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Ananya Neogi
Ananya Neogi

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Enabling Dark Mode On Websites Based On Surrounding Light

Now you can switch between a "dark mode" and "normal mode" on a website based on the surrounding light! It can really help in curating a better user experience based on the conditions users are viewing your website.

So, here's how you do it-

Adding the short and simple javascript.


if ( 'AmbientLightSensor' in window ) {
  const sensor = new AmbientLightSensor();
  sensor.onreading = () => {
    console.log('illuminance level :', sensor.illuminance);
      if(sensor.illuminance < 15) {
            document.querySelector('body').classList.add('dark');
      }
      else {
            document.querySelector('body').classList.remove('dark');
      }
  };
  sensor.onerror = (event) => {
    console.log(event.error);
  };
  sensor.start();
}

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Then, add specific css for your dark mode under the class you've just set. Like here I am adding and removing the class dark based on the level of ambient light.
You can play around with the illuminance value and see what works better in your case.

I also found this cool experiment by @tomlokhorst, where he changed font weight based on ambient light using variable fonts.
However, he mentions further in the thread that he did not use the aforementioned AmbientLightSensor but it still makes a pretty good use case.


Disclaimer: The browser support for this feature is low.
On chrome it's only available under a flag. Check the caniuse stats for more details. Despite that the future of web is bright or in a dark mode, however you like it! :)

EDIT-
If you're getting an error, something like AmbientLightSensor does not exist on type Window while trying to make this work in Angular, refer to this comment for a solution.

Reference

Top comments (28)

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Woah!

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ananyaneogi profile image
Ananya Neogi

🎉

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antogarand profile image
Antony Garand

Very nice!

I'll try making a POC where the website becomes progressively darker based off the illuminance level, using css custom properties, if anyone is interested in joining me!

If someone wants to out the snippet using a real website, Brawldb is dark by default, but light when the body has the theme-light class.

It is usually toggled via the top-right menu, but should also work via this snippet.

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ananyaneogi profile image
Ananya Neogi

Definitely, go for it! :)

I also made a very simple demo web page sometime back. Check that out, if you wish, to see this code work instantly.

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andy profile image
Andy Zhao (he/him)

WHAT THE HECK that's amazing! I wonder how the browser detects the light???

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link2twenty profile image
Andrew Bone

It relies on the device having a sensor.

developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/W...

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andy profile image
Andy Zhao (he/him)

Ah, okay. For some reason I thought it was solely based on software.

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sauloco profile image
Saulo Vargas

Usually cellphones or some notebooks have hardware to detect light and auto-adjust brightness, so it can be used for this.

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ananyaneogi profile image
Ananya Neogi

Yes, this is based on the sensors that are present on your device. The Sensors API exposes those device sensors on to the web platform.

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ananyaneogi profile image
Ananya Neogi

It is based on the Sensors API.
Also, to use this sensor, browser needs permission from the user, that is done via the Permissions API.

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aldnav profile image
Aldrin Navarro

I read a similar article last year which convinced me that Ambient Light Sensor API is very cool! Check it out!

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mandrewdarts profile image
M. Andrew Darts

So stoked to see someone writing about this!
The web APIs are growing and I am so ready to see what people build with these!

Great work!

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ananyaneogi profile image
Ananya Neogi

Thanks! Indeed, web APIs are growing and it's exciting!

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msumanphexaware profile image
MsumanP-hexaware

How can i implement the same in angular ?
I tried but Its giving error.

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ananyaneogi profile image
Ananya Neogi

This is just plain JavaScript so it should work. Can you elaborate what error it is?
Maybe it's something specific to angular and not related to this particular bit of code.

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msumanphexaware profile image
MsumanP-hexaware • Edited

I am getting error like Property 'AmbientLightSensor' does not exist on type 'Window' & Cannot find name 'AmbientLightSensor'.

My Code:
if (window.AmbientLightSensor) {
const sensor = new AmbientLightSensor();
sensor.onreading = () => console.log(sensor.illuminance);
sensor.onerror = event => console.log(event.error.name, event.error.message);
sensor.start();
}

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ananyaneogi profile image
Ananya Neogi

You need to extend the existing Window interface to tell it about this new property.
So, before your class implementation add this code -

declare global {
    interface Window {
        AmbientLightSensor: any;
    }
}

Then you can add your AmbientLightSensor code in the following way -

        if (window.AmbientLightSensor) {
            const sensor = new window.AmbientLightSensor();
            sensor.onreading = () => console.log(sensor.illuminance);
            sensor.onerror = event => console.log(event.error.name, event.error.message);
            sensor.start();
        }

I hope this will solve your problem.

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msumanphexaware profile image
MsumanP-hexaware • Edited

Now error is not coming but window.AmbientLightSensor is coming as undefined.

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Sloan, the sloth mascot
Comment deleted
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exquzet profile image
XYZ

If there is no sensor available then you might also just use the local time. Maybe not for a complete dark mode but for something like a night shift mode. The same way the OSs are doing it.

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rijubrata profile image
Rijubrata Bhaumik

Hello Ananya,
Great that you liked the ALS feature on Chrome. We are planning to ship ALS on Chrome by default sometime soon. It would be great to get more inputs
from creative webdev folks. Feel free to ask for more details :)

Riju,
(ALS/sensors -chrome+W3C)

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augburto profile image
Augustus Yuan

Very cool! Thanks for sharing :)

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shameemreza profile image
Shameem Reza

Amazing. 🤓

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terabytetiger profile image
Tyler V. (he/him)

This is pretty nifty! It'll be super cool once this is more available! :D

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jorge_rockr profile image
Jorge Ramón

OMG thats crazy!!

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voidjuneau profile image
Juneau Lim • Edited

It’s mind-blowing. I never imaged such a thing is possible.
Furthermore such a small amount of code without asking permission. Love it.
Thank you so much for letting me know.

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smakosh profile image
smakosh

Implementing this right away! thanks for sharing