Ask HN: Can we get a HN background color (dark mode) | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Can we get a HN background color (dark mode)

48 pointstasoeur24 comments

Hi there, loving the ability to change my topbar pink, but I also would love to browse my favorite website late at night without the bright flashes.

PS: Also happy to hear people's favorite indie plugin to fix this! <3

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I use my own CSS to override the default look.

I added thumbs up emoji for voting, book emoji for read comments, larger user names, larger headers, and dark color scheme.

https://postimg.cc/f3nmR6DG

https://pastebin.com/zeXGi4WQ

firefox dark reader works perfect.

There are two wins in this. 1) Firefox. Which means you also get the extension on mobile. 2) Dark Reader works on all websites (and you can turn it off for sites don't play well, which isn't many).

Here is a Tampermonkey¹ script I've used for some ime to make HN look the way I want it to (plain white background). It should be easy to adapt for a dark preference. It also adds a "bookmark" at the top of each page which is also easily removed if you don't want that.

https://pastebin.com/fnf4CeBM

¹ https://www.tampermonkey.net

Perhaps Greasemonkey can do the customization(s) you would like:

  You can add styles that override existing styles, or styles 
  specific to new elements that your user script inserts.[0]

HTH

0 - http://greasemonkey.win-start.de/patterns/add-css.html

For desktop folks, I use the Stylebot Chrome Extension https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/stylebot/oiaejidbmk...

I crank up the font size and set a serif font on the index page to make it easier to scan.

The Chrome extension Dark Hacker News (https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/dark-hacker-news/ib...) works pretty well.

Everyone on HN should be able to write a custom stylesheet, this is really not an issue.

I use a custom config on Dark Reader extension in all my devices. Having the same color scheme in all webpages are much better UX than what any web can implement by themselves.

Before anyone comments chrome extensions.

These don't work on chrome mobile or safari mobile which make up a sizeable number of users.

Please, can we just have native dark mode?

I made a pretty mediocre HN client just for this feature https://github.com/rsimmons1/FlutterHnReader

I don't feel like working on it anymore, let's just have dark mode.

Edit: apologies spoke out of my domain on safari iOS, it supports extensions I'm an Android user.

I've been using dark reader on mobile safari for years.

Safari mobile supports extensions.

Firefox has extensions on Android. I appreciate that switching your browser is potentially a whole thing, but the option is there.

Went to Firefox on mobile for a while, just found the overall experience slower and less performant.

I know thats kind of a personal thing based on which websites are used but it was still my experience.

Chrome on Android supports this flag. It works pretty well.

chrome://flags/#enable-force-dark

Also this one

chrome://flags/#darken-websites-checkbox-in-themes-setting

The UI might even support it.

Also this has been asked many times over many years. I just don't think it's going to happen

Just use a proper browser that lets you add custom stylesheets, it literally takes 5min in CSS to invert the colors.

Built https://hacked.stream has default black BG rn

I would love this. Apple is notoriously bad at supporting dark mode extensions on their mobile browser.

dark-reader-for-safari works well. mobile add-on

> Apple is notoriously bad at supporting dark mode extensions on their mobile browser.

How so? There are several Safari extensions (Noir, Dark Reader, etc) for this that are compatible with Safari on Mobile.

If you use Firefox, have my userContent.css DIY dark mode. Or you can massage it into the syntax expected by { Arc’s custom CSS, uBlock Origin, your CSS injecter of choice }:

  @-moz-document domain(news.ycombinator.com) {
    @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
      body {background-color: #111 !important;}
      #hnmain {background-color: #181818 !important;}
      .c00, a:link, .subtext a:link { color: #eee !important; }
      .comhead { opacity: 0.5 !important; }
      a:visited, .subtext a:visited, .pagetop, .reply a { color: #777 !important; }
      button, select, input, textarea { -moz-appearance: none !important; color: #eee !important; background-color: #444 !important; border: 0.5px solid gray !important; }
      pre, code { color: #9d9 !important; }
    }
  }

Obvious caveats apply: it’s mine, it’s certainly incomplete, yadayada. But hey, been working for me for years! Also, now that you know that the feature exists, you can probably search "Hacker News dark mode userContent.css" and find better / more complete ones :)

Always a pleasure helping tasoeur.

please

My attempt at providing the CSS to do this. This is where it turns into bikeshedding (T_T);

    :root {
      color-scheme: light dark;

      --base-color: #828282;
      --admin-color: #000000;
      --top-color: #222222;
      --top-sel: #ffffff;
      --c00: #000000;
      --c5a: #5a5a5a;
      --c72: #737373;
      --c82: #828282;
      --c88: #888888;
      --c9c: #9c9c9c;
      --cae: #aeaeae;
      --cbe: #bebebe;
      --cce: #cecece;
      --cdd: #dddddd;
      --ca2: #a30000;
    }

    center>table {
      background-color: #f6f6ef;
    }
    table#hnmain>tbody>tr:nth-child(1)>td {
      background-color: #ff6600;
    }
    font {
      color: #3c963c
    }

    @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
      :root {
        --base-color: #909090;
        --admin-color: #ffffff;
        --top-color: #dddddd;
        --top-sel: #000000;
        --c00: #ffffff;
        --c5a: #a5a5a5;
        --c72: #8c8c8c;
        --c82: #7d7d7d;
        --c88: #777777;
        --c9c: #636363;
        --cae: #515151;
        --cbe: #414141;
        --cce: #313131;
        --cdd: #222222;
        --ca2: #a30000;
      }

      center>table {
        background-color: #222;
      }
      table#hnmain>tbody>tr:nth-child(1)>td {
        background-color: #a74300;
      }

      font {
        color: #639663
      }
    }

    body  { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:10pt; color: var(--base-color); }
    td    { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:10pt; color: var(--base-color); }

    .admin td   { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:8.5pt; color: var(--admin-color); }
    .subtext td { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:  7pt; color: var(--base-color); }

    input    { font-family:monospace; font-size:10pt; }
    input[type='submit'] { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; }
    textarea { font-family:monospace; font-size:10pt; resize:both; }

    a:link    { color: var(--admin-color); text-decoration:none; }
    a:visited { color: var(--base-color); text-decoration:none; }

    .default { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: var(--base-color); }
    .admin   { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:8.5pt; color: var(--admin-color); }
    .title   { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: var(--base-color); overflow:hidden; }
    .subtext { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:  7pt; color: var(--base-color); }
    .yclinks { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:  8pt; color: var(--base-color); }
    .pagetop { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: var(--top-color); line-height:12px; }
    .comhead { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:  8pt; color: var(--base-color); }
    .comment { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:  9pt; }
    .hnname  { margin-left:1px; margin-right: 5px; }

    #hnmain { min-width: 796px; }

    .title a { word-break: break-word; }

    .comment a:link, .comment a:visited { text-decoration: underline; }
    .noshow { display: none; }
    .nosee { visibility: hidden; pointer-events: none; cursor: default }

    .c00, .c00 a:link { color: var(--admin-color); }
    .c5a, .c5a a:link, .c5a a:visited { color: var(--c5a); }
    .c73, .c73 a:link, .c73 a:visited { color: var(--c73); }
    .c82, .c82 a:link, .c82 a:visited { color: var(--c82); }
    .c88, .c88 a:link, .c88 a:visited { color: var(--c88); }
    .c9c, .c9c a:link, .c9c a:visited { color: var(--c9c); }
    .cae, .cae a:link, .cae a:visited { color: var(--cae); }
    .cbe, .cbe a:link, .cbe a:visited { color: var(--cbe); }
    .cce, .cce a:link, .cce a:visited { color: var(--cce); }
    .cdd, .cdd a:link, .cdd a:visited { color: var(--cdd); }
    .ca2 { color: var(--ca2); }

    .pagetop a:visited { color: var(--admin-color); }
    .topsel a:link, .topsel a:visited { color: var(--top-cel); }

    .subtext a:link, .subtext a:visited { color: var(--base-color); }
    .subtext a:hover { text-decoration:underline; }

    .comhead a:link, .subtext a:visited { color: var(--base-color); }
    .comhead a:hover { text-decoration:underline; }

    .hnmore a:link, a:visited { color: var(--base-color); }
    .hnmore { text-decoration:underline; }

    .default p { margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 0px; }

    .pagebreak {page-break-before:always}

    pre { overflow: auto; padding: 2px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap:anywhere; }
    pre:hover { overflow:auto }

    .votearrow {
      width:      10px;
      height:     10px;
      border:     0px;
      margin:     3px 2px 6px;
      background: url("triangle.svg"), linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) no-repeat;
      background-size: 10px;
    }

    .votelinks.nosee div.votearrow.rotate180 {
      display: none;
    }

    table.padtab td { padding:0px 10px }

    @media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) {
      .votearrow {
        background-size: 10px;
        background-image: url("triangle.svg"), linear-gradient(transparent, transparent);
      }
    }

    .rotate180 {
      -webkit-transform: rotate(180deg);  /* Chrome and other webkit browsers */
      -moz-transform:    rotate(180deg);  /* FF */
      -o-transform:      rotate(180deg);  /* Opera */
      -ms-transform:     rotate(180deg);  /* IE9 */
      transform:         rotate(180deg);  /* W3C complaint browsers */

      /* IE8 and below */
      -ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Matrix(M11=-1, M12=0, M21=0, M22=-1, DX=0, DY=0, SizingMethod='auto expand')";
    }

    /* mobile device */
    @media only screen
    and (min-width : 300px)
    and (max-width : 750px) {
      #hnmain { width: 100%; min-width: 0; }
      body { padding: 0; margin: 0; width: 100%; }
      td { height: inherit !important; }
      .title, .comment { font-size: inherit;  }
      span.pagetop { display: block; margin: 3px 5px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal }
      span.pagetop b { display: block; font-size: 15px; }
      table.comment-tree .comment a { display: inline-block; max-width: 200px; overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap;
        text-overflow: ellipsis; vertical-align:top; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='40'] { width: 12px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='80'] { width: 24px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='120'] { width: 36px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='160'] { width: 48px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='200'] { width: 60px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='240'] { width: 72px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='280'] { width: 84px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='320'] { width: 96px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='360'] { width: 108px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='400'] { width: 120px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='440'] { width: 132px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='480'] { width: 144px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='520'] { width: 156px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='560'] { width: 168px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='600'] { width: 180px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='640'] { width: 192px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='680'] { width: 204px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='720'] { width: 216px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='760'] { width: 228px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='800'] { width: 240px; }
      img[src='s.gif'][width='840'] { width: 252px; }
      .title { font-size: 11pt; line-height: 14pt;  }
      .subtext { font-size: 9pt; }
      .votearrow { transform: scale(1.3,1.3); margin-right: 6px; }
      .votearrow.rotate180 {
        -webkit-transform: rotate(180deg) scale(1.3,1.3);  /* Chrome and other webkit browsers */
        -moz-transform:    rotate(180deg) scale(1.3,1.3);  /* FF */
        -o-transform:      rotate(180deg) scale(1.3,1.3);  /* Opera */
        -ms-transform:     rotate(180deg) scale(1.3,1.3);  /* IE9 */
        transform:         rotate(180deg) scale(1.3,1.3);  /* W3C complaint browsers */
      }
      .votelinks { min-width: 18px; }
      .votelinks a { display: block; margin-bottom: 9px; }
      input[type='text'], input[type='number'], textarea { font-size: 16px; width: 90%; }
    }

    .comment { max-width: 1215px; overflow-wrap:anywhere; }



    @media only screen and (min-width : 300px) and (max-width : 389px) {
      .comment { max-width: 270px; overflow: hidden }
    }
    @media only screen and (min-width : 390px) and (max-width : 509px) {
      .comment { max-width: 350px; overflow: hidden }
    }
    @media only screen and (min-width : 510px) and (max-width : 599px) {
      .comment { max-width: 460px; overflow: hidden }
    }
    @media only screen and (min-width : 600px) and (max-width : 689px) {
      .comment { max-width: 540px; overflow: hidden }
    }
    @media only screen and (min-width : 690px) and (max-width : 809px) {
      .comment { max-width: 620px; overflow: hidden }
    }
    @media only screen and (min-width : 810px) and (max-width : 899px) {
      .comment { max-width: 730px; overflow: hidden }
    }
    @media only screen and (min-width : 900px) and (max-width : 1079px) {
      .comment { max-width: 810px; overflow: hidden }
    }
    @media only screen and (min-width : 1080px) and (max-width : 1169px) {
      .comment { max-width: 970px; overflow: hidden }
    }
    @media only screen and (min-width : 1170px) and (max-width : 1259px) {
      .comment { max-width: 1050px; overflow: hidden }
    }
    @media only screen and (min-width : 1260px) and (max-width : 1349px) {
      .comment { max-width: 1130px; overflow: hidden }
    }

I get, it's long. Just taking the css that was served and editing it.

There's some, pretty oldskool HTML in there. There are font tags, bgcolor="", color="" .. I guess you can say if it ain't broken don't fix it.

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