[HN Gopher] Show HN: DarkHN - Dark Mode Mirror for Hacker News
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       Show HN: DarkHN - Dark Mode Mirror for Hacker News
        
       Author : xtrp
       Score  : 101 points
       Date   : 2021-05-30 01:27 UTC (21 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (darkhn.herokuapp.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (darkhn.herokuapp.com)
        
       | miles wrote:
       | Would love to see this available natively here on HN. The last
       | dark mode request thread I recall garnered 780 points:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23197966
        
         | alias_neo wrote:
         | Interestingly, DarkHN breaks your link. I couldn't view it,
         | just got a 403, had to come back to normal HN to make sure the
         | link itself wasn't broken.
        
         | fragileone wrote:
         | I'd like it natively since my RSS reader has an internal web
         | browser that doesn't support browser extensions which I would
         | otherwise use here.
        
         | sneak wrote:
         | As cool as new features would be, I sort of love the HN
         | approach to feature creep (or even just feature addition, as
         | distinct from "creep"). It's such a welcome change compared to
         | other websites and apps.
        
           | miles wrote:
           | I, too, appreciate HN's reluctance to add new features, and
           | have zealously followed the same approach in maintaining my
           | own tiny corner of the web for two decades.
           | 
           | But dark mode offers such immense retinal relief that a few
           | lines of CSS1 does not seem too unreasonable, especially
           | since it means not having to trust third party extensions to
           | do the job (though Firefox supports site-specific CSS rules
           | natively: https://superuser.com/a/319322/38084 ).
           | 
           | 1 I arrived at these few lines for my simple site:
           | @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {       body {background:
           | #222b39;color: #e1dfdc}       input,textarea {background:
           | #333;color: #e1dfdc;border: 1px solid white}}
           | 
           | though HN likely requires a far more skillful and circumspect
           | approach, e.g., https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23199649
           | .
        
             | gpm wrote:
             | > prefers-color-scheme: dark
             | 
             | How do I convince my browser (firefox, typically) to set
             | this? Is there a way to toggle it on and off?
        
           | beermonster wrote:
           | It's also one of the things I value highly.
           | 
           | The other is the better signal/noise ratio.
        
         | argvargc wrote:
         | I find it offensive there's no dark mode. It's discrimination
         | against people with a vision disability. It's a small and
         | insignificant change on their part, could be made in 5 mins.
        
           | drusepth wrote:
           | I know "could be made in 5 mins" is an exaggeration, but
           | there's a very real long-term cost to adding thematic options
           | like dark mode that HN just might not want to take on.
           | 
           | Any time you split your UI (for example, light mode and dark
           | mode), it effectively doubles/multiplies all future UI
           | testing you do from then on out (testing all new
           | views/features on both light and dark mode). It can also add
           | additional strain on bug reports / support, since you no
           | longer know what UI configuration a particular user might've
           | been using when they complained about something.
           | 
           |  _Slightly_ less of an issue on a site like HN where the UI
           | is somewhat simple and static and changes happen at alligator
           | speed, but still a long-term commitment to make (as opposed
           | to 5 min of dev time).
           | 
           | (In case it isn't obvious, I'm a little salty about how much
           | time I _still_ spend testing /fixing my own site changes in
           | dark mode over a year after adding it.)
        
             | seanwilson wrote:
             | > it effectively doubles/multiplies all future UI testing
             | you do from then on out
             | 
             | I agree it takes more time but isn't double an
             | exaggeration? New features would presumably reuse
             | light/dark UI components you've already tested. And are
             | they really that likely to behave unexpectedly?
             | 
             | It's funny how developers will boast "it'll only take 5
             | mins" when they're not the ones having to code it though.
        
           | LilBytes wrote:
           | Does dark mode help those with visual disabilities?
           | 
           | I whole heartedly want dark mode HN but your comment seems
           | insincere and hyperbolic.
        
             | argvargc wrote:
             | Yes. And as is often the case, those unaffected or unaware
             | have difficulty empathising with sufferers. (And so on it
             | goes with anyone disadvantaged for any reason in society.)
             | 
             | Most major purveyors of UI have somehow recognised the
             | importance of offering a dark mode - I guess they all just
             | did it for a lark? At this point, HN's refusal is wilful.
             | 
             | Sure, plenty of annoying ways around it for each affected
             | person to figure out - or one tiny change to the God-like
             | and permanently-infallible UI of HN. All hail!
        
       | k4ch0w wrote:
       | Great coloring I really like it :-D
        
       | DavideNL wrote:
       | Try to read HN in Firefox on iOS, on an iPad 12'9. It's
       | impossible to read due to the tiny text size. You can't zoom text
       | in Firefox-iOS either... combined with no dark mode it's a
       | terrible user experience.
        
       | drdavid wrote:
       | I just use Stylish or Stylus and apply a darker userstyle.
        
       | aussieguy1234 wrote:
       | If you like this you can also try Dark Reader, available as an
       | extension for Chrome and Firefox. It'll make every website render
       | in dark mode.
        
         | guidopallemans wrote:
         | I used to have this extension, until I noticed the tiniest
         | changes to pages even when the extension was "disabled".
         | Ironically, I distinctly remember looking for the dark/light
         | mode switch on hackmd.io and couldn't find it. Only when I
         | uninstalled the extension did the whole page become usable
         | again.
         | 
         | Generally I like the extension though, I still use it on my
         | phone.
        
       | totetsu wrote:
       | Part of me was hopping this would be a Black Mirror mode for
       | Hacker News.
        
       | EMM_386 wrote:
       | I use "Hacker News Readable Dark" along with Stylish.
       | 
       | It works great.
       | 
       | https://i.imgur.com/OUmTmP8.jpg
        
       | ericlewis wrote:
       | Super cool! I did this same thing use cloudflare to change the
       | CSS on the fly.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | anishjain2000 wrote:
       | Are you using HN api
        
       | plibither8 wrote:
       | Shameless self-plug: I built Refined Hacker News[0], a browser
       | extension, that allows one to set custom CSS and has a default
       | preset for dark-mode :).
       | 
       | [0]: https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news
        
         | Krasnol wrote:
         | From all those addons and mods I've seen for this page, this is
         | really the best one. Thank you.
         | 
         | I have one minor issue though: the top bar (with new threads
         | past etc.) is white with the text almost white too. Makes it
         | unreadable. I'm not sure if this is somehow my fault or if it
         | comes from the addon: https://i.imgur.com/DPEn3b6.jpeg
         | 
         | I have dark mode on.
        
           | plibither8 wrote:
           | Thanks Krasnol :)
           | 
           | This is an interesting issue. What color is your "topbar"
           | configured to? You can check it under your profile settings:
           | https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Krasnol. It could be
           | that the topcolor that you've set is a dark color, and the
           | CSS inversion makes it light, thus conflicting with the text
           | color.
           | 
           | If this is still a problem, please do open an issue on the
           | GitHub repository, I'll happily look into it :)
        
             | Krasnol wrote:
             | Ah yeah that's it. I forgot you can set up things there
             | after I've installed Dark Reader.
             | 
             | Thanks :)
        
               | plibither8 wrote:
               | Awesome, glad I could help!
        
         | FlashBlaze wrote:
         | Easily one of the best add-ons I've installed. Thanks.
        
       | aye01 wrote:
       | an alternative i recommend is the Dark Reader extension that
       | makes all my websites dark mode in general.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | Retr0spectrum wrote:
       | While it's certainly aesthetically pleasing, personally I find
       | the link text too low-contrast. I think it should be slightly
       | brighter.
       | 
       | I normally prefer and use dark-mode UIs, but this one is actually
       | slightly harder for me to read.
        
       | crackercrews wrote:
       | Nice. Could you change the favicon to be a Y on a dark
       | background?
        
       | 0xfaded wrote:
       | Missed opportunity for "darkernews"
        
       | cmclaughlin wrote:
       | Looks great!
        
       | vesche wrote:
       | I use Stylus and this stylesheet:
       | https://userstyles.org/styles/22794/a-dark-hacker-news
       | 
       | Works great for me. I use dark themes via Stylus for most of the
       | common websites I visit like HN, GitHub, StackOverflow, etc. All
       | other websites that cause me to squint I just toggle Dark Reader:
       | https://darkreader.org/
        
         | terramex wrote:
         | Here is mine: https://gist.github.com/jay-
         | m-z/29c145ccd21f2b70f3cafd56c6cf...
         | 
         | Looks like this: https://imgur.com/a/d7PSU96
         | 
         | Based upon: https://userstyles.org/styles/166661/orb-s-dark-
         | hacker-news-... with bunch of my own adjustments and
         | improvements
        
           | factsaresacred wrote:
           | Really nice, thank you
        
           | helloguillecl wrote:
           | Cool browser!
        
         | beermonster wrote:
         | Is that like GreaseMonkey ?
        
           | Jorengarenar wrote:
           | Yes, essentially yes. UserScripts used by GreaseMonkey are
           | JavaScript. UserStyles in Stylus work analogously for CSS.
        
             | beermonster wrote:
             | Understood. Thanks :)
        
         | adrusi wrote:
         | Dark reader works unreasonably well.it has done more than any
         | other project to restore some degree of visual consistency to
         | our computer screens in the age of web apps.
        
           | Accacin wrote:
           | I tried it a while back in Firefox and after a a few days I
           | noticed memory usage in Firefox was going way up and whenever
           | I opened dev tools everthing would slow down drastically.
           | Removed the addon and everything went back to normal.
           | 
           | Anyone getting these types of issues still? I would love to
           | start using it again.
        
             | Jiocus wrote:
             | I'm a happy Dark Reader user. The issue you experienced
             | could be related to which type of 'filter' you used. The
             | four different kinds, _Filter_ , _Filter+_ , _Static_ and
             | _Dynamic_ approach re-theming in different ways that varies
             | in resource use[1].
             | 
             | For example, _Filter_ "requires GPU resources", while
             | _Filter+_ "works poorly in Firefox". _Dynamic_ pays up-
             | front on first pageload, but subsequent pageloads should be
             | lean.
             | 
             | [1]: Theme generation modes,
             | https://darkreader.org/help/en/#filter-settings
        
             | codefined wrote:
             | Definitely slower than something that has a pre-defined
             | stylesheet, e.g. Stylus. Does occassionally cause graphical
             | issues (say, below 0.05% of websites I visit, once a
             | month?) that means I have to toggle it off for that site.
             | 
             | Still use it because the speed / memory different isn't
             | noticeable on most modern laptops / desktops. Even my phone
             | uses it now as it's quick enough with the 'dynamic' update
             | they made (toggle onto it under the 'more' section)
        
           | erikbye wrote:
           | Dark Reader is great if you do not care about performance.
        
             | adrusi wrote:
             | Performance has improved somewhat, at least using the
             | dynamic mode. I think largely through more effective
             | caching. I use it even on my phone these days.
        
               | noloblo wrote:
               | which phone do you use it on? as ios browsers do not seem
               | to support it?
        
               | adrusi wrote:
               | It's supported on Firefox for Android. I use it on a two-
               | year old OnePlus 7 Pro.
        
         | allenleein wrote:
         | Same here. I have been using Dracula theme for HN for over a
         | year. Absolutely love it.
         | 
         | https://github.com/ale0sx/hackernews-dracula
        
       | wishinghand wrote:
       | Perhaps also make the font size a bit more readable? 10pt is
       | pretty unfriendly to even 20/20 vision.
        
       | messutied wrote:
       | Is there any browser on iPhone that allows custom CSS/JS? Last
       | time I checked I couldn't find a way, all I wanted was to set a
       | dark then to HN, without having to visit another website.
        
       | ZuLuuuuuu wrote:
       | On my desktop Chrome, I use "HN Enhance" extension. It works
       | pretty good.
       | 
       | Reading the comments here, a lot of people use various extensions
       | to achieve dark mode, so maybe it is time that HN implements this
       | natively.
        
       | markjgx wrote:
       | hckrnews.com + DarkReader. DarkReader is such a good extension,
       | couldn't live without it!
        
       | 1MachineElf wrote:
       | I hope HN's default look will never change.
        
       | Agentlien wrote:
       | On PC I'm using a TamperMonkey script to replace the css with a
       | dark mode theme I spent about half an hour putting together. I'm
       | delighted to see that this looks very similar.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | user3939382 wrote:
       | I switched to Firefox on iOS because it has a simple toggle to
       | change all sites to dark mode. I can't imagine going back to
       | Safari without this feature.
        
         | hestefisk wrote:
         | Same here. The rendering is a bit slower at times, but I
         | actually prefer it over Safari now. Apple should really
         | consider this option.
        
         | bartvk wrote:
         | Same here. It's definitely not as intelligent as extensions on
         | desktop browser, but it's suitable in a pinch.
        
       | philbo wrote:
       | Will you be implementing `/classic`?
        
       | throwaway45209 wrote:
       | This looks really good.
        
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       (page generated 2021-05-30 23:02 UTC)