Ask HN: Will HN ever have a dark mode? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Will HN ever have a dark mode?

13 pointsanthropodie27 comments

It's one of those sites that I frequently visit and get a glaring screen in my face when switching tabs. Just wanted to know if this feature is ever going to be available. I mean it's 2025!

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I prefer sites not to implement a custom dark mode and instead to make sure their styles invert well, less work for devs, more consistency for me.

https://darkreader.org/

https://www.howtogeek.com/446198/how-to-force-dark-mode-on-e...

Agreed. Darkreader + some uBlock Origin filters to remove any residual orange and I have a perfect white on black reading experience.

Mind sharing the setup? Thanks.

Here are the uBlock Origin filters I'm using:

  # background
  news.ycombinator.com###hnmain:style(background-color: transparent !important;)
  # top bar
  news.ycombinator.com###hnmain > tbody > tr:first-child > td:style(background-color: transparent !important;)
  # logo
  news.ycombinator.com###hnmain > tbody > tr:first-child tbody > tr:first-child > td:first-child:style(opacity: 0 !important;)
  # footer divider
  news.ycombinator.com###hnmain td[bgcolor="#ff6600"]:style(background-color: transparent !important)

I have one too, font sizes increased + dark mode:

news.ycombinator.com##body:style(background: #121212;)

news.ycombinator.com##td:style(color: #d0d0d0 !important; line-height: 1.6; font-family: Open Sans, sans-serif !important;)

news.ycombinator.com##td.title:style(font-size:20px !important; font-weight: bold; color: #4e8cbe !important; font-family: system-ui !important; )

news.ycombinator.com##td.subtext:style(font-size:15px !important; color: #a0a0a0; font-family: system-ui !important;)

news.ycombinator.com##table:style(background-color: #1e1e1e; padding: 15px; border-radius: 6px;)

news.ycombinator.com##div.toptext:style(color: #d0d0d0 !important; font-family: system-ui !important;)

news.ycombinator.com##div.commtext:style(color: #d0d0d0 !important; font-size: 1.5em; font-family: system-ui !important;)

news.ycombinator.com##span.c00:style(color: #d0d0d0 !important)

news.ycombinator.com##a:style(color: #4e8cbe !important; text-decoration: none;)

news.ycombinator.com##a:hover:style(color: #6aa0cc !important; text-decoration: underline;)

news.ycombinator.com##span#karma:style(color: #6aa0cc !important)

news.ycombinator.com##span.pagetop:style(color: #d0d0d0 !important)

news.ycombinator.com##textarea:style(color: #d0d0d0 !important; background: #252525; border: 1px solid #333; padding: 5px; border-radius: 3px;)

news.ycombinator.com###hnmain:style(background: #1e1e1e !important; box-shadow: 0 2px 6px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3); border-radius: 6px;)

news.ycombinator.com##div.votearrow:style(width: 18px !important; height:18px !important; background-size: 18px !important;)

It's maybe good enough, but a custom palette will look more branded and getting the hierarchy and contrasts to feel just right isn't always as straight forward as colors look different based on their surroundings. So it's unlikely big brands would go for this.

Doubtful. There'll be the answers as 2024 and the years before: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40706570 (I used a browser extension, works fine)

Have used HN Enhance with Firefox for years. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/hn-enhance/?u...

Wow this is really nice.

I haven't been able to dial in a palatable dark mode palette with Dark Reader but this is perfect to me. Thanks!

wow okay i want that military badges they look cool

I think the idea is that it’s a forum for programmers and you can probably self serve some solution (whether that’s using a plugin, custom style sheet, making your own, etc).

This extension is one my favorites, cant browse HN without it. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/hacker-news-n...

People have been asking about/for this for years. Hasn't happened yet, and I doubt it ever will. Doesn't seem to be a priority to HN.

Native dark mode is not worth the effort in most cases. There are extensions that you can use to do it yourself if you want.

There's perhaps no better site than HN to be open source and allow community improvements. Why isn't it?

HN runs all kinds of algorithms to help with spam, moderation, etc. Being open source would derail all the benefits gained from that code.

Also, I think dang once mentioned there's a lot of business code for YC tangled up in the forum that they would have to remove.

HN is a marketing campaign for a VC firm. Closed and controlled is a benefit.

Would Coca Cola or Walmart open source their ads?

I don't agree. amyone with literally zero skill could host a webforum or link sharing site. The value isn't the software, but its users. I think the reason another commenter said is correct too: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42678416

That would lead to feature creep and bloat and undermine the minimalist purity of the layout. They do make improvements to the forum, but only on their own schedule and very selectively. Hacker News is a cathedral, not a bazaar.

people will game the algos

simple as that

dang mentioned HN would rather implement full custom CSS first, which I strongly disagree with. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41105794

mildly nostalgic though

i fucking miss the friendster days where you can customize how your profile looks with just css

Dark Reader for Firefox desktop works for me.

I use Dark Night on Safari, mobile and desktop.

never gonna happen lol

dang always get a chuckle when you get the flashbang

No.

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