Introduction
Recently, a project I maintain hopes to introduce Dark Mode, but I believe it’s not a cost-effective choice. This article discusses why I think so.
What is Dark Mode?
Dark Mode actually provides diversity in visual experience, but from a more functional perspective.
Many websites and applications now offer Dark Mode by default, which is a design approach that changes background colors to dark and foreground colors to light, featuring various functional and emotional characteristics, such as:
- Saving device power
- Reducing eye strain
- Enhancing product customization experience
- Providing a more immersive user experience
Today, both operating systems and browsers support Dark Mode, meeting people’s demand for diverse visual experiences. Dark Mode can be a design trend, but its functionality goes far beyond that.
The Cost of Dark Mode
Often, implementing Dark Mode is not simply about inverting existing colors; it requires special adjustments to maintain good readability and recognition, much like designing an entirely new style theme.
A real-world example that can be immediately understood is the Web Dong Blog, where my website cards have not been specially adjusted for Light Mode 😅. It can be observed that in a light environment, stronger colors (saturation, low brightness) are usually needed to stand out, while using bright color systems in Dark Mode can lead to the opposite effect.
My Considerations for Dark Mode
I considered implementing Dark Mode during the initial production of my website because the content of this blog is expected to consist of a large amount of text. I hope users can choose a suitable reading environment, so I am willing to maintain an additional color system to achieve this goal.
Why I Don’t Choose Dark Mode?
Returning to the beginning, I do not support introducing Dark Mode in the recent project because:
- Increased Costs: Dark Mode will significantly increase development, design, and testing costs, slowing down product iteration and changes.
- Unnecessary Experience: The user base may not be interested in or benefit much from this feature.
- Not cost-effective: If the existing design system is not yet complete, rushing to prioritize different design style modes is not in line with the process.
Conclusion
Dark Mode can be a design trend, but above all, it truly reflects care for users, which is the real reason this trend persists.