Bookmark: "Why dark mode isn’t as accessible as you might think"

Sebastian Greger

Bookmarked:

Why dark mode isn’t as accessible as you might think codeenigma.com

“Is dark mode impacting your users”, Maygen Jacques asks in this article about some less-considered aspects of designing for “dark mode” — specifically the impact of fuzzy vision from white text on black background for users with astigmatism:

Let’s assume 25% of your users don’t permanently need glasses but they also get this issue in conditions of low lighting; that’s a total of 50% of your users experiencing a shared issue.

Designing for dark mode is about more than just inverting colours. And real-world testing will always be necessary. Most importantly, it is crucial to allow users control over turning dark mode on and off for a specific website, if the design causes them issues:

The take-home message is - give your users control; make dark mode optional.

On the same topic, also see:

Accessibility for People with Astigmatism essentialaccessibility.com
Bookmark: “Accessibility for People with Astigmatism”
While high contrast is important for accessibility, this article is a good reminder why overdoing it is not a good […]
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I'm Sebastian, Sociologist and Interaction Designer. This journal is mostly about bringing toge­ther social science and design for inclusive, privacy-focused, and sustainable "human-first" digital strategies. I also tend to a "digital garden" with carefully curated resources.

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