Mathworks: it's time for a dark theme.
Antonello Zito
on 14 Mar 2022
Latest activity Reply by Mike Croucher
on 13 Jan 2025
This is not a question, but a point of discussion for the entire community. I am aware that every 1/2 months this theme comes out, but until this is not fixed it is totally necessary that this comes, indeed, out. And I said "fix" because Mathworks has to understand that a dark theme is not only a visual/aesthetic matter, it is a substantial part of the game. Most of the OS, GUIs, programs are actually in dark mode, and a vast majority of the users makes indeed use of a global dark mode. How much one does like it is personal, but the benefits to power savings and eye health is instead a fact. Mathworks being ignoring this for years is nothing but ridiculous. Of course it is not an easy task, but every minute of committment for it is worthy. And nope, Schemer is not helpful because it does not provide a real fix to this question.
I feel free to suggest something similar to the Spyder's dark theme, which came out like 2 years ago if I remember correctly.
Of course, my point is not being disrespectful (I am instead very respectful to the huge efforts of Mathworks for making this wonderful program run). But, form a user's point of view, the fact that not a single word has so far come out from Mathworks about a dark theme (meaning that for sure we will not see it in a timing of months) requires us to put a strong pressure on this.
Mathworks, please: it's time for a dark theme.
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It is done. The R2025a pre-release has just been made available and it supports Dark mode. Please take a look, try it out and give us feedback before the full release.
Using the Matlab Visual Studio Code extension you can transform VSCode into essentailly an IDE for Matlab code (.m files) and use VSCode's built-in dark theme.
MATLAB Online already supports dark mode (it has for a few years now), so no need for an additional browser extension.
A basic principle is "you must have it, but I can choose not to use it." Offering users the choice between light and dark modes is a fundamental aspect of a company's care and respect for its users. Clearly, MathWorks does not care about their users' feelings.
TMW listens to the opinions of the majority that have common characteristics! If a particular aspect can indeed enhance the user experience, and we emphasize that it must benefit the vast majority of users, then TMW will consider integrating it as a built-in feature. However, if an idea is not mature, untested, or does not align with the subjective product development plan, TMW can choose not to adopt it, which is perfectly normal! After all, successful software must meet the usability and flexibility requirements of the vast majority of people!
I am also looking forward to communicating with the official TMW staff; it always excites me! Being a part of TMW is an unforgettable experience!
Clearly MATLAB DOES care about users' feelings. How do I know? Because they brought me and several other power users to their headquarters in Natick Massachussetts last week for two days of intensive discussions about how to make MATLAB better for users.
I've never met a group of software developers more more caring, more generous, and more interested in listening to users. We participated in discussions of how to make MATLAB, and the MATLAB web site, better. And this is not the first time they've done it and won't be the last. They have a continuing program for listening to users that covers many aspects.
- They read ALL comments sent in from the ratings in the documentation (at the bottom of the help page for each function).
- They read the Answers posts.
- They read all email messages sent into support.
- They take suggestions on the help call number.
- They hold numerous usability sessions with end users testing out new features for MATLAB and the MATLAB CENTRAL web site.
- Sometimes you see popups on the web site asking you for information about how you use MATLAB and the web site.
- They have "ambassadors" at universities helping students adopt and learn MATLAB.
- They have programs to help startup companies succeed.
- There is the "Community Advisory Board", of which I'm a member, whos purpose is to have our ear in the community (Answers, Cody, File Exchange, etc.) and relay concerns and suggestions from users who may not know how to get them more directly to the Mathwork developers. We also preview new features and give suggestions for improvement.
- They will be doing new things to make it easier and better for content creators to submit content and participate in the community.
As you've seen there is already a dark mode available for preview and will soon be part of the official releases. They've been working on it for years. It's not something where the suggestion comes in and in a few months later it's out there in the next release. It's not like that with any new feature and certainly not something as complicated as a dark mode.
That sounds sweet! I've never actually been to the Natick MathWorks headquarters, and it's something I'd like to do.
But I've done some other MW community/user things. Attended the "MAB" MathWorks Advisory Board conferences a few times. Done video interviews with MW's Usability Research folks and their engineers. Written surveys and other interactions, including some very long MW Support tickets. And they're serious about this. Like, at MAB, I ran in to the head product manager for Matlab, and they took the time to have a good long chat with me about my use cases and opinions.
IMHO, MathWorks really does listen to their users. It's just that for a huge product with a huge (and serious) user base like Matlab, that's like steering an aircraft carrier. Changing direction takes time, and you want to think about it a bit before you do it.
install CareUEyes app turn dark mode(MagicX) on matlab session , worked for me but this temp way not fixing anything...
hope you like it.
yeap as i said it is not solution, even this methods has disadvantages, such as reducing the quality of textures or color inversion but good for people who cares about their sight.
This is similar to the method I've been using for years, though I think it's worth pointing out that there are drawbacks to inverting the display (or selected windows), depending on what sort of tasks you do in MATLAB.
That said, I've been doing it so long that I almost get confused when see non-inverted syntax highlighting.
That is factually incorrect. You have a preference, and apparently that is shared by those around you.
I also prefer a dark theme, but at least I have the humility to know that my preference isn't universal truth.
Your claim that every single developer prefers it isn't actually proof. I personally know a dev who prefers dark mode for once language and light mode for another. So even if I take you literally, you're wrong.
@Douglas What a convincing argument. Now you've completely convinced me. /s
What exactly is the point of your comment? You don't explain in what sense a dark theme is better. There are rare cases where a dark theme is objectively better, but in the overwhelming majority of the cases it is simply preference.
Dark theme is better.
Dark Theme in MATLAB is here! It's in beta, but its here!
Heck yeahhhh, time to hit that Download button and start filing minor bug reports.
Thanks for making this happen! I can't tell you how many people will be excited about this.
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