In this post I’ve shared my research and views on how the extremely popular “Dark Mode” has moved beyond it’s initial label of “The App Design Fad of 2019”.

在这篇文章中，我分享了我的研究和看法，探讨了非常受欢迎的“黑暗模式”如何超越其最初的标签“ 2019年应用程序设计风尚”。

Dark Mode: A color scheme using light coloured text and icons on dark background.

深色模式：一种在深色背景上使用浅色文本和图标的配色方案。

Light Mode: A color scheme using dark coloured text and icons on light background.

浅色模式：一种在深色背景上使用深色文本和图标的配色方案。

Over a year ago, when Android and iOS enabled dark mode — one of the most requested features of the year — most critics labelled it as “The App Design Fad of 2019”. A bit skeptical of this “fad” and quite late to the party, I moved to the “dark side” only months later in 2020. My reasons were the same as that of most.

一年多以前，当Android和iOS启用黑暗模式时，这是一年中最受欢迎的功能之一，大多数批评家将其称为“ 2019年App设计风尚”。 对这种“时尚”持怀疑态度，晚了晚些，我仅在2020年几个月后才搬到了“阴暗面”。我的理由与大多数理由相同。

“It’s better for the eyes and it saves battery life”.

“它对眼睛更好，并且可以节省电池寿命”。

Over a month later, my eyes don’t strain any less and nor has my phone’s battery performance improved. And yet…there’s no going back.

一个多月后，我的眼睛不再疲劳，手机的电池性能也没有改善。 但是……没有回头路了。

黑暗模式的起源 (Origins of the Dark Mode)

Contrary to popular belief, the world isn’t really shifting from light-mode to dark-mode. It is actually shifting back to dark-mode.

与普遍的看法相反，世界并没有真正从亮模式转变为暗模式。 实际上，它正在变回暗模式。

Dark mode isn’t some new breakthrough discovery in user interface design, but rather simply a by-product of the technology of the old days. The monochrome CRT monitors of the old days contained phosphorus inside them which under normal conditions appeared dark. This would only light up when an electron beam would hit it. The common choice for phosphorus back then was the P1, which was green in color. Hence, the green text on the dark background a.k.a dark mode.

暗模式并不是用户界面设计中的一些新突破性发现，而仅仅是过去技术的副产品。 老式的单色CRT显示器内部装有磷，在正常条件下磷是深色的。 这只有在电子束撞击它时才会点亮。 当时磷的常见选择是P1，其颜色为绿色。 因此，深色背景(也称为深色模式)上的绿色文本。

The early user interfaces didn’t really have much going on for them and were thus predominantly dark in appearance.

早期的用户界面实际上并没有太多工作，因此外观上主要是深色的。

走进光明 (Stepping Into The Light)

It’s hard to trace exactly when we moved towards light mode, but a strong case could be made for the Xerox PARC graphical user interface (widely believed to be the inspiration behind the Macintosh) to have influenced this shift. The more advanced RGB CRT monitors, which were capable of displaying color, became the forefronts of the light-mode revolution.

很难准确地了解何时进入光模式 ，但是可以为施乐PARC图形用户界面(被广泛认为是Macintosh的灵感)提供了有力的依据来影响这一转变。 能够显示色彩的更先进的RGB CRT显示器成为光模式革命的前沿。

Any new advanced technology, in order to become successful amongst the masses, needs to appear friendly and non-intimidating.

为了在群众中取得成功，任何新的先进技术都必须显得友善而毫不畏惧。

Hence, not surprisingly many computer designers and programmers began shaping the advanced computer displays to emulate the age-old look of the written paper to lure the average Joe into the world of mobile computing. These advances in display technology helped usher us into the dominant phase of the “light-mode”.

因此，毫不奇怪，许多计算机设计师和程序员开始塑造高级计算机显示器，以模仿书面论文的古老外观，以吸引普通的Joe进入移动计算领域。 显示技术的这些进步帮助我们进入了“光模式”的主导阶段。

Ironically, it ended up being one of these advances in display technology itself — OLED — which sparked the public’s renewed interest in the dark mode.

具有讽刺意味的是，它最终成为显示技术本身的一项进步-OLED-激发了公众对黑暗模式的新兴趣。

人们为什么要移到黑暗的一面？ (Why do people move over to the dark side?)

Ask people who have recently shifted to dark mode on why they made the shift and nine times out of ten you’ll get the same answer.

向最近转为黑暗模式的人询问为什么要进行这种改变，十分之九的人会得到相同的答案。

“Dark mode is better for my eyes and it improves my phone’s battery life”.

“黑暗模式对我的眼睛更好，它可以延长手机的电池寿命”。

Promotion around dark mode is everywhere. Apple’s own website says that the dark-mode on macOS is “easy on the eyes in every way”. Google once said that YouTube’s dark mode could save between 15 to 60% of the phone’s battery depending on the screen brightness.

黑暗模式下的促销无处不在。 苹果自己的网站表示，macOS上的暗模式“从各个方面都很容易”。 谷歌曾经说过，根据屏幕亮度的不同，YouTube的暗模式可以节省手机电量的15％至60％ 。

But is dark mode really better for the eyes and does it really improve battery life?

但是，黑暗模式真的对眼睛有好处吗，真的可以延长电池寿命吗？

神话破坏 (Mythbusting)

Let’s try something. Try googling for images of “prehistoric paintings”. Notice the thing in common among most of the images shown? They are dark sketches on a light background.

让我们尝试一下。 尝试谷歌搜索“史前绘画”的图像。 注意显示的大多数图像中的共同点吗？ 它们是浅色背景上的深色草图。

We have evolved over the centuries to see dark on light.

我们已经进化了数百年，看到了黑暗的光明。

Now, I’m not making my case on the basis of a random google search but if you are interested in learning more on this subject, there are enough studies conducted which reason that our over 200,000–300,000 year old homo sapiens species, being a diurnal species (mostly active throughout the day) had to adapt over the centuries to effectively distinguish food, useful tools, dangers and objects of interest from the blindingly bright background of the savannah.

现在，我不是基于随机Google搜索来说明我的情况，但是，如果您有兴趣学习更多有关此主题的内容，则进行了足够的研究，原因是我们超过200,000–300,000年前的智人物种昼夜物种(大部分时间全天活跃)必须适应多个世纪，才能有效地将食物，有用的工具，危险和感兴趣的物体与稀树草原的明亮背景区分开。

黑暗模式真的对眼睛更好吗？ (Is Dark Mode really better for the eyes?)

Reading in dark mode actually opens our pupils more in order to capture the necessary visual information. This is in contrast to reading in light mode, where our pupils actually narrow in order to get used to the increased brightness.

在黑暗模式下阅读实际上可以使我们的学生更多地打开，以便捕获必要的视觉信息。 这与在光线模式下阅读相反，在光线模式下，我们的瞳Kong实际上变窄了，以适应增加的亮度。

This is the reason behind sharpness actually being better when dark text is written on a light background a.k.a light mode, as compared to when light text is written on a dark background a.k.a dark mode.

这就是与在深色背景(也称为暗模式)上写入浅色文本时相比，在深色背景(也称为浅色模式)上写入深色文本后，清晰度实际上更好的原因。

Have a look.

看一看。

Unless you have sworn fealty to the dark side, it’ll be apparent that the image on the left is easier to read. Furthermore, if you focus for a bit longer on the image on the right, you may start noticing “halos” around the white characters on the black background. This halation effect is a real problem in the dark mode and is one of the main reasons why patients of astigmatism are cautioned against using their devices in dark mode.

除非您向黑暗面宣誓效忠，否则显而易见，左侧的图像更容易阅读。 此外，如果您在右侧的图像上聚焦更长的时间，则可能会开始注意到“光晕” 在黑色背景上的白色字符周围。 这种光晕效应在暗模式下是一个实际问题，并且是提醒散光患者不要在暗模式下使用其设备的主要原因之一。

But maybe dark mode is good because it helps us from the harmful “blue light”?

但是也许暗模式是好的，因为它可以帮助我们摆脱有害的“蓝光”？

As with most things in life, the answer is both yes and no. Contrary to popular belief, it is actually the spectrum of light not just the brightness that makes blue light damaging. Dark mode can only make so much of a difference. Most researchers attribute that the discomfort we feel in our eyes after staring at the screen for too long is more due to the lack of blinking.

对于生活中的大多数事物，答案都是肯定的。 与普遍的看法相反，实际上是光谱造成的损害不仅是造成蓝光损坏的亮度。 黑暗模式只能起到很大的作用 。 大多数研究人员认为，长时间盯着屏幕观看后，我们的眼睛感到不适的原因更多是因为没有眨眼。

Most researchers believe that the discomfort we feel in our eyes after starting at the screen for too long is more due to the lack of blinking.

大多数研究人员认为，从屏幕开始观看太长时间后，我们的眼睛会感到不适，更多是由于缺少眨眼。

节省电池寿命呢？ (What about the battery life savings?)

Battery savings are one of the main reasons OLED screens became popular. When OLED screens display black, the respective pixels are turned off, which saves some battery. This is in sharp contrast to LED displays which would draw the same amount of battery whether you look at a beautiful polaroid image or simply stare at a pitch black screen.

节省电池电量是OLED屏幕受欢迎的主要原因之一。 当OLED屏幕显示黑色时，相应的像素将关闭，从而节省了一些电池。 这与LED显示器形成鲜明的对比，无论您看到美丽的宝丽来图像还是只是注视着黑色的黑色屏幕，LED显示器都会消耗相同数量的电池。

While enabling dark-mode on your phone device, equipped with an OLED display might not double or triple or your battery life, it may well increase your daily battery life by 1–2 hours and that is something valuable to a lot of people.

在配备OLED显示屏的电话设备上启用暗模式可能不会使电池寿命增加一倍或两倍，也可能会使您的日常电池寿命增加1-2小时，这对于很多人来说都是很有价值的。

There’s just one problem….most devices don’t have OLED displays.

这只是一个问题……大多数设备没有OLED显示屏。

Apple’s iPhone XS, XS Max, and X use OLED panels but Apple’s other iPhones and iPads don’t — not even their best-selling iPhone XR. On the other side of the spectrum, while Samsung’s latest flagship Galaxy phones are coming equipped with the OLED displays, the majority of the Android phones still don’t come equipped with an OLED display. It’s worse in the case of laptops.

苹果的iPhone XS ，XS Max和X使用OLED面板，但苹果的其他iPhone和iPad则不使用OLED面板-甚至连他们最畅销的iPhone XR也不是。 另一方面，虽然三星最新的旗舰Galaxy手机配备了OLED显示屏，但大多数Android手机仍未配备OLED显示屏。 对于笔记本电脑，情况更糟。

Neither Apple’s best selling phone nor the MacBooks come equipped with an OLED display.

苹果最畅销的手机和MacBook都没有配备OLED显示屏。

Depending on who or what you choose to believe, the reason behind the low market penetration of OLED displays is anything from high time to reach market for new technologies to the higher costs compared to the chearper LED displays.

取决于您选择的是谁或什么，OLED显示器市场渗透率低的原因有很多，从新技术进入市场的时间到高昂的时间，再到与更廉价的LED显示器相比，成本更高。

那么，为什么暗模式如此受欢迎？ (So then why is dark mode so popular?)

More than a year post being labelled “The App Design Fad of 2019”, the “dark mode” rages on with more and more users moving over to the dark side every single day. If it’s not truly “better” for the eyes and if the resulting “battery savings” aren’t significant for most , then what really is the reason behind this ongoing trend of going black?

在被贴上“ 2019年应用程序设计风尚”一年多的消息后，“暗模式”风靡一时，每天都有越来越多的用户转向阴暗面。 如果对眼睛而言，这并不是真正的“更好”，而对于大多数人而言，由此产生的“电池节省”并不重要，那么，这种持续的变黑趋势背后的真正原因是什么？

Maybe at the end of the day, it comes down to something as simple as the fact that dark mode is cool.

也许归根结底，归结为黑暗模式很酷的事实。

Staring at my Instagram or Twitter on a dark screen just feels better than on a light screen. Perhaps, the black and grey makes us feel less conscious of how long we have been staring at the screen. Maybe the average smartphone user like me was just in need of a fresh outlook and some change, which is sometimes the most overlooked aspect of any product.

在黑暗的屏幕上盯着我的Instagram或Twitter 感觉比在明亮的屏幕上感觉好 。 也许，黑色和灰色使我们对盯着屏幕多久的意识有所减弱。 也许像我这样的普通智能手机用户只需要崭新的面貌和一些变化，这有时是所有产品中最被忽视的方面。

People love a refresh. Even if it’s just a theme switch.

人们喜欢刷新。 即使只是主题切换。

Perhaps it’s no surprise then that despite knowing all of this, I’ve decided to stick with the dark mode and have no plans of switching back to light mode anytime soon. As one of my friends says — “Once you go black, you’re not going back”.

也许就不足为奇了，尽管知道了所有这些，但我还是决定坚持使用暗模式，并且没有计划在任何时候立即切换回亮模式。 正如我的一位朋友所说：“一旦您变黑，您就不会回头”。

Or maybe just until the next trend arrives.

或者也许直到下一个趋势到来。