This is a very minor thing, but I just wanted to ask if anyone else thinks that dark mode should be the default theme.

Obviously I like dark mode, and it’s the one I’ve chosen, but every so often I see SLRPNK while logged out, and I think the dark mode looks much better.

If I’m in the minority on this, let me know, but I’d like newcomers and people who don’t bother setting their preferred themes to have the best user experience, so I thought I’d suggest it.

Does anyone strongly prefer light mode? If so, no judgement, I’m just curious if others feel differently.

  • poVoq@slrpnk.netMEnglish
    6·
    8 months ago

    It is currently set to “browser default” meaning if you set your browser to prefer dark mode it will switch to it automatically.

    If we would set it to dark mode it would default to that even for those that explicitly set their browser preference to light, which is IMHO not so great.

    That said, now that Photon got theming support and some performance optimisations it is not unlikely that we will switch to it as the main UI in the coming weeks. It should be seamless as it can convert the lemmy-ui login cookies as well now.

    • Andy@slrpnk.netOPEnglish
      3·
      8 months ago

      I didn’t know browsers had this setting, but that makes lots of sense!

    • ZeroCool@slrpnk.netEnglish
      2·
      8 months ago

      That said, now that Photon got theming support and some performance optimisations it is not unlikely that we will switch to it as the main UI in the coming weeks.

      That’s not a bad idea, I’m not a fan of the Lemmy UI and wouldn’t have stuck around on Lemmy if there weren’t alternatives like Photon and Alexandrite for desktop. But as someone that prefers Alexandrite may I ask why you’re considering Photon as the slrpnk.net default UI over Alexandrite? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, I’m just curious.

      • poVoq@slrpnk.netMEnglish
        2·
        8 months ago

        Alexandrite is not very actively developed anymore, which makes me believe the developer considers it feature complete or has lost interest. It does work well as a alternative UI for regular users but it lacks a lot of moderation functionality even compared to Lemmy-ui.

        Photon on the otherhand is very actively developed and receptive to ideas and suggestions. It also is an actual improvement over lemmy-ui in its moderation features. It is also working on theming options which I consider a must have for replacing the slrpnk.net front page.

        Last but not least I would also like to chose an UI that is more lightweight than lemmy-ui, so that it runs better on slower connections and devices. In my testing neither Photon nor Alexandrite are currently significantly better in that regard than lemmy-ui, but Photon is actively working on improving that it seems.

        • ZeroCool@slrpnk.netEnglish
          1·
          8 months ago

          Thanks for the detailed reply! That all makes sense. I’ve noticed Alexandrite’s development has mostly stalled too. “Scaled sort” was just added a week or two ago but otherwise it’s been very quiet since initial 0.19 support was released around December. But I hadn’t thought much of it until now.