Google Chrome has a great dark mode that makes surfing the web at night more comfortable by reducing glare, but a recent browser update means Microsoft Edge is now a better choice for night users.
Until recently, Chrome included an experimental feature that allowed you to ‘force’ dark mode on websites that don’t officially support it, changing the color of text, backgrounds, and other elements.
However, earlier this month, Google removed this hidden option, possibly because it was not satisfied with the effect of how the appearance of websites fundamentally changed and could affect the browsing experience.
Google never confirmed that forced dark mode would become a permanent feature in Chrome, but its removal was bad news for anyone who relied on it to reduce eye strain. However, as the MobiGyaan smartphone site discovered, the option is still present and correct in Microsoft Edge, ready to toggle with just a few keystrokes and clicks.
Perhaps this is not surprising. Edge is based on the same engine as Chrome, but the two are developed independently. Sometimes Microsoft developers share ideas and codes with Google’s, but the two definitely follow different paths, and it seems like Edge’s might include more options for people who prefer a darker online experience.
How to use it
To test forced dark mode in Edge, enter edge: // flags / # enable-force-dark In the address bar, then use the drop-down menu to change the ‘Default’ setting to one of the ‘Enabled’ options and restart the browser.
Now, every time you visit a website with a light background (like TechRadar), the browser will alter its color scheme to present darker tones. The various ‘investment’ options use different techniques to identify the colors that need to be changed. Some affect everything on the page, while others do not change the color of the images.
It’s worth spending a little time experimenting with the different options to see what works best for the sites you use most often.
To revert everything to its original colors, simply enter edge: // flags / # enable-force-dark in the address bar again, and change the setting back to ‘Default’,
