Google’s flagship product is the latest website to let users embrace the darkness in their hearts. Or just reduce eye strain, depending on how you want to look at it.
Google Search, the main thing Google was known for before it became an all-encompassing tech albatross, will let all users switch to a dark theme in the coming weeks, per a post on Google’s support website. The classic white search webpage that’s been our door to the rest of the internet for a couple of decades can now be dark grey if you want it to be. This is desktop only for the moment.
This can be achieved by going to the settings menu (bottom right corner on the Google homepage, top right corner on any search results page), clicking “Search settings,” and then clicking “Appearance” on the left sidebar from there. I’d demonstrate this with a screenshot, but Google is rolling the feature out gradually and I don’t have it yet. Seems unfair, but oh well.
Dark mode has been creeping into just about every major website or app for a few years now. We actually proclaimed 2019 the “Year of Dark Mode” because a bunch of prominent companies like Apple embraced the idea around that time. Google has been no stranger to dark mode itself, recently adding it to Google Maps for iOS and testing the desktop search version of it as far back as Dec. 2020.
While there are possible benefits to staring at fewer bright, white screens all day, it’s also important to acknowledge our peers who don’t vibe with dark mode. Good thing it’s purely optional.
