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User Interfaces in Dark Mode During Daytime – Improved Productivity or Just Cool-Looking?

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Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Design Approaches and Supporting Technologies (HCII 2020)

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Abstract

Applications are increasingly coming equipped with a so-called dark mode. Our observation is that many computer enthusiasts are under the impression that dark mode in a way is better than the traditional light mode. This study sets out to explore this belief by observing if dark mode indeed poses any improvements in terms of productivity and quantity of errors over light mode. A controlled experiment was designed involving a visually intensive text entry task using a virtual keyboard with an unfamiliar layout. The results indicate that there were no differences between dark mode and light mode in terms of productivity and quantity of errors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oslo Metropolitan University, 0130, Oslo, Norway

    Lasse Apalnes Pedersen, Svavar Skuli Einarsson, Fredrik Arne Rikheim & Frode Eika Sandnes

  2. Kristiania University College, 0153, Oslo, Norway

    Frode Eika Sandnes

Authors
  1. Lasse Apalnes Pedersen
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  2. Svavar Skuli Einarsson
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  3. Fredrik Arne Rikheim
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  4. Frode Eika Sandnes
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Correspondence to Frode Eika Sandnes .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Margherita Antona

  2. University of Crete and Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Constantine Stephanidis

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Pedersen, L.A., Einarsson, S.S., Rikheim, F.A., Sandnes, F.E. (2020). User Interfaces in Dark Mode During Daytime – Improved Productivity or Just Cool-Looking?. In: Antona, M., Stephanidis, C. (eds) Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Design Approaches and Supporting Technologies. HCII 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12188. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49282-3_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49282-3_13

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-49281-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-49282-3

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