Hey everyone! I've been wondering about how important it is to include a dark mode option in web applications. Many apps offer this feature, but I'm curious why that's the case. Browsers already support dark mode through their own settings, which can change stylesheets automatically. Given that, does it make sense for developers to invest time building their own dark mode options?
Could we rely on users activating this option in their browser instead, allowing us to focus on more critical features? Also, are there any scenarios where it's beneficial to override the browser's dark mode styles? Has anyone faced this in practice rather than just in theory?
3 Answers
I recently implemented dark mode in about 15 lines of code and it took under 30 minutes. I manage my colors with CSS variables and simply use JavaScript to toggle the color codes while storing the choice in local storage. If you've structured your CSS well, adding a dark mode shouldn’t consume too much time. In my opinion, having control over how dark mode looks is definitely worth the effort.
In Vuetify, it's literally just one line of code to enable dark mode! It's super simple. If you're using a UI library that already has dark mode integrated, it can save a lot of hassle!
Controlling how your website or app looks in dark mode is really important for many companies. While you could use a browser extension or just guess what dark mode should look like, you often lose control over your site's appearance. For example, at my company, we have separate light and dark versions of our assets because they look better when matched with their themes. In short, if presentation matters to you, it's probably best to implement your own dark mode.
Yeah, that's awesome! It makes it incredibly easy to adapt your app's design without much overhead.