[Theme Editor] Dark Theme/Dark Mode for Canvas

[matthew_keatin1]

Hello all! I am a student, and I am here to suggest an idea that I thought would make Canvas more personalized. I think a dark theme would be great for Canvas since some students like to stay up at night (not me), and the bright white light from Canvas can hurt their eyes. The main reason why I want it is because it would look better on my computer. Youtube and Google have these options, why not Canvas? Thank you for reading!

  Comments from Instructure

While we are not able to announce that this idea has been completed, it is important to celebrate that Dark Mode has been added to Canvas Student, Canvas Teacher, and Canvas Parent. (2022-07-05)

• Canvas Teacher Release Notes (IOS 1.16)
• Canvas Student Release Notes (IOS 6.16)
• Canvas Parent Release Notes (IOS 3.6)

[kjm3131]

Have a darker backround so its easier on the eyes for late night studies.

[daryl_adair]

Astonishes me that there is no dark mode for Canvas. While it is easy enough to use the Dark Reader extension to enable it, that does not help with the student experience on the Canvas iPad app for which there is no solution. Because of the eye strain that I, as a teacher, routinely suffer from white backgrounds, I encouraged students to become familiar with the Canvas dark mode experience on computer using a browser with Dark Reader. They loved it. However, because there is no way to replicate that in Canvas's iPad app, none of us were able to have a quality experience in that domain. Especially as the light colours on black background now looked awful in the iPad app, which can only accommodate a white background (and light text has been used on the synchronised computer version). In short, Canvas needs to get its act together for BOTH the computer and tablet versions of its LMS. This is not simply a question of aesthetics; eye strain from needless white backgrounds is now being recognised as a an occupational health and safety issue. Canvas, please take the initiative. This should not be difficult. It's a matter of will, not technology.    

[Zephryus]

@daryl_adair I wholeheartedly agree.

[bobmaloney]

Request bump

[milk_bread]

Hi, I'm a high school student, but I've used Canvas for a few years now. The classic, white look could be efficient for some students/teachers, but others, like me, would prefer a dark mode feature. Some people think that dark mode is just to look "cooler," but it's actually very helpful for decreasing eye strain. My eyes are also very sensitive to the bright theme going on, and dark mode is less harsh on your eyes. The only thing I can do is turn down my laptop's brightness level, but that's not as efficient. Now that school is based online for the most part, I think you should include an option to give our eyes a bit of rest.

Thanks.

[Eyes_YT]

The only thing to be done is invert most colors and maybe add a link in settings. Wouldn't be too hard.

[Keo]

I feel dark mode is a must now! Our phones have it, Reddit, Discord, (insert social platform here), etc.  Having spent a length of time reading an essay off of Medium then switching to Canvas literally made my eyes hurt. And yes, I turned my brightness down on my screen, but I swear they still hurt. 

[ivansonavavich]

This should be a default on every single application released in my opinion not just Canvas, and I have seen other applications slowly adding this feature. Same with mobile.

Staring at screens does affect eye health. Imagine If you had just a white blank background with no words...the annoyance would become immediately apparent. They're basically weak flashlights being stared at for extended periods of time.

I know you have gotten requests for this before but it's a matter of eye fatigue/health.

Thanks for understanding 🙂

[trenton-dittmer]

I think that there should be a mode where u can put it in dark mode just like you can do on your phone. 

[EE2]

I am a student, and i think for all the night owls, as to not destroy our eyes, we need a dark mode to make things less bright.