Dark mode -- ok for a first step

Steel Contributor

Dark mode has been enabled. However, the top bar with the tabs doesn't go dark except for the active tab, and that looks weird. It happens because it doesn't override the taskbar setting like the old Edge did. Thanks for bringing it in so early.

 

Enable the flag called Microsoft Edge theme in edge://flags. Then turn on dark mode in Windows' settings.

 

 

32 Replies

@NicolSD   "Posting about build 139.1 when 141.0 is in the wild?"    Yup, becaue that's the build I'm on.  Depends on which channel you are in.  The Dev Channel upgraded to Version 75.0.139.1 (Official build) dev (64-bit) this morning.  I gather that Version 75.0.141.1 is in the Canary Channel ...

@NicolSD 

"Edge Classic doesn't even respect Accent colour settings."

Exactly, which, is certainly part of why I, personally, prefer the Edge C (design) approach.

Cheers,
Drew
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@NicolSD 

 

Is there any way to enable dark mode without enabling it in windows? I had to turn off dark mode after using it for years because 1809 forces it on File Explorer with no option to turn it off :(

@james_edge 

Hi James,

Short answer, no.  The OS Dark has to be on to have Dark in Edge C.  And, right now*, there is no 'splitting' where Dark is applied.  *I say, right now, because, that is changing soon.  1903 has Light, Dark and Custom

Dark Opts.jpg

Cheers,
Drew
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@Drew1903 

 

That's sad to hear, especially as Windows 10 Mail has had the on/off/system toggle for years.  It's good that MS seem to be attempting to address the issue in 1903 however from your screenshot it looks like they're going to miss the mark completely, the toggle needs to be per app not just an apps/windows split :(

@NicolSD @tomscharbach @Drew1903 @james_edge 

Thanks so much for the detailed feedback on our first step towards full support for dark mode, our team appreciates it! 

 

Would love to dig in a bit more and hear your thoughts on the following:

- Why do you use dark mode? How does it help you when using the browser or browing the web?

- What would your ideal dark mode experience look like? Would it look more like Edge Classic, Edge Chromium, or something completely different?

- What would a "consistent" dark mode in Edge mean to you? 

 

Thanks!

Irina

@IrinaL 

Irina,

Here are MY views:

Why do you use dark mode? How does it help you when using the browser or browing the web?
>> It is (more) pleasant, pleasing, relaxing & easier on the eyes :eyes:

What would your ideal dark mode experience look like? Would it look more like Edge Classic, Edge Chromium, or something completely different?
>> I'll say Chromium but, only because it 'sees', respects & applies, uses the OS Accent colour & Edge doesn't.  Some End Uses prefer Edge because it doesn't.

What would a "consistent" dark mode in Edge mean to you?
>> Similar to YouTube and Twitter where the whole page/site is Dark.  And, personally, I would, really, like it.  I use both YT & Twitter in Dark Mode.

YTDark.jpg

Cheers,
Drew
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@IrinaL 

 

- Why do you use dark mode? How does it help you when using the browser or browing the web?

 

I use dark mode in my browsers because dark mode helps visually separate content/reading areas (black on white) from control/menu areas (white on black). The visual separation helps to avoid distraction. Years ago (roughly when Moses was a boy) Yale researched people's eye movements as they scanned web pages, and made recommendations about how to design pages so that user's eyes were drawn to key elements more easily, in an order that enhanced the information flow of the website. Dark mode assists that goal better, in my opinion, than light mode, because dark mode draws the user's eyes away from menu/control areas and focuses the user on content/reading areas.

 

- What would your ideal dark mode experience look like? Would it look more like Edge Classic, Edge Chromium, or something completely different?

 

I think that Edge (Classic) does a good job of visual design in this respect. The control/menu areas are separated visually by using black for some elements and charcoal grey for others, which helps distinguish between different control/menu elements, and the entire menu/control area is muted by using black/grey in those areas.

 

I tried using "system accent colors" to control dark mode and use of the "system accent color" (rather than, say, using black or charcoal grey for the active tab, and the other for the inactive tabs) for inactive tabs draws the user's eyes away from content/reading areas toward the inactive tab area of the menu/control part of the screen. That distracts users from content.

 

Look at the photo.  Where is your eye drawn?  To content or to the menu bar?

 

dark mode how not to do it.jpg

 

- What would a "consistent" dark mode in Edge mean to you?

 

For me, it means that all dark mode elements throughout W10 should use the same conventions, so that a user familiar with one dark mode element of W10 would be instantly conversant with the design/use conventions of the others.

 

Two thoughts along those lines:

 

(1) Black/grey shades (black, dark grey, medium grey) would be consistent throughout W10, that is, identical values for each (black, dark grey, medium grey) would be used in MS Mail, W10 menus, File Explorer, Edge, and so on.

 

(2) Content/reading areas, if content-intensive (as in the case of this message board, where people are expected to be able to quickly read the content), should be black on white, rather than white on black. MS Mail screws this up, big time, by rendering the e-mail content itself white on black. There is a reason why books and other reading media use black on white, and it isn't mindless tradition. Numerous studies have emerged recently reporting that people have a much more difficult time reading content-intensive material in white on black as opposed to black on white.

 

A final thought: Right now, the options for dark mode in Edge Chromium seem to be (a) follow the OS mode (default), (b) always use dark mode independent of the OS mode (dark), and (c) always use light mode (light). The options don't work that way in practice, that is how they should work.

@IrinaL 

 

Here are my opinions:

 

- Why do you use dark mode?  How does it help you when using the browser or browsing the web?

I believe we have a consensus across the board. It is easier on the eyes.

 

How does it help you when using the browser or browsing the web?

It doesn't scream "look at me." It is a nice, quiet, more subdued way of sorting where to look at the time it's needed. If I need to look at the controls, I look at the dark stuff. If I want to look at the web page, it's easy to ignore the dark stuff.

 

- What would your ideal dark mode experience look like? Would it look more like Edge Classic, Edge Chromium, or something completely different?

To me, the Edge Classic team did the best job so far to create a Dark Mode that could be used across the board. Just look at the tabs used by Edge Chromium compared to the regular Edge. Look at the screenshots below.  Edge Chromium has this horrible gap on the left corner and on top. Edge Classic had no gaps.

Ugly.jpg

 

Nice.jpg

 

- What would a "consistent" dark mode in Edge mean to you? 

To me, consistency could be achieved by getting all apps to use the same Dark mode look (that includes the top bar. If I choose Dark Mode in Windows settings, all apps that use dark mode should share the same look. Yes today, you can go to Windows' Settings/Personalization/Colours" and turn on Dark Mode throughout the system. But the problem is that the Windows accent colours can still be changed even if you are in Dark Mode. Here are a few examples of "Dark Mode."

Colour 1.jpg

 

Colour 2.jpg

 

Colour 3.jpg

 

Here is the palette in Windows' Settings/Personalization/Colours. People should not have access to it if they pick Dark or Light Mode.

Colour palette.jpg

 

 

Dark Mode should be one design and one set of colours. To me, it seems like every development team at Microsoft came up with its own version of Dark Mode. Just look at File Explorer. It's the ugliest one of the bunch. Please come up with one way to display Dark mode and stick with it across the board. My personal favourite is Edge Classic.

@Drew1903 @tomscharbach @NicolSD 

Thanks so much for the detailed responses and screenshots. that is very helpful to have for our design explorations!

@NicolSD 

"Edge Chromium has this horrible gap on the left corner and on top. Edge Classic had no gaps."

And some would say it's an appealing, more artistic, design because it looks more realistic, more like an actual, physical (folder) tab & indeed, stands out from the background or the rest of the bar.

And some prefer that the Accent colour is given (more) respect by the Edge C upper bar.

Some will find it easier to pick out the active tab with Edge C.

Cosmetics are so subjective.

Cheers,
Drew
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@IrinaL 

Yes, Irina, the old adage, eh?  "A picture is worth a thousand words".

Cheers,
Drew
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Absolutely! It helps us ensure we are on the same page :)