# Ignition and eye strain

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ignition-and-eye-strain/117173>\
**Category:** General Discussion\
**Created:** [September 23, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ignition-and-eye-strain/117173 "2026-09-23T14:24:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**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:** [September 23, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ignition-and-eye-strain/117173/1 "2026-09-23T14:24:51Z")

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Continuing the discussion from [Why is the Ignition Designer UI so outdated?](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/why-is-the-ignition-designer-ui-so-outdated/117153/28):

> [@Why is the Ignition Designer UI so outdated?](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/why-is-the-ignition-designer-ui-so-outdated/117153/28):
>
> bright white interface

Kind of an aside but chances are your monitor is set too bright. If it's much brighter (or darker) than your surroundings, you'll naturally get eye strain. Dark mode is just kind of a roundabout way of saving eye strain by reducing overall pixel brightness but not every program supports it (as we're discussing here), and the eye doesn't actually like bright text on a dark background that much so you pay for it in the long term. (also unless you have an OLED or similar monitor the backlight still stays on so it's not as effective)

I work with white background for everything all day every day, but because my monitor is set to about the same brightness as a piece of paper lit up by the windows in my office, it's never an issue.

If you work late into the night with dim lighting, brightness should come down to match (or preferably, a desk lamp should come on as once again, screen too dim means poor contrast).

That's before getting too far into the rabbit hole that is lighting and monitor temperature, f.lux, etc.

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**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:** [September 23, 2026, 2:29pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ignition-and-eye-strain/117173/2 "2026-09-23T14:29:37Z")

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> [@Felipe\_CRM](#):
>
> into the rabbit hole

Don't forget us poor old geezers suffering from presbyopia. Black text on white improves depth of field for those with limited focusing range. Dark mode is a young person's affectation. The answer to eyestrain in a dark room with light mode is to add light to the room.

{ _ **Dark mode delenda est.** _ }

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**Author:** ![bkarabinchak.psi](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/bkarabinchak.psi/32/83567_2.png) [@bkarabinchak.psi](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/bkarabinchak.psi)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 2:31pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ignition-and-eye-strain/117173/3 "2026-09-23T14:31:03Z")

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Probably in the minority but I like light mode in general anyways. It makes me feel like I am writing code on a piece of notebook paper. Also reminds me of using Eclipse in college.