I’m aware that based on current feedback, Orion has already begun planning to integrate dark mode natively, and many users support this suggestion.
However, I believe that dark mode should be handled by extensions. Many websites are too complex for simple dark mode solutions to cover all elements effectively. Building a fully native dark mode for a browser requires the browser to deeply modify every webpage’s CSS, ensuring compatibility with countless different designs, themes, and interactive elements. This can introduce significant maintenance challenges, as the browser would need to constantly adjust its rendering for various sites. It would also struggle to handle more complex or poorly coded websites, potentially resulting in a subpar user experience. This complexity is evident from the popular Dark Reader extension’s GitHub issues, where numerous reports on website compatibility are submitted daily.
I think extensions should handle the webpage’s dark mode, and the browser (Orion) should only assist the extension in fixing the white flash bug when opening links. Dark Reader, as the most widely-used dark mode extension, has been stable and frequently updated for years, providing good compatibility for many complex websites while maintaining aesthetic quality. By allowing extensions like Dark Reader to take control of dark mode, Orion can avoid the pitfalls of maintaining its own complex rendering engine and instead focus on ensuring a smoother, bug-free experience when transitioning between pages.
