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(Edit: looky looky Dark Theme Ask Ubuntu)

I've been using a color inverter extension in Chrome to make websites with prominently white colors be primarily shades of dark gray or black. It's a lot easier on my eyes and, even though it's technically a "night mode" plugin, I use it all the time because it really helps with visual fatigue.

For the most part, I use it on SE too, including Ask Ubuntu. It works well enough, but recently, any text that is italicized or in bold doesn't invert, so I see black text on a black background. This obviously isn't great. With this plugin, all the orange also gets inverter to blue, and other colors, like the difference comparisons in the edit queue, get messed up.

Because of this, I want to propose the option of a dark theme for Ask Ubuntu and MetaAU. I would be completely willing to write up a color pallette for approval if that's necessary. I really like having the dark theme, but it just doesn't work on AU anymore. What does everyone think about having to option to use something that looks like this:

enter image description here

It's not great (I used the dev console in Chrome), but it gives an idea of what I'm hoping I could make the site look like on every load. Sorry for the scattered post (if it is).

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  • 8
    This could be done using a user script or an extension like Stylish. Highly unlikely SE would implement it.
    – muru
    Sep 15, 2016 at 4:04
  • 2
    I agree with @muru. It seems like a lot of work to make something that can be trivially done by using a custom css file and which will appeal to a small subset of users. Why don't you just write a custom css file? You can always ask for help on SO :)
    – terdon
    Sep 15, 2016 at 8:49
  • I third muru; look here. You just can't build the site for everyone. Also, if this is not the case, the solution is: Zoom In. You can also ask the developer of the script (in case you are not the developer) that you would like all sorts of text to appear correctly.
    – EKons
    Sep 15, 2016 at 11:04
  • @ΈρικΚωνσταντόπουλος interestingly, I browse at 175℅ zoom. :D
    – muru
    Sep 15, 2016 at 14:28
  • @muru On phone? Gross, but, if you have to, no-one is there to stop you. If on a PC, somewhat better, but horizontal scroll bar still there. Anyways, the letters turn HUGE with 175%.
    – EKons
    Sep 15, 2016 at 14:37
  • @ΈρικΚωνσταντόπουλος on PC, with a 16pt font and 1080p screen, 175% zoom makes for comfortable reading at 2-3 ft for me.
    – muru
    Sep 15, 2016 at 14:46

5 Answers 5

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Dark theme has been live on Stack Overflow since a while now.

Dark theme for askUbuntu when???

this is amateur hour.

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I've used several of these tools in the past, and it was never great. Now I've encountered Dark Reader (for Chrome), and it works surprisingly well. It's exactly tunable enough, and does a very good work.

See how it not only can invert colors, it is a breeze to reduce contrast, which is what hurts my eyes the most.

enter image description here

6

I personally would not use this if it was available. My solution to avoiding eyestrain was to use redshift. This put me in control of what I was subjecting my eyes to and had the added benefits of

A) Virtually immediate gratification for me

&

B) Zero effort required by the site developers for something that as mentioned would appeal to a small subset of users.

There are a number of alternatives available. Due to your preference for darker screens You might prefer blueshift, but currently that one is only available for arch linux. However if compiling from source is not a concern for you the github is located here.

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    I use f.lux. It doesn't help much, since white is bright, no matter how yellow you make it. Sep 15, 2016 at 22:09
  • @Zacharee1 I don't think I've ever seen a screen without a brightness adjustment.
    – Elder Geek
    Sep 15, 2016 at 22:12
  • My screen is frustratingly bright in dark areas. I guess that's TN LCD for you. Sep 15, 2016 at 22:13
  • Interestingly enough, I use Windows. Sep 15, 2016 at 22:26
  • @Zacharee1 I remember doing that..
    – Elder Geek
    Sep 15, 2016 at 22:48
  • The link of blueshift is to alternatives of blueshift
    – Anwar
    Sep 22, 2016 at 6:58
  • @Anwar Thank you for catching that. Corrected.
    – Elder Geek
    Sep 22, 2016 at 14:06
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You can achieve it with Stylus overwriting the style of askubuntu.com with AskUbuntu-Dark-Theme

  1. Install Stylus
  2. Go to https://askubuntu.com/
  3. Cick on Stylus icon and Write style for askubuntu.com
  4. Paste style dark and Override style for: askubuntu.com
  5. Save and ejoy!

enter image description here

More instructions: Usercss Wiki

If you want a global dark mode use: UltimaDark

Note: if the extension break webpages like askubuntu.com use stylus to fix it and exclude the webpages on UltimaDark, enjoy :D

enter image description here

-1

Sounds cool, in that way you aren't blinded when using your pc or phone at night.

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