If you’ve ever sat in the dark with a bright laptop open, you’re likely familiar with the headache that habit can induce. But since most websites are a bright white, including YouTube, there’s not much you can do, right? Thankfully, if you’re up all night in the dark watching pimple popping videos, you don’t have to risk the pain.
There are medical reasons you shouldn’t be squinting at a bright screen in a dim room. While the effects are temporary, it can mess with your vision. Some also claim it causes you to blink less, drying your eyes out, and generally, it makes you feel like crap. Coders are very, very familiar with this feeling, which is why, if you go behind-the-scenes in your computer and use the command-line interface, it’s generally a black screen with white text. That’s easier on the eyes in general, and especially in the dark.
And it’s why YouTube is testing a “dark mode.” It’s essentially a light switch; flip the toggle and the site converts to a dark background on white text. If you’d like a less bright experience, it’s a bit complicated at the moment, but here’s how to do it. First, update Chrome; you’ll need 57, the most recent version. Next, go to YouTube and hit Ctrl + Shift + I on PCs or Option + Command + I on Macs. That’ll open the developer window on the right.
Click “Console” and paste in this code: document.cookie=”VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=fPQ4jCL6EiE”. Remember to keep the quotes. Then, hit enter, and reload the page. If you go to the upper right-hand corner on YouTube, where your profile menu lives, Dark Mode should be under the menu. Just click the toggle and you’re good to go:
It’s obviously still a test feature, but it’s neat, and it might save you a little pain at 3am when you’re in a cat video hole. And if nothing else, it looks pretty, and let’s face it, aesthetics are important when staring at a website for hours on end.
(via The Verge)