PLEASE, consider after 6 years of hiding the new mode, make it visible as an option! And, for the issues that it does cause, I have some solutions. #15351
Replies: 4 comments
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Hey,
I hope my messaging wasn't too heated. I just can't imagine there isn't a compromise here. When, and how, did you place warnings on showing users how to enable the new mode settings?
I haven't seen it and I've been using your addon for at least five years now.
I know I'm going back to the same point you discussed about too many requests, but when I go to this page, I see no default tacked post which clearly states any and all new-mode bugs shall be forever disregarded.
That seens to be the sticking point of the issue right?
I hope soon you will have a way to make this clear to all users--otherwise it seems you'll NEVER be able to release this feature. I say that because webpages are always changing and using new tools, it's beyond unreasonable to expect you to EVER be able to truly work out all the possible bugs, just like with any software that's ever been created. So if it's taken this long and you still aee fixing it and working on it, I don't see it being any easier in even six years from now, the same problems today will just become new, different problems, with the same goal in mind.
So the only way to solve this, is through the messaging of your online pages, and, inside the addon interface.
The large print of dark reader in red letters would be perfect to make the messaging more than clear.
Can you kick off users of the discussions page from submitting future requests, a mute or spam type system where they are no longer able to submit anything? I'm sure there must be THOUSANDS of feature requests, but could someone on the team, over years it may take to get to all of these posts, send a message and explain why this type of request is basically spam, and rude to the development, and makes it much harder to find actual bugs in the already complex default mode?
Or, how about closing the whole discussions / feature requests page entirely, and setup a different forum where you have better control of what is posted and how it is filtered. You could better customize the messaging.
The whole issue seems to be the flood of invalid requests, there MUST be a solution that hasn't been thought of yet, if we could just figure out exactly the way forward, I think we could really improve the program for everyone.
And, in my 5 years of using your addon with the new mode, I've never once had stability issues, and occasionally for some sites with for example, a light eggshell white, vs plain white, switching it off or using a different mode has never been a reason to submit a bug report. It is so infrequent I can count on one hand how many websites I have turned off dark reader.
The 3 solutions I have posted are the workarounds for anyone visiting a site that doesn't work. These could be immediately shared with your users, as I would guess less than 1 in 1,000,000 of dark reader users will ever read the documentation, nor will they care, it's just the way we are, too inconvenient to read something, yet some people then do the opposite and log into github just to submit a bug for something that is still in development. Wow, I imagine that's beyond infuriating--if only you could find a way to make that clear to the users, I believe that would solve this whole thing.
Use those giant red letters, and plaster it on github, and every single one of the documentation pages.
When a new user installs dark reader, auto-open two tabs, both of which have giant red letters which reads to never, for any reason, send reports when using rhe new mode.
In the settings, if the new mode is clicked on, it could have text under it, such as where you see "enabled for current website" but instead, change the font size to double the size of what it used by the title of dark reader. It is not supposed to look clean and neat, no, rather it needs to be in the face ugly and absolutely clear with no possible mis-interprotation.
It looks possible, but yet it has not been made clear enough--not that it shouldn't already be obvious people shouldn't be sending these, so I hope you'll try this soon.
Maybe a big window, such as the one you use for dev tools, please, NOT dev tools, just normal settings!
On the main addon settings page, not in settings, have a BIG button for extra features. This could open a new window just as dev tools does.
Keep the same giant red title font (or triple or quadruple size it) throughout the messaging and don't back it down at all.
It needs to say
These features are still in development.
Never file reports when using any of these settings
It is incredibly frustrating to the (list exact number of developers) team and also extremely rude. We know these settings will cause issues, and are continuously being developed EVERY SINGLE WEEK / MONTH and for six years now, aee STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS and WILL HAVE ISSUES.
NEVER FILE BUG REPORTS ON GITHUB OR OTHER AREAS WHEN USING THESE FEATURES.
IT IS NOT HELPFUL, AND MAKES IT MUCH HARDER TO FIND LEGITIMATE BUGS IN THE ALREADY COMPLEX NORMAL / SIMPLER MODE.
IF YOU APPRECIATE THIS ADDON, YOU SHOULD HONOR THIS REQUEST, THIS SHOULD BE OBVIOUS ALREADY BUT WE ARE BEING LITERALLY SPAMMED BY COMPLETELY USELESS BUG REPORTS WHICH WILL TAKE LITERALLY YEARS TO SOLVE.
THESE NEW OPTIONS HAVE BEEN AVAILABLE SINCE 2019 or so AND WE ARE STILL CONTINUING TO FIND NEW BUGS AND OBVIOUSLY HAVE ALSO NOT SOLVED MOST OF THE CURRENTLY EXISTING BUGS
STOP SENDING BUG REPORTS FOR WHAT ARE CLEARLY AND OBVIOUS STILL EXPERIMENTAL OPTIONS.
WE SHOULD NEVER HAVE TO ASK BUT SOME PEOPLE HAVEN'T GOTTEN THE HINT.
Somerhing like that outta do it yeah?
if users would like more options, with a side of website bugs, by all means give these 10 million people that freedom, just some people don't get how complex your program is, and need it explained to them in a very, very simplified way.
It just bothers me it all goes back to feature / bug reports? REALLY? That's the major delay? It seems so small and so easy to solve, yet I can't give a real solution either, and it is very frustrating. I hope, as soon as you've found it, you'll let me know what it is so everyone can benefit.
I'll make a couple posts on your github and at least try to get it started, because this is just frustrating. Because of an annoying few, literally 10 MILLION people have to lose out on what makes your software so great.
…________________________________
From: Patryk Łachan ***@***.***>
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2026 12:35 PM
To: darkreader/darkreader ***@***.***>
Cc: slow-played-zunes ***@***.***>; Author ***@***.***>
Subject: Re: [darkreader/darkreader] PLEASE, consider after 6 years of hiding the new mode, make it visible as an option! And, for the issues that it does cause, I have some solutions. (Discussion #15351)
Thanks for your feedback. The "new mode" is intentionally kept in the Advanced settings because it is still considered experimental and can cause significant stability issues on many websites. In our experience, warnings do not reduce the number of support requests; they only change their nature. The Advanced section is exactly where features for users who are willing to trade stability for extra options should stay. This is a conscious design decision.
That said, we don't hide the existence of the new design. In our sitefix comments, we provide instructions for both the classic and the new interface. If a user is specifically interested in how to switch to the new design, we then guide them toward the Developer Tools to enable it. Once switched, the new design remains active until it is manually switched back to the old one in the same place within the Dark Reader Developer Tools.
obraz.png (view on web)<https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e784abf2-8274-4ff7-b823-79882ff7cd21>
This approach allows us to maintain stability for the vast majority of users while still letting power users explore the new interface.
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Thank you for the detailed feedback. However, we will not implement intrusive red warnings or degrade the extension's UI. Experimental features will remain hidden in Developer Tools to naturally prevent accidental activation by average users. Please note that spamming the GitHub with repetitive threads or unwarranted requests violates our community guidelines and will result in a repository ban. |
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Oh dear, You've been using our premium quality software for years, and came here to call us the dictators, just because of a minor issue with the user interface. For some reason you decided that your personal preference applies to millions of other people, and you are entitled to insult us and dictate what changes to make. At the moment, we prioritize performance, security and visual correctness for the majority of users over features suitable to certain individuals. We also prioritize our wellbeing, and any more long and rude messages will result in a ban. I suggest you to calm down, spend time off internet, and later submit a clear and concise feature request using our issue tracker. |

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I have contacted dark reader devs before, and the reason I have been given for intentionally hiding the new mode, is
too many support requests
Can't you just simply ignore every single one of those? Why not?
You are quite literally the dictators of how someone will interact with your software, and your decisions affect 10 million people's experience of the computer code you have released into the world, thankfully as 100% open-source software.
I get it, if a webpage changes colors from non-standard, there's just no way to make it work. Or, is there? Is there a mostly reliable, or even partially reliable way to scan website code layout for
background, and override it to be ffffff again, and then from there, allow the user to change it? Isn't this what static and filter mode are already capable of? So maybe you could use filter mode, just tried it on this github website, which ideally usually sets color back to white, is this correct?
So you could basically put a coat of primer paint on the canvas with something like that, and then override it again back in dynamic mode, is that an idea that could go anywhere?
So 10 million people have to lose out on a feature which already exists, because of problems which MIGHT occur, SOME of the time. So nobody gets to use it EVER because sometimes it's an issue. I don't like this reasoning, and it feels wrong. I don't mean this in a rude way, and I'm offering a suggestion to bridge this gap of no feature, vs unwanted bug reports.
I hope you'll be interested to change your mind on this, because it's a bit aggravating that I'm one of the only very few people of 10 million who is able to benefit and enjoy already existing features, and it's not sitting right with me.
Why not make this a very visible option but HAVE A HUGE RED WARNING on the screen.
It could explain WHY color settings on some pages, which already have pre-set colors just WILL NOT be able to work, and, here's 3 possible solutions to get by:
1
Click enabled for current website, to turn it off
2
Change theme for current website, instead of all websites, and switch to static of filter mode as a compromise
3
Use theme for current website, instead of all websites and find a color which somewhat works.
Let your users know WHY some websites don't work, and in gigantic red letters, state that UNDER NO EXCEPTION will you ever read or respond to ANY request to help with color issues on websites, when a user has enabled this special setting.
Wouldn't that mostly solve the issue? I'd expect after 6 years of hiding the feature, you'd have come up with such a solution already and it's a bit surprising you've just put your head in the sand and denied 10 million people this option. After a while, it's a little bit aggravating.
I should not be that 1 in 10 million person who can benefit, only because I found the option, it doesn't feel right, I want to share it with the world.
I also just realized, it is mentioned on your tips and tricks page, but who in the world is actually reading that, most people will rightly assume ALL possible features have been presented to them in the interface, and you happily make it seem that way, with absolutely zero indication of the reality that you do not want some features being used.
Let's figure this out, more people could benefit, if you do care about eye strain, make this a visible option. You and whatever single digit number of developers are on this team hold the keys to this feature and NOTHING I can do will change that. If I were to take your open-source code, copy it, but add the visible option, it might take 6 more years for people to find the addon I copied, and understand what the difference is. So you hold complete power over 10 million people and how they view a screen every single day. Hiding this feature for this long is no longer a reasonable nor acceptable solution, let's find a solution that benefits all of your users, and mitigates unwanted bug reports.
Thanks for all your development effort, I'll donate when this feature is visible to all of your users, not just me.
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