It's 11 PM. You're reading a blog post on your phone, and the white screen is blinding you. You're squinting. Your eyes hurt. You close the tab.
This happens to millions of readers every single day, yet so many blogging platforms and websites still don't offer dark mode. It's one of the most glaring oversights in modern web design.
I built Jottings with dark mode as a core feature from day one because I experienced this exact frustration as a reader. And after launching, I realized I wasn't alone. Readers expect dark mode now. It's not a nice-to-have anymore—it's table stakes.
Dark Mode Isn't Just a Design Trend
When I first started building Jottings, I debated whether to prioritize dark mode. Was it essential? Or just another checkbox feature that users would barely use?
Then I looked at the data.
Studies show that somewhere between 70-80% of users enable dark mode on their devices. Sixty percent of them have it set to automatically switch based on time of day. These aren't edge cases. This is the mainstream behavior of how people browse the web now.
More importantly, dark mode isn't just about aesthetics. It serves real, practical purposes:
Reduced eye strain: Dark mode cuts blue light exposure, making late-night reading more comfortable.
Battery life: On OLED screens (most modern phones), dark mode uses less power because black pixels don't light up.
Accessibility: Users with photophobia, astigmatism, or light sensitivity find dark mode essential, not optional.
Preference: Many people simply prefer the way dark mode looks and feels.
Yet I still see major blogging platforms that force users into a light-only experience. Or worse, they have a dark mode toggle buried three levels deep in settings, and it doesn't persist across sessions. Readers shouldn't have to fight your platform to make it comfortable.
The Problem with Most "Dark Mode" Implementations
Here's what bugs me about how most platforms handle dark mode:
Static themes: Some sites have a manually toggled dark mode that's just black text on a white background flipped to white text on a black background. No contrast consideration. No color accessibility testing.
Ignoring system preferences: Modern devices let users set a system-wide dark/light preference. Many websites completely ignore this signal. I use dark mode on my phone—why should I have to toggle every website I visit?
Inconsistent application: Dark mode works on the homepage but not in the editor. Works on mobile but breaks on desktop. Readers shouldn't have to wonder whether a feature actually works.
Poor contrast: When dark mode is an afterthought, the color choices are often terrible. Grays that are too light. Colors that don't pop. Text that's hard to read.
No theme selection: Some readers genuinely prefer light mode even on their dark-mode devices. They should have a choice.
I wanted Jottings to get all of this right.
How Jottings Handles Dark Mode
Jottings gives readers three explicit choices, plus respects their system preference:
Auto: Uses the device's system preference (light or dark mode, respecting time-based automatic switching).
Light: Forces light mode regardless of system setting.
Dark: Forces dark mode regardless of system setting.
The choice persists in local storage, so readers only have to set it once. The setting works everywhere—the reader dashboard, the blog site, the editor, everywhere. No exceptions.
Technically, I built this with CSS variables. Every color in Jottings gets defined as a variable with light and dark mode values:
--bg-primary: #ffffff (light) / #0a0a0a (dark)
--text-primary: #1a1a1a (light) / #f5f5f5 (dark)
--accent-color: #3b82f6 (light) / #60a5fa (dark)
Then I use media queries to automatically detect system preference:
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
/* Dark mode colors apply here */
}
And a tiny JavaScript snippet detects the user's explicit toggle choice and applies a data attribute:
<html data-theme="dark">
This approach means I can update colors in one place, and they cascade everywhere. No duplicate CSS. No weird edge cases where one component looks different from another.
The Reader Experience Matters Most
Here's what most designers get wrong: they design dark mode for themselves. They show it to a few friends. They call it done.
But dark mode isn't for designers at night—it's for readers in real situations. Reading in bed. Reading on the bus. Reading at their desk at 1 AM when they're deep in research.
I spent weeks testing Jottings' dark mode in actual reading contexts. Late at night, in dim lighting. On different phone screens. On different monitor sizes. With different eyesight abilities (I had friends with light sensitivity test it).
The payoff is that readers can trust that dark mode on Jottings will actually make reading more comfortable, not worse.
Dark Mode Affects How Blogs Look
One thing many bloggers don't realize: your blog's design changes dramatically in dark mode.
That beautiful gradient header you designed? It might become unreadable with dark mode. That fancy light gray accent color? Could disappear entirely against a dark background.
This is why Jottings bakes dark mode into the theme system. When you choose a theme, you're choosing both the light and dark color schemes together. They're tested together. They work together.
Some blog platforms treat dark mode like an afterthought—flip the colors, ship it. Jottings treats it like a first-class design constraint. Themes are designed light-first, then tested in dark mode, then refined until both look great.
Why This Matters for Your Readers
If you're running a blog, dark mode isn't just about being modern or keeping up with trends. It's about respecting your readers.
You put effort into your writing. You want people to actually read it, not skim it under duress. Dark mode removes a barrier to reading. It makes your blog accessible to people with light sensitivity. It lets night owls read without hurting their eyes.
A blog platform that takes dark mode seriously is a platform that respects its readers.
The Bigger Picture
Dark mode is just one example of a larger philosophy I've tried to bake into Jottings: respect your readers' preferences and environment.
Some people want to read on a phone. Some on a desktop. Some in bright sunlight. Some in the dark. Some have visual impairments. Some have specific color preferences.
A platform that works for all of them is a platform that lets writers focus on writing, not fighting their tools.
That's what I wanted to build. A blogging platform that handles the technical stuff right so writers can write, and readers can read the way they want to.
If you're looking for a blog platform that takes dark mode—and accessibility, and reader experience, and design—seriously, Jottings is built for you. We're still early, but we're obsessed with getting these details right.
Come build your blog with Jottings. Your readers will thank you.