From: rich@example.invalid   
      
   Anton Shepelev  wrote:   
   > John:   
   >   
   >> What's the default framebuffer console background color on   
   >> a SPARCstation?   
   >>   
   >> What's the default color scheme in a Plan 9 'terminal'   
   >> window? Or on a Lisp Machine window?   
   >>   
   >> It seems like as soon as we started getting high-   
   >> resolution bitmap screens, the common response was to   
   >> mutter "thank God, finally!" and implement black text on   
   >> white background.   
   >   
   > What is the connextion between resolution and light mode?   
      
   There is no direct connection.  The previous poster could simply have   
   said "started getting ... bitmap screens" -- as it was the "bitmaps",   
   not necessarily the "high resolution" that was the trigger.   
      
   > I say light mode is more typical of GUI programs because it allows   
   > for large areas of brightly-coloured interface elements and icons,   
      
   To get a good idea why 'light mode' came about you have to remember how   
   the first GUI's were 'advertised'.  As a "desktop" -- with most of the   
   UI elements styled to resemble a real world physical desktop (anyone   
   remember apple's 'waste basket' that looked like a typical office   
   desk side waste basket).   
      
   And at the time, what were "real world desks" covered in?  Loads of   
   sheets of paper.   
      
   And what 'color' were most of those sheets of paper?  With rare   
   exception, they were white paper with black typewriter ink for the text   
   (or black or blue ink for handwritten paper).   
      
   With this background, and the GUI 'artists' of the time trying   
   extremely hard to make their newfangled GUI look as much like a   
   physical desktop as possible, having everything be 'light colors'   
   (white background, black text) made the metaphor of a "desktop" seem to   
   more closely resemble an actual physical desktop.   
      
   > whereas dark mode requires that most of the screen be dark, which   
   > means window title bars and backgrounds cannot be so varied and   
   > discernible.   
      
   The GUI artists likely took advantage of this fact, but this fact was   
   not likely 'why' they went "light mode" coloring.  That was much more   
   likely so that the virtual "desktop" they were creating would more   
   closely resemble a real world desk that they were (at the time) telling   
   everyone their system resembled, so it would be "soo easy" for everyone   
   to immediately begin using it with no training needed (or so they   
   thought).   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)