Outlook Web Mail Service To Gain Highly Requested 'Dark Mode'

Enthusiasm for interface dark modes appears to be catching. The Verge reports that Microsoft is planning to introduce such a mode to its Outlook.com web mail service, which has around 400 million active users.

The dark mode for Outlook.com is one of the most highly requested features for Microsoft's web mail service, according to listings on the Outlook.com feedback site.

The https://t.co/0b8YLi7Qx0 Halloween theme is quite something pic.twitter.com/JIMc3ZSlPS
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) October 27, 2017

Testing of the new color scheme – reminiscent of last year's Outlook Halloween theme – has been underway over the last few months, according to Microsoft, which has already started teasing the new-look web interface online.

Responding to a feedback post, one Outlook.com team member had this to say:

One reason for the delay is our insistence that we deliver the best Dark Mode of any leading email client (you’ll understand when you see it, I guarantee). The sneak preview you saw last year at Halloween was a prototype that required a lot more work to be ready for prime time. We’ve redesigned the colors and code multiple times and are proud to enter the final stretch.

Many MacRumors readers will no doubt be aware of the desktop Dark Mode that Apple is introducing in macOS Mojave. While the company is yet to have announced a similar mode for iOS, many third-party mobile apps have already adopted the color scheme, including Twitter, Reddit, Twitch, and YouTube.

Related Roundup: macOS Mojave

Top Rated Comments

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12643

19 weeks ago

DOS, the original Dark Mode.

Rating: 8 Votes

EdT

19 weeks ago

I may be showing my age but I don’t get the reasons behind the trend to make programs, apps or OS’s ‘Dark Mode’. To me these seem purely a pallet change, and one that some people may like and some not. On the apps I’ve seen a few features have also changed but those new features and all of the old ones don’t DEPEND on the color pallet being set to any tone, that to me is just a personal preference. And 2-5 years from now the ‘excitement’ will be with the ‘brighter’ or ‘colorful’ or whatever marketing term a change in screen displays is deemed fashionable then.

Or am I completely missing something here?

Rating: 5 Votes

EdT

19 weeks ago

DOS, the original Dark Mode.

So the phrase should have been “Come to the DOS Side”?

Rating: 4 Votes

Shaun, UK

19 weeks ago

If they make it sufficiently dark so that I can’t read my emails then I could go home from work earlier. Yay!

Rating: 3 Votes

Eorlas

19 weeks ago

If dark mode was so good, why are books still printed in black ink on white paper?

Count me as another one who doesn't get the attraction. Maybe it is an age thing.

Books don't shine at your eyes, and don't have a brightness slider.

Rating: 3 Votes

AlliFlowers

19 weeks ago

If dark mode was so good, why are books still printed in black ink on white paper?

Count me as another one who doesn't get the attraction. Maybe it is an age thing.

Rating: 3 Votes

Shaun, UK

19 weeks ago

Reminds me of the old days with green text on black screens. Man that was hard work on the eyes.

Rating: 3 Votes

bladerunner2000

19 weeks ago

If dark mode was so good, why are books still printed in black ink on white paper?

Count me as another one who doesn't get the attraction. Maybe it is an age thing.

Printing a while page with black ink only to have white text on it would be a waste of ink AND you'd run into issues where the ink 'seeps' into the white text making it difficult to read. Not worth it.

E-book readers on the other hand....

Rating: 2 Votes