Ask HN: Will HN ever have a dark mode?

anthropodie · 2025-01-12T18:01:33.000Z

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!

greentea23 1 year ago |

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...

seanwilson 1 year ago | |

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.

monomial 1 year ago | |

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

BOOSTERHIDROGEN 1 year ago | | |

Mind sharing the setup? Thanks.

cloudking 1 year ago | | |

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;)

monomial 1 year ago | | |

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)

mtmail 1 year ago |

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)

helph67 1 year ago |

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

runjake 1 year ago | |

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

tra3 1 year ago | |

Wow this is really nice.

uncomplexity_ 1 year ago | |

wow okay i want that military badges they look cool

dyeje 1 year ago |

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).

hknws2023saio 1 year ago |

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

jethronethro 1 year ago |

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.

rednafi 1 year ago |

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.

pants2 1 year ago |

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

krapp 1 year ago | |

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.

codingdave 1 year ago | |

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

krapp 1 year ago | | |

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.

paulcole 1 year ago | |

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

Would Coca Cola or Walmart open source their ads?

compootr 1 year ago | | |

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

uncomplexity_ 1 year ago | |

people will game the algos

simple as that

minimaxir 1 year ago |

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

uncomplexity_ 1 year ago | |

mildly nostalgic though

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

k310 1 year ago |

Dark Reader for Firefox desktop works for me.

I use Dark Night on Safari, mobile and desktop.

uncomplexity_ 1 year ago |

never gonna happen lol

dang always get a chuckle when you get the flashbang

bjourne 1 year ago |

No.