  • Some things still look unfinished... the MIDI editor is partially light themed (piano roll, bottom toolbar). The Cockos fx are still bright. etc...
After a few days working with Reaper I need to say... I like V6 Default Theme more than v5 because of its darker appearance.

BUT I need to agree with Evan on all his points. Did not see those things in the first day(s), but as more I worked with the software this things kind of stick out. Especially as I have really bad eye-sight... can´t recognize faces in 2 meter (6.56 ft) distance without my special contact lenses.

Would be amazing if the designer would take a second try and listen to the suggestions of the experienced users above. #inclusion design

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Old 12-01-2019, 08:13 AM   #75
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there is no way I'd run my monitors at full brightness - actually if you professionally calibrate them (which mine are for photo/video editing), the first thing that happens is you have to turn the stock brightness way, way down.
Hmm. I've always calibrated my monitors (manually and with XRite) and found the stock default brightness settings (50) on my "newer" ones are fairly close (Viewsonic and a Dell full gamut).
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Old 12-01-2019, 08:19 AM   #76
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Originally Posted by Icchan View Post
individually and thus dark themes do save significant amount of power.
I'd say that is only the driver of preference for a tiny portion of people who are now choosing dark themes on their phones.

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But dark themes were already used by almost all programmers before this current trend for decades on their programming environments. It really helps
In the Old Dayz sonny we only had one flavor, "actinic white text on dark phosphor coated glass" with our TRS-80's, and we loved it!

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I'd recommend everyone who is capable of choosing dark themes instead bright ones... it really does help with eye strain

I'd suggest that also... there is probably a percentage of the population suffering from post-vitreal detachment but they don't know it, and for people approaching the age of 60 they're most certainly suffering from it and don't realize it yet. Personal theory it creates glare that affects high-contrast, high intensity situations and that it's a very prevalent thing.

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Old 12-01-2019, 08:28 AM   #77
Lokasenna
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There's a difference between "dark to avoid bright lights" and "so dark that it's hard to see".

I use a dark theme in my code editor all day, I can see everything perfectly fine, and my eyes are happy with me at the end of the day.

In comparison, parts of this theme are like looking at a black screen.
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Old 12-01-2019, 08:43 AM   #78
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In comparison, parts of this theme are like looking at a black screen.
Hmm, not sure I noticed that, where at? I opened VS code using the dark theme and it and V6 are pretty close; the main background of VS Code is actually darker than V6 here.

For reference, a calibration chart might be helpful for whomever - if someone's monitor has too much contrast and subtle darker shades blend together, they'd probably have issues. The chart below... One should be able to distinguish all 21 shades, (other than the darkest two being really hard to tell), if not the monitor/settings may have issues.

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Old 12-01-2019, 02:50 PM   #79
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It seems Karbo and I are on the same page about the monitor brightness adjustment. I also adjust the color quite specifically too. If you "develop photographs", it's something you probably do.

This might explain why some people talk about a certain theme being so hard on the eyes, when I might not think so. Sometimes, anyway. I'm sure some of it comes down to other factors.

PS. my monitors aren't expensive either. Acer HA230 ($95 on sale at Microcenter) and Asus PA248Q ($280-ish when I bought it at least 4 years ago). They're both IPS monitors though. The Acer has a bit nicer/more natural contrast once adjusted.

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Old 12-01-2019, 03:25 PM   #80
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I use an X-Rite i1 Display Pro to calibrate my 2 monitors - for editing video and photography - The first time I calibrated I was blown away by how much it made me bring down the brightness (less than 50%) where I think the default was 100. I forget the exact numbers but the important part was how much I had to lower it and contrast IIRC. Special calibration tools aren't really needed for luminence though IMHO, that can be done well enough just by adjusting based on those calibration charts above.

In comparison the defaults were blinding compared to calibrated and I can definitely distinguish details of darker shades better.
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