# Dark Mode Ignition? Eye Strain **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Tags:** perspective, vision, ignition81\ **Created:** [October 17, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405 "2024-10-17T16:19:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Br\_72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@Br\_72](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Br_72)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/1 "2024-10-17T16:19:10Z")
I'm a newbie to Ignition and was wondering if Ignition has a 'dark mode' available? (Not themes for the Views, but an overall change-like dark mode on Iphone etc for working within Ignition.). I am used to working in Visual Studio Code's dark mode and working in Ignition is causing some slight eye strain. (This is not a big deal but was just was genuinely wondering!!) Just curious if anyone knows how to work around this or think they will make this possible in the future! It would be an AWESOME feature to have!!! πŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2024, 4:40pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/2 "2024-10-17T16:40:37Z")
Eye strain is much worse, long term, with dark mode. (If you know anything about depth of field in optics, and what your pupil does, it is no shock.) Fix your room lighting if light mode bothers your eyes. Long topic: > [@Inductive Automation Forum Upgrade](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/inductive-automation-forum-upgrade/13975/53): > > Generally not, but they post screenshots IN the forum, which look bad if the screen that was shotted was dark. So, people arrange for their own computer to be in light mode before capturing something they will post here. Which is really good for everyone who isn't young, with great eyesight. Just say no to dark mode. Always and everywhere for everyone. And if you work in dark rooms, fix the room. Some young developers have worked out some hacks recently, so they can destroy their eyes faster. I'm not going to help you find it. Dark mode is the hipster thing, but you will regret it. ---
**Author:** ![justinedwards.jle](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/justinedwards.jle/32/37854_2.png) [@justinedwards.jle](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/justinedwards.jle)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/3 "2024-10-22T16:15:18Z")
> [@pturmel](#): > > Dark mode is the hipster thing, but you will regret it. I'm no hipster, and in the past, I've wanted to back you up on this assertion because it's intuitive, but I can't find a single [peer reviewed study](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=dark+mode+eye+strain) that supports the claim that dark mode damages the eyes or causes early onset presbyopia. However, I did find [one peer reviewed study](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17435359/) that found legibility was enhanced by using dark mode for users that already had presbyopia. I've seen several studies linking excessive screen time to abnormal eye development in children, but this screen time was mostly video content, so it's not directly linkable to light or dark mode theme settings. That said, there are a lot of studies linking excessive bright screen time to disruptions in circadian rhythm, and because of this, I use software on my computers and handheld devices to gradually red shift the colors when it's getting late. Furthermore, I often switch to a dark mode theme when I know I'm supposed to be shutting down because once I get going on a problem, I need all the help I can get to stop. As a general rule, during normal working hours, I want a lot of light both from my screens and from overhead. I usually don't have direct access to natural sunlight during working hours, so I want all the artificial light I can get to convince my endocrine system that it's daytime. It's an important thing to consider because the _ **more significant and scientifically proven danger** _ to working in dimly lit environments are all the health problems linked to circadian rhythm disruption such as alzheimer's, chronic stress, dementia, hormonal imbalance, and weight gain; alzheimer's and dementia being the ones that scare me the most. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/4 "2024-10-22T16:29:23Z")
This article from Wired has a good description of the eye mechanics involved, and links to peer-reviewed research from 2013: > **[Dark mode isn't as good for your eyes as you believe](https://www.wired.com/story/dark-mode-chrome-android-ios-science/)** > > The shadowy display mode has leagues of fans claiming it helps reduce eye strain, lengthen battery time and improve sleep. But dark mode isn't quite the screen saviour it's made out to be ---
**Author:** ![justinedwards.jle](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/justinedwards.jle/32/37854_2.png) [@justinedwards.jle](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/justinedwards.jle)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2024, 8:06pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/5 "2024-10-22T20:06:24Z")
> [@pturmel](#): > > links to peer-reviewed research from 2013 Uggh, this thread is going to make me sound like I'm firmly in the dark mode camp, which I most certainly am not. As I've said before, I believe dark mode during working hours is a bad idea. but I also feel that bright mode after hours is an equally bad idea. On the latter note, I concede the Wired article's point that no screen time after hours is the best practice. That said, I have to point out that the [2013 study](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23654206/) is about _the legibility_ of dark vs light mode _[negative polarity vs positive plarity]_, and it notably gives an advantage to light mode, but it says nothing about dark mode causing eye damage or long term side effects. Furthermore, the 2013 study doesn't contradict the similar study that I posted with the opposite results because the 2013 study doesn't look specifically at subjects with presbyopia _[age related farsightedness]_. I feel like we could google this to death and find lots of anecdotal arguments supporting both positions, but I don't believe we will find any evidence compelling enough to justify denying users this preference. ---
**Author:** ![pascal.fragnoud](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pascal.fragnoud/32/24728_2.png) [@pascal.fragnoud](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pascal.fragnoud)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 7:51am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/6 "2024-10-29T07:51:22Z")
Completely unrelated to eye strain, but I often use dark mode when I need to differentiate between several instances of one software. For example if I have an editor opened in a VM and locally at the same time, I'll have one of them dark so I don't mix them up. ---
**Author:** ![justinedwards.jle](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/justinedwards.jle/32/37854_2.png) [@justinedwards.jle](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/justinedwards.jle)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 8:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/7 "2024-11-05T20:11:04Z")
A Dark Mode patch is now available for download on the exchange: [Dark Mode for the Designer](https://inductiveautomation.com/exchange/2719/overview) For the Vision module and the project library script editor, it's well polished, and it will darken the main of the windows in the Perspective and Reporting modules as well. ---
**Author:** ![jlandwerlen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@jlandwerlen](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jlandwerlen)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/8 "2024-11-05T20:14:24Z")
I bet Phil is the first to download. πŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 8:45pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/9 "2024-11-05T20:45:16Z")
[![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/f/6/f6cfd28d2ba205f663b027dd69b86f5f5f5f7b0e.png) ](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/f/6/f6cfd28d2ba205f663b027dd69b86f5f5f5f7b0e.png) ---
**Author:** ![Haico\_Hermsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@Haico\_Hermsen](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Haico_Hermsen)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 2:48pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/10 "2024-12-22T14:48:41Z")
I am very very glad dark mode is available for Ignition through a '3rd party' effort! Kudos! Personally I like darkmode better. My personal opinion is that people should should be able to make up their own decision whether using Dark- or Lightmode or even better, create a personalised colourscheme. There is no right or wrong, good or bad, just personal taste. ---
**Author:** ![Felipe\_CRM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Felipe\_CRM](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Felipe_CRM)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2024, 2:54pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/11 "2024-12-27T14:54:40Z")
I could get behind personalized color schemes, especially if they can be shared. Ignition Solarized, anyone? Of course, I don't expect a purely cosmetic function like this to roll out anytime soon with all the other work going on for 8.3, but maybe some day... ---
**Author:** ![pascal.fragnoud](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pascal.fragnoud/32/24728_2.png) [@pascal.fragnoud](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pascal.fragnoud)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 1:14pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/12 "2025-01-06T13:14:50Z")
> [@Felipe\_CRM](#): > > Ignition Solarized, anyone? Ignition unicorn edition for me thank you very much. I like my editors to be bright pink. ---
**Author:** ![JordanCClark](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/jordancclark/32/83362_2.png) [@JordanCClark](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/JordanCClark)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 1:41pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/13 "2025-01-06T13:41:29Z")
> [@justinedwards.jle](#): > > I believe dark mode during working hours is a bad idea. but I also feel that bright mode after hours is an equally bad idea. On the latter note, I concede the Wired article's point that no screen time after hours is the best practice. I'm with Justin on this one, but I'll expand a bit. My office at work has plenty of ambient lighting, as I'm doing anything from coding to soldering my dubious electronics designs together (although I do have task lighting for that). My office at home (read 'living room while watching the Lions') is not as well lit. Sometimes I'll switch to dark mode, but usually I'll just dim the monitor a bit to a comfortable level. ---
**Author:** ![Felipe\_CRM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Felipe\_CRM](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Felipe_CRM)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/14 "2025-01-06T15:01:42Z")
Generally speaking, the best practice for eye strain is to have the screen roughly match the brightness and color temperature of the ambient lighting, as if it were a piece of paper passively being lit. If the lighting is too dim to comfortably read a book by, it's probably too dim to be working on a screen without at least a desk lamp nearby, but of course we all have our life circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@Troy](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Troy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 7:29pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/15 "2025-01-07T19:29:33Z")
Just throwing this out there because no one has mentioned it: Consider talking to an optometrist. I had eye strain and I thought it was normal for my eyes to hurt after looking at a screen all day (because "screen=bad"). I went to an optometrist and found out that I needed glasses. Ever since I got them, my eyes have been fine. ---
**Author:** ![Jackson\_Lancaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ebca7d/32.png) [@Jackson\_Lancaster](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Jackson_Lancaster)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 12:34pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/16 "2025-08-13T12:34:48Z")
I just called hipster for the first time in my life. Im in the cool person category now πŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Stilson](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/brian_stilson/32/73410_2.png) [@Brian\_Stilson](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Brian_Stilson)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 1:28pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/17 "2025-08-13T13:28:17Z")
Ignition Hot Dog stand? Some Windows 3.1 nostalgia would be nice. ---
**Author:** ![Steven12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@Steven12](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Steven12)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 4:48pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/18 "2026-01-01T16:48:23Z")
I can’t get it to work for Perspective 8.3.2 Maybe it’s just me, can somebody guide me ? ---
**Author:** ![justinedwards.jle](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/justinedwards.jle/32/37854_2.png) [@justinedwards.jle](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/justinedwards.jle)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 6:53am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/19 "2026-01-02T06:53:24Z")
~~Sorry, I developed it for 8.1 ~ I haven't created an 8.3 version~~ @Steven12 [Version 1.3.x](https://inductiveautomation.com/exchange/2719/overview) has been published and is compatible with both 8.3 and 8.1 ---
**Author:** ![sam.donche](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/sam.donche/32/86269_2.png) [@sam.donche](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/sam.donche)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 9:09pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-ignition-eye-strain/97405/20 "2026-09-01T21:09:08Z")
Check out our ignition module: [Dark mode for Ignition 8.3 Designer](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dark-mode-for-ignition-8-3-designer/116965) Still work-in-progress, so it might not be perfect yet. πŸ˜ƒ