Dark, Light Themes - In-Between?

I find light themes more aesthetically pleasing and easier to design, but they can definitely be too bright if you're viewing the website/forum in low light.. I find a secondary dark option is always welcome.

It's always best to offer both, I know it can be a pain depending on your design needs but its pretty much needed to guarantee satisfaction.

I've always offered a dark and light theme on my forum, sometimes I offer 3, a light, a dark and an in-between/mix of the two. That way there's something for everyone to enjoy and use. 🙂 

I started off with a light theme @ GamingBoards.net, and eventually added a "Dark Mode" theme switch which would allow for the best of both worlds. Listening to my user's feedback it was definitely the right move and I'm glad I did it. Personally, I like both. White seems a little harder on the eyes without adjusting monitor settings but looks cleaner/professional. Dark is easier on the eyes and more "gamer" like, atleast in my forums sense anyhow. 😛

I personally prefer both. It has to be a right amount though. I would hate a light theme with all white, it must have coordinating colors that is not bright in your eyes and same goes for the dark themes. You have to get the contrast right otherwise it could irritate your members.

I find the light and dark themes seems to mess with my psychology. I am more prone to feel at ease posting and sharing my thoughts using a light theme. Using a dark theme I tend to feel the place more like some sort of close group. So for new communities, I tend to favour light themes. Of course, the effect is limited, it is not a 180º but I definitely have noticed the theme being used affects my perception.

That being said I am fine with both. I think they are useful and I agree it is a good idea that if you can, make sure to offer both options. Different displays will really affect how your visitors see your website and what seems to be like a nice shade or you might be too bright for them. 

I'm more aligned to dark themes as of late. Maybe it is something to do with my eyes but dark themes just 'flow' better with my own head. A light theme is still great for me, executed properly of course, but if there is a dark theme on a site I'm frequenting I'm certainly going to use it over the light one. I'd agree with the other posters in this thread though that now-a-days we should probably look to offer both types, or potentially even a in-between option to ensure member satisfaction.

I always offered on my forum a dark and light theme so there's something to enjoy and use for everyone. In between for me. Member satisfaction is essentially the most important part of running a forum

Themes that are too dark or too light are simply bad on the eyes.  Who has encountered that situation?  Anyway, fixing isn't a problem.  Simply change the RGB codes to something less light or less dark!

Everyone has there own preferences, it's always been an fact that some like dark and others don't and so you can not pick and choice. I know many members that are active on light based theme who hates dark themes, But they are active. I always thing it's an good idea to have an theme picker option that has one dark and light theme to allow your members to pick between 

Posted by: TheJason

Themes that are too dark or too light are simply bad on the eyes.  Who has encountered that situation?  Anyway, fixing isn't a problem.  Simply change the RGB codes to something less light or less dark!

Oh yeah, some themes have too much of a hard contrast. Themes that are way too dark can tire my eyes just as bad. I've seen a lot of themes that uses a red font on a black background and that can very hard to read depending on the shade. Same with a light theme that is basically just white, the white ends up being really difficult to read when your eyes are tired and having afterimages of the same display frame or whatever else you turned to see for a brief moment.

Posted by: Kaynil

I find the light and dark themes seems to mess with my psychology. I am more prone to feel at ease posting and sharing my thoughts using a light theme. Using a dark theme I tend to feel the place more like some sort of close group. So for new communities, I tend to favour light themes. Of course, the effect is limited, it is not a 180º but I definitely have noticed the theme being used affects my perception.

That being said I am fine with both. I think they are useful and I agree it is a good idea that if you can, make sure to offer both options. Different displays will really affect how your visitors see your website and what seems to be like a nice shade or you might be too bright for them. 

Not with me.  I pretty much post - even controversial opinions, on BOTH dark and light themes.

I have a mix, some members on mine like one or the other. I like the darker themes for me

I prefer light themes, but I'm an in between person really. As long as it's not too dark or too light and you can still read the text and navigate the forum decently, I've no complaints