I'm over 70 years old and I know exactly what hurt my eyes. White background with dark letters are fine in a book, but white in a screen is because it is a light with all pixels on. There are no much contrast with dark letters apart it dazzled my eyes. White letters on a dark background are much more confortable and readable for me, yes or yes.

[–] kamen@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fair enough. I'm not saying "don't use dark mode", I'm saying don't rely solely on it. Dark mode with brightness cranked up to 100% might be worse than light mode at 20% brightness if that's appropriate for the ambient light you're in.

I agree about contrast; to me white text on black background is about equally as bad as black text on white background (but fortunately most dark themes are not white on black). I look at text all day long and usually prefer something with a medium gray-ish background and light letters; in very rare cases I'd resort to a light theme just for its contrast (e.g. working on a laptop outside during the day and I can't bring the brightness any higher).

[–] Zerush@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

For my old eyes a 20% Brighness is even worse for me to read the content without putting my nose direct on the screen. But yes, dependig on the contrast settings, also white letters on black background can be dazzling, but no t so in a normal contrast, at least for me.