grumbling about the light/dark theme discourse
I've seen a lot of grumbling about the lack of light themes lately, and those complaints are generally valid, but also
Y'all do realize that this was *exactly* the situation for people who couldn't use light themes until a few years ago, right?
Depending on the ambient light level I have (different) issues with both light *and* dark themes so I get to experience *both* sides of the problem on a daily basis...
And I gotta say that I'm very unhappy seeing the current discussion framed as "dark themes are inaccessible" without any acknowledgment at all that *both* are problematic for different people for different reasons, and that the real solution there is for *both* options to always be available
re: grumbling about the light/dark theme discourse
@joepie91 All this zero-sum game nonsense has really lit a fire under me to keep working on accessibility-first interface tools.
The truth is we have the tech to let everyone fully customize their experiences - well beyond just color schemes - and the primary reason most software has crap support for this comes down to pure ableism.
re: grumbling about the light/dark theme discourse
@mordremoth 💯. The reddit situation is a great potential opportunity here, since 3rd-party apps are so critical to blind users an r/Blind is taking a lead in the advocacy -- but also highlights how accessibility hasn't been prioritized here either. I talked about this some in the "Prioritize accessibility" section of https://privacy.thenexus.today/kbin-lemmy-fediverse-learnings-from-mastodon/#accessibility
grumbling about the light/dark theme discourse
@joepie91 this this this
I've seen a bunch of people pull the 'dark themes are bad and they need to go away forever' and it makes me sad
grumbling about the light/dark theme discourse
@joepie91 I do mention it in subsequent posts. On the other hand, my issue was less about the existence of those (It's luckily quite usual to have more options now), but about shaming of people who use one specific variant. The times I've been told that "I'm not a real programmer if I don't use dark theme" and similar makes it especially tiring and awful.
re: grumbling about the light/dark theme discourse
@shine Oh yeah, I totally agree that that's some elitist nonsense. But I actually don't think I've seen your posts on this before - there have been a number of other threads that have been decidedly less... accurate in their criticisms
re: grumbling about the light/dark theme discourse
@joepie91 I think I kinda spawned that discourse this time because of my slight rant post.
grumbling about the light/dark theme discourse
@joepie91 And nowadays web sites and apps often could default to the theme that the system uses in some way.
grumbling about the light/dark theme discourse
@joepie91
This is why having easily-changed settings with a few variants for different people to use (and switch as needed) should be the default. That's the ramp that everyone can use.
While we're here, can we also talk about the proliferation of the use of terrible (blurry, poorly scaled, grey, etc) webfonts for body text in text-heavy spaces like blogs?
grumbling about the light/dark theme discourse
@joepie91 Same. Usually dark is the way for me, but at some times of the day/year my display is back lit and dark mode is just a black screen.
grumbling about the light/dark theme discourse
@joepie91 This is why i design my websites (or well new websites atleast) to have a simple switch between light theme and dark theme. I don't care, let the user deside.
re: grumbling about the light/dark theme discourse
This whole thing uncomfortably reminds me of the more general tendency to see different inclusivity and accessibility needs as "competing with each other in importance", rather than as a reason for mutual solidarity
An absolute plague in individualist politics, to be honest