Since YouTube is a platform used by a huge amount of people to view videos; be it tutorials, movies, trailers, gaming videos or any entertainment clips, the time you spend watching those put a lot of pressure on your eyes, especially if you watch them in a dark room. While the white background of the screen makes everything look livelier, the strain it puts on your eyes is also massive.
Medically, it is not good for your eyesight and may cause other associated risks if you narrow your eyes while using your electronic device with a bright screen, in a room that has dim or no light. Putting such like stress on your eyes may cause side effects, ranging from temporary vision blurring to permanent vision loss. It is also claimed that your eyes may also get dry eventually if you do not blink them enough while viewing the bright screen.
The exposure of UV rays emission to the programmers is much more, compared to normal users so they should also take extra care and try using command line interface for coding.
With the recent addition of ‘Blue Light Filter’ in the Windows 10 update, making it easier for the users to work during late hours, YouTube probably decided not to stay behind. YouTube has a new feature to offer to its users which was first discovered by Redditor – Paul. It is the latest layout setting that will enable you to view the videos in what is known as a ‘Dark Mode’.
Once you get your system updated, it is entirely your decision whether or not you adapt to the new layout, by enabling it or just let the original YouTube settings be. This change has not yet been officially launched by the company and is still under testing, but you may easily enable it now if you are using the latest Google Chrome’s version (v57 and up).
Here are easy TEN steps that can help you enable ‘YouTube Dark Mode’:
- Open your Chrome browser or Mac browser
- Update it to version 57 if not updated.
- Navigate to ‘www.youtube.com’
- In the browser’s options, go to ‘Developer Tools’
- Windows users: Press (Ctrl + Shift + I)
- Mac users: Press (Option + Cmd + I)
- Now, once the console shows up, Paste the following:
document.cookie=“VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=fPQ4jCL6EiE”
- Hit ‘Enter’.
- Close the tab: ‘Developer Tools’ and refresh the YouTube page on your Browser.
- Now, in order to access the ‘Dark Mode’, click on the icon:
- This drop down menu will be shown. Select the Dark Mode
- Toggle the button to Turn ON the Dark Mode, or OFF
- Now kill the lights and enjoy the Secret Mode. Here’s how it looks like
Dark Mode: Black background with white text.
Here is a mini tutorial in case you find any difficulties in following the steps.
Commenters suggest that the new mode works on all browsers;
- For Firefox: Delete your system’s cookies, then enable
- Microsoft Edge: Should work automatically, without any extra effort
- Safari: May not work on this browser.
The users who have enabled totally love the new layout
holy crap official dark mode youtube is a thing pic.twitter.com/QHsyo9Anla
— Owen ⚡️ (@ow) April 14, 2017