​Microsoft's Outlook.com Gets A Dark Mode

After Microsoft mocked the dark mode for its online e-mail service Outlook.com last week, the company launched the night owl feature, giving it the title of "essential" for today's users.

The much sought after dark mode should ease the tension in the eyes when reading in low light. Previously, Microsoft tested a light gray background in a Halloween themed experiment, but its designers did not like the overall look and started trying out different colors to end today's release.

Microsoft says that in dark mode, the email messages it receives are "secretly re-colored," which gives it the equivalent readability of the original message and preserves the intention of the original sender.

The dark mode option should be located under the Settings panel, the settings icon, below the section to select themes. However, the option has not yet been implemented worldwide, it is not yet an option here in Spain, but it will probably be available to most US users. UU

Microsoft considered simply making the dark mode an additional topic, but decided that the themes and the dark mode were "fundamentally different." In addition, Microsoft anticipates that many issues will have a dark mode in the future, so it kept the configuration separate.

Dark mode is becoming a more popular choice among leading technology products that want to help users work more comfortably at night. Apple announced a dark mode for macOS Mojave, which will be released later this year. Twitter and YouTube also have dark mode options. Users of the Android P preview can also select a dark device theme. And Microsoft added a dark theme to Windows 10 as part of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update and, more recently, added a dark theme to the File Explorer.

"One of the most crucial principles we had when designing the dark mode was to minimize the amount of eye fatigue that people felt," an Outlook employee explained. "Many email clients on the web today announce a dark mode, but from interviews with others and our own use we learned that having the reading panel illuminated while the rest of the interface was left in the dark often made the experience worse if the full screen is left on ".

If users do not want to see the message in dark mode, they can return to the original format with the "Turn on the lights" button.

Microsoft points out that if the browser can not support the dark mode, it should work in its little used Edge browser.