Dark Mode, When?

SketchUp Pro
21

Thank you Jim for your explanation and no hard feelings :wink:

During the last 30 years or so, I have seen thousands of advanced professionals using NLE applications, 2D and 3D applications, audio editing and DAW application, VFX and image editing applications, and even though most of them used keyboard shortcuts to speed up the work process, none of them used the keyboard without a mouse, a pen or other type of pointing device. So they all were using and interacting with the GUI nonetheless.

That is why I find it hard to believe that some advanced users are able to memorize all shortcuts and never use the mouse, especially for a graphics based software such as SketchUp. I would love to see a video demonstrating that ability!

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22

Definitely agree, light mode should always remain… It always should be a win-win situation to satisfy all users.

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23

Apologies if I’m mis-reading you here ( and apologies if we weren’t clear ) but our comments about no UI weren’t impling we were not using a mouse…

Actually I’m experimenting on reworking my memory muscle to use the keyboard to perform mouse clicks/click-holds, so in effect the mouse is just for moving the cursor.

24

The above statements clearly indicates that you guys are using only the keyboard which was surprising to me! Even if you are using only the keyboard, you are still interacting with the UI.

Anyway never mind about the confusion :+1:

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25

++ for dark mode.

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26

But the result isn’t a dark mode experience at all. Not even close. Sorry.

I hate to ask, but are you aware of what a true UI in dark mode looks like? I’m afraid to ask because it seems rude, but at the same time you don’t seem to really understand.

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27

Of course they are. They can claim to use only shortcuts and minimize use of UI, which I do, but they still look at and use the Ui constantly. Not a single one can go very far without opening a palette, checking the entity info, etc. I doubt any of them hides the measurements window.

The claim that they have almost no UI is incredibly disingenuous and misleading.

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28

:thinking:
( my italics )

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29

@simoncbevans as a 30 year veteran of Autocad, I can assure you that you are not limited to using a black background (OPTIONS - Display - Color Scheme - LIGHT), and equally, you can change the on screen colours for those layers which don’t have sufficient contrast to the background.

When it comes to “general desire”, as @Aboammar has pointed out a significant number of graphics based apps have a black background by default, and I for one cannot work with software like Revit, with its paper white background, without getting a stinking headache … :slight_smile:

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30

Just to clarify, I merely said that I wouldn’t vote for it myself, but I would be happy to have it as an option.

For the same reason, I can think of many things I would prefer to “spend” my votes on before dark mode!

31

That would mean you have to change the whole layout for ,sketchup export, to SU LayOut.
If you now have a dark theme and export it to layout you will bring the dark back ground colour over too.
In AutoCad the layout sheets are integrated and don’t need to be exported.
But it would still be nice if you can personalize it more.

32

+1 for dark mode option (for the dozenth time!). I wonder if it would require a big UI overhaul.

We’re talking about an option for a dark user interface – toolbars, window borders, trays, etc… as found in most modern software and operating systems. See OP’s photo examples above.

It is already possible to have a dark background in the SketchUp modelling window – my default modelling style has a dark grey background, for my eyes’ comfort, while my document styles have a white background. These styles are assigned to modelling scenes and document scenes… The document scenes are sent to LayOut. Sometimes the dark grey background is a bit gloomy and I switch to dark blue or purple :stuck_out_tongue:

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33

As it was explained by Makki, dark mode is for the interface only and it does not affects the output. For example, when you export to PDF, the exported file will still look normal with white background. Also when you print out your design, the printout will look normal without dark background.

Same thing with other applications like graphics or document processors that support dark mode. The interface and pages may look dark but when you printout, the output is normal as the usual.

MS Word also now support dark mode:

image
image2175×1380 297 KB

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34

The dark theme would be for the software interface, not for the modeling space. It would not affect anything in regard to how it functions or works with other software. It’s purely an interface skin. Additionally, a dark modeling space has always been available to use in sketchup and layout if one desires, but that isn’t what this is about.

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35

If you see the examples I provided above, drak them is also for the modeling space.

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36

It can be. But it isn’t necessarily required or forced.

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37

I actually meant the same out come.
That your software interface could be dark mode and your work space as it is.
(ps, The white theme doesn’t bother me that much, but that’s personal. Although
I like to be able to change it. Like in Blender)

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38

Yeah this shouldn’t be that hard to understand :wink:
Adobe Illustrator Dark mode

Illustrator-dark
Illustrator-dark1920×800 103 KB

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39

TL;DR:
Chastise and inform both equally, do not just chastise the person who legitimately didn’t understand the extremely poor choice of words due to being mis-/uninformed. UI stands for “User Interface,” meaning anything and everything the user interacts, or interfaces, with in order to use the software/program/website. If you want to be really technical about it, you could even call a keyboard a type of UI, or at least UI apparatus, but since we’re talking about software here it’s just the graphical/visual parts of the software’s window displayed on the screen, which are all equally and explicitly precluded by Odd_Haakon_Byberg’s usage of the phrase “at all.”

Full Comment:
I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to take exception for Anoammar on this one. The thought that an advanced user can possibly think he can be using a software with “no UI at all” is ludicrous, at best. As he says in one of his comments, this is literally impossible, as even with it minimized to “have no visibile UI at all” yet still somehow make Windows/Mac OS think it’s the active window and using ONLY keyboard shortcuts would still be interacting with the software’s UI that they have memorized. Not that this would result in any kind of meaningful massing or model.

So let’s assume, then, that they really don’t know computer terms despite being very fluent with the software to the point they think they can comprehensively comment on a UI feature. What could they have meant? Clearly, then, they meant the buttons, or other things you click on to ‘make commands happen.’ But what, then, do you click on to enact said command on a model object? A model view window, which is itself a UI element built explicitly to display and allow interaction with the model housed by the currently open file. The issue with even your defense of their statements (which I do understand how Anoammar’s comments could be construed as pretentious) is that you are trying to defend an inherently flawed statement with no recourse to better inform the original, un-/misinformed commenter. “Not visible UI,” “No UI showing,” “no visible UI showing,” and “no UI” all do mean the same thing, yes, but they also all indicate that the user is somehow, magically, using the software with it minimized (which modern OS do not allow for, and even if they did, would not be practical for modelling or design software) or closed (which is literally impossible, hence closed/stopped and not open/running). Sure, Anoammar’s comments may have been harsh, even mocking depending on your interpretation, but do not just correct him: I would go so far as to say his understanding of the comment’s wording was better than yours, even if you understood the inherent meaning of the original commenter better than he.

Do not defend poor syntax/grammar/word choice without correcting it when it is as blatantly incorrect as this. Sure, there are several ways you can say things. But when you mean apple, you never say orange, and likewise should never refer to a part as the whole without specifying (arm ≠ human, leaf ≠ tree, and Button Ribbon and taskbars ≠ overall UI).

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40

I’m sorry, but since there has been a whole discussion about this involving the confusion of a non-native speaker in addition to my CS/IT background, I feel as though I can’t just let this slide.

What you said, “I have no UI at all,” is not realistically, practically, or conceptually possible. Sure, you can hide the button ribbons, taskbars, and other elements or portions of the UI, but to not have any UI would mean that you’ve found a way to minimize - or even more strangely: close - the program and still make changes within the file through the use of keyboard shortcuts.

Look, I get it, you think: “what’s the difference, you all knew what I meant.” But the fact of the matter is that, clearly, not all of us understood that, because not everyone who can read and understand English has the contextual or cultural knowledge afforded to native speakers to parse out who would know to use a technical word or abbreviation like UI and not fully understand what it means, nor would they have the otherwise “given” knowledge that those who do this are the sad majority of the populace in order to insert the more reasonable alternative in its place.

TL;DR:

Don’t say “no UI at all” when you’re still using a graphical software after hiding parts of its UI, since all you’ve done is reduce the software’s UI to it’s model view UI element. You’re still using it’s UI, even if you’re not clicking anything other than model elements, because, guess what: those model elements are only being displayed thanks to the UI.

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