AKA. Why can’t email newsletters respect Dark Mode?

There are currently 90 emails in my inbox and only a sad minority of them respect the fact that I have Dark Mode setting turned on.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Dark Mode is an accessibility feature that lets you, oh I don’t know, NOT fry the crap out of your optic nerves when you’re reading the internet after sunset. It helps reduce eyestrain and, in the case of people with light sensitivity, prevent migraines.

Yes, I know devices after dark are a bit of an “at your own peril” deal right now, but come on, it’s the twenty-first century. It really doesn’t have to be like that anymore.

I’m a fine one to talk, I know. My email newsletter doesn’t respect Dark Mode either and it annoys the shit out of me. I can’t even read my own newsletter after a certain time of day because daylight hits our apartment at just the right angle to get my eyes ready for night.

CW: A bright white rectangle. Readers with light sensitivities should squint and scroll down fast... NOW.

Agh, my eyes!! 😣

And yet it feels wrong to flip the colour scheme and force a dark design on people, even though stats suggest that Dark Mode is by far a more popular setting.

The problem here is with FORCING people. Somehow it’s different with a blog and website, though I’d like to set up Light Mode and Dark Mode options for those too. The technology we have is more than capable of giving people a choice.

Well, it’ll happen at some point, and I don’t mean that flippantly. If it’s frustrated you too, please know that I am sorry. It’s been on my mind (and eyeballs) for months and I’m working on sorting it out.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go blink away the white rectangle burned on my retina from typing this post 😅