macOS Sierra - No more dark mode?

FezVrasta

On my iMac only the dock becomes dark, but the menu bar stays light... This is very annoying, I love the automatic dark-mode of F.lux (on Sierra)

herf

Yes, we were just adjusting the system pref, but the menubar appears to not respond as before, so we hid the feature.

(In some betas, it was making menulet icons unreadable, which is the main reason it's disabled.) If it looks stable in the future, we will add it back.

tochkinade

@herf Didn't you just make the feature that is built into the OS work automatically? If so, the problem that you mentioned is a problem of particular applications, not a problem of how f.lux works with Sierra

illuminant

I'd also very much like to see this feature return.

FezVrasta

@herf shouldn't an Apple Script be enough to toggle the preference? Just as quick workaround waiting for a definitive solution I mean.

herf

Yes, I guess we should just let users edit an AppleScript to run at certain times of day.

Previously: we could adjust the pref and just broadcast to tell everyone it changed. In 10.12, the broadcast doesn't seem to update the menubar, so AppleScript'ing System Prefs may be the "better" way.

jublonet

@herf You'd want this AppleScript for setting Light mode:

on run {input, parameters}
	
	tell application "System Preferences"
		reveal pane "com.apple.preference.general"
	end tell
	tell application "System Events"
		tell first window of process "System Preferences"
			tell checkbox 3 to if value is 1 then click -- checkbox was checked.
		end tell
	end tell
	quit application "System Preferences"
	return input
end run

And this AppleScript for Dark mode:

on run {input, parameters}
	
	tell application "System Preferences"
		reveal pane "com.apple.preference.general"
	end tell
	tell application "System Events"
		tell first window of process "System Preferences"
			tell checkbox 3 to if value is 0 then click -- checkbox was not checked.
		end tell
	end tell
	quit application "System Preferences"
	return input
end run

However on first run the user needs to grant accessibility access, unless you know how to set this in advance.

Also, you might want to find a way to hide the System Preferences icon from appearing in the Dock shortly.

tochkinade

@jublonet I'm getting

error "" number -1721

for both, which means that "the wrong number of arguments was detected".

timomeh

@tochkinade @jublonet @herf
It's pretty simple to set dark mode with AppleScript:

tell application "System Events"
    tell appearance preferences
        set dark mode to true -- or false for light mode
    end tell
end tell

Doesn't need accessibility access or some other user-granted rights. No broadcasting, and all icons change immediately. I can confirm that it works like a charm since I use it in a small application which I've build just because I miss this feature in f.lux.

tochkinade

@timomeh Thanks! But it doesn't switch dark/light mode automatically, depending on Sun position, right?

timomeh

@tochkinade No, it doesn't switch automatically – it would be f.lux's task to execute this script depending on sunset/sunrise. I know self-advertising isn't well received here, but here's a link to the application I wrote which executes this script depending on sunset/sunrise. My intention is to just have this as interim solution until f.lux fixes this feature.

herf

@timomeh Thanks we will do something like this in the next build!

Previously I had to enable accessibility to do this, but it seems to work pretty well.

hcwest

I am new to f.lux and so far think it is really helping with sleep! What is "dark mode" and can I still access it since I am using OS X Yosemite 10.10.5?
thanks.

timomeh

@hcwest Dark Mode is a native macOS / OS X Feature introduced with Yosemite. It makes your Menu Bar, your Dock, Spotlight and generally Menus appear dark. You can turn it on in System Preferences -> General -> "Use dark menu bar and Dock".

f.lux had an option which switched this dark mode on during night and off during day. The option isn't anymore available in macOS Sierra but they're working on getting it back, as you can read in this topic.

hcwest

@timomeh thanks!

herf

Please try this one:
https://forum.justgetflux.com/topic/3466/f-lux-beta-39-6

timomeh

@herf Awww yeah, thanks! Works great.

tochkinade

@herf Working good so far! It would be great if f.lux could make Notification Center dark as well (a function that Apple decided to disable this in Sierra)