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Hmm in fact a lot of elements of design are up to the user on website, but you've to know some html and css. https://userstyles.org/styles/browse/evernote

 

Yes, SebR, of course; in fact, you'll see that I am the author of one of the style sheets ("Evernote with Less Eyestrain") at the link you provided (and I've linked to it myself earlier in this thread).  However, that only helps with the web client, not the Windows (or Mac) desktop clients.

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Isn't the first requirement of any UI to clearly communicate with the user?

 

 

Preamble: this rant below is not directed at Evernote or any single company in specific, it's a general thing.

 

 

We went over this a few posts back in the thread. Personally, I've taken to calling this fad "non-design", and it's currently being followed by the holy trifecta of Apple, Google, and Microsoft (to name a few). That is, it's fake pretentious hipster-y b.s. using almost non-descript icons with little in the way of colors, shapes, or shading, little to no contrast, and passes itself as "flat" and "modern", all the while it just makes things harder to read and locate at a glance.

 

A few examples: recent Gmail, iOS 7/8 vs. iOS 6, any Office since v2010, etc.

 

I am hoping that we're going to see a "whiplash" effect to compensate, using a little more color and hopefully finding a middle ground before "old" and "new". In fact, the latest iterations of Android and Windows 10 are heading back in that direction - and iOS 8.x too, to some extent.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've posted a partial solution for the Windows client -- namely, a way to have notes display with a background other than glaring white -- here:

https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/86645-solution-to-not-having-white-background-for-notes/

 

(That thread also links to my user style-sheet for the classic web version, which is a more complete solution for that platform.)

 

But, seriously, no user should have to jump through these hoops; Evernote should address this problem directly.

 

All best wishes.

 

Rob

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I am right now just using blue light filter __ f.lux __  ....       for >> ALL << Windows 8 applications and softwares and I am just loving it!

http://download.cnet.com/f-lux/3000-2094_4-75447318.html

 

For Android apps, I use the similar solution, Twilight.

 

For iPad apps,     I just enable accessibility feature zoom, then set it to entire display, then turn on Low Light filter...

 

Thanks

 

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  • 1 month later...

May be Mac only; I'm not sure. You can configure the sidebar under View --> Sidebar options.

 

Barbara

Macs only, apparently nothing for the sidebar for Windows. I have nothing against people who use Macs :) , but it should not be the majority of EN users.

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I agree.

 

Why has the app been de-colorized  :o and all white and very light greys.  I think it's UGLY, just like Office 2013 which perhaps their trying to imitate. Fortunately the Android App hasn't been messed up like this (yet).

 

I can't use Office 2013 either for the same reason - and now EVernote has taken away the ability to colorize background of notes. It's really hard on the eyes of some of us. And here's the reason - people who are far-sighted have magnification in their lenses. THe more far-sighted, the more magnification. As you know, a magnifying glass can be used to burn ants by finding the focal point using the sun's rays. Our greater magnification means more and more light (brightness, intensity) is hitting our eyes. Hence, the pain and stress when software products go all white.

 

PLEASE PLEASE, Evernote, give us back the ability to colorize the backgroumd in ENML.

 

Helix Fairweather

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I second this request. This would provide way better user experience.

 

Did someone from Evernote actually respond to that? I didn't have the determination to read the entire thread, but I suppose there are some users watching it who already know...

 

Are there any serious alternatives to Evernote (for Windows) which offer "night mode" theme?

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Dimming the screen is easy in whatever system.

 

And while f.lux is good stuff, dimming the whole screen just because of Evernote is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

 

No issues in other apps, and Evernote seems to be adding marginally use features instead of this one that a lot of people want.

 

Dimming the screen is easy in whatever system.

 

And while f.lux is good stuff, dimming the whole screen just because of Evernote is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

 

No issues in other apps, and Evernote seems to be adding marginally use features instead of this one that a lot of people want.

 

 

What morphine said. I have a color and brightness calibrated monitor, and EN is the only one that gives me this problem. It makes no sense to darken EVERYTHING just to make one application more pleasant to use.

 

I have a very hard time believing you have no issues with other apps and only have this problem with Evernote... This forum is brighter than the Evernote app, as well as the plethora of full-white websites (Feedly, Medium, Google Drive, etc.)

 

Feedly has dark theme on a mobile.

 

Google Drive isn't a service one would be likely to use for prolonged periods of time.

 

I don't use Medium, perhaps there are dark theme requests on their user forum too, for all I know.

 

Assuming that one is missing a ngiht theme in other apps, does it somehow invalidate such a request for Evernote?

 

I'm a software dev, and IDEs - code editors - typically do offer a dark theme, because that's the type of software you are using for hours straight, and eye strain is likely to kick in.

IntelliJ Idea, Microsoft Visual Studio (the latter by default) etc.

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Hi,

 

like I posted earlier in this thread, I re-installed an oldest version, 5.5.1

and it works fine on Yosemite

I've found it here : http://filehippo.com/fr/mac/download_evernote_for_mac/57609/

 

Carosch

 Hi Carosch

 

Could you post a screenshot of the updated preference screen and the resulting evernote notebooks in dark mode ?

I am curious. I couldn't manage to get mine even after installing this version.

 

Best,

Miguel. 

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Hi,

 

like I posted earlier in this thread, I re-installed an oldest version, 5.5.1

and it works fine on Yosemite

I've found it here : http://filehippo.com/fr/mac/download_evernote_for_mac/57609/

 

Carosch

 Hi Carosch

 

Could you post a screenshot of the updated preference screen and the resulting evernote notebooks in dark mode ?

I am curious. I couldn't manage to get mine even after installing this version.

 

Best,

Miguel. 

 

Hi Miguel,

 

Here it is :

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2291254/Capture%20d%E2%80%99%C3%A9cran%202015-09-21%20%C3%A0%2007.14.01.png

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2291254/Capture%20d%E2%80%99%C3%A9cran%202015-09-21%20%C3%A0%2007.14.38.png

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2291254/Capture%20d%E2%80%99%C3%A9cran%202015-09-21%20%C3%A0%2007.15.35.png

 

Carosch

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I simply cannot comprehend why there has been no response from the Evernote development team to this issue.  I adore Evernote. It has been a boon to my songwriting, etc.  BUt so much of that writing takes place at night, in darkened spaces, and I am left with a purplish rectangle in my field of view as I try to move about the house.

 

I am not especially knowledgeable on these matters, but I fail to see how it could be that difficulat a proposition to give the ooption of a dark screen on my Android phone.   Seriously, what is the Big Impediment here?

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This is why I think iBooks has an advantage (Probably all eBook apps as well). iBooks can change it to things like sepia and night, which I think should be added into evernote as well. Aside from being easier on the eyes, it would be easier on the batteries of devices with OLED displays. I use evernote on my school laptop, which guzzles amps, and I try to keep everything dark. 

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I think OP means that a dark UI saves battery because many Android devices have AMOLED screens which have energy saving benefits for drawing black pixels. That is a good enough reason for a dark UI, another being that many writers prefer a dark UI for distraction-free writing. 

A search on google shows this has been requested several times over the years, so it seems like there is definitely demand. 

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This is especially useful for insomniac writers like me who have a tendency to be using evernote late at night :/ The all white look is nice and all but being able to tone the over vibrancy down would be super helpful. F.lux can only do so much x3  

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Come on now, Evernote team. How hard would this be to implement? Shouldn't be too hard. Seems like Evernote thinks they know what's better for us than we do. How about this.. Charge us $1 for the dark theme. You'd make a fortune. 

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+1 for Dark Themes

Evernote, please looking at Alternote app which is alternate Evernote client. They have dark theme support and that is how they attract a lot of Evernote users' attention. Come on, this feature has been requested for a couple of year and it seems to me you don't even mind looking into it.

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This thread started October 2013 and has been kept alive by many users.  One might think that the Evernote team might listen to users, but obviously this is not the case.  Although we finally did get re-sizing of graphics, for which I had advocated.

Seems like 2.3 years of discussion might be enough to include this in a future release.

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They asked me to do a survey yesterday and you may guess what I had to say in every text box.

So, hopefully someone with a working brain will read that and get somebody's attention over here to finally acknowledge us.!!!

Fingers crossed.

We just have to keep letting them know just how important this is to us.

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On 9/3/2015 at 4:27 PM, helix137 said:

 

I can't use Office 2013 either for the same reason - and now EVernote has taken away the ability to colorize background of notes. It's really hard on the eyes of some of us. And here's the reason - people who are far-sighted have magnification in their lenses. THe more far-sighted, the more magnification. As you know, a magnifying glass can be used to burn ants by finding the focal point using the sun's rays. Our greater magnification means more and more light (brightness, intensity) is hitting our eyes. Hence, the pain and stress when software products go all white.

 

PLEASE PLEASE, Evernote, give us back the ability to colorize the backgroumd in ENML.

 

Helix Fairweather

If you are using Microsoft Word in a WINDOWS environment, you can use the magnifier in System Tools to invert colors. White becomes black, for example. You may have to fiddle with the Magnifier options to get it right. I also adjust the zoom to 100%. While outside of writing programs it can be strange, inside word it works perfectly.

I do all of my final writings this way. Using Evernote less and less as a result.

NOTE ADDED: I add it to the quick menu on the task bar so I can get to it easily.

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On 10/31/2013 at 7:16 AM, TechBarber said:

Whenever there is an option to go "dark", I turn it off. Reader apps, stock apps etc...doesn't matter. 

Black backgrounds make my eyes go wonky  :wacko:

Not trying to start a flame war - just wondering what the perceived advantages of going dark are? 

I mean, paper is white. Can you imagine if the world used black paper with white pen? Ewe

Paper is not backlit. Staring into a light all day is unhealthy for the eyes, but there are more reasons than that. Millions of people have migraine issues. The leading cause of migraine pain is glare...so any light source can lead to it. By having a black screen with white text, the glare is greatly reduced, allowing us to write for longer periods.

As an author, I spend many, many hours using a screen. 8-16 hours per day. 6-7 days per week (I'm a hard worker).

The one size text is an issue as well, but would be tolerable if we could invert the screen.

Android 5 allows full inversion now, so that's a plus, but bulky to invert everything thru system settings on the android.

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18 minutes ago, Pete_D said:

 Staring into a light all day is unhealthy for the eyes, but there are more reasons than that. Millions of people have migraine issues. The leading cause of migraine pain is glare...so any light source can lead to it.

Thanks for sharing that.  I hadn't thought of health aspects, but I do like colour backgrounds in my notes.  

My method is, on the desktop (Mac), create a table.  It can be one row, one column although multiple columns add formatting options.  Using tables give colour options for the background.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Evernote recently has dropped the ball with UI.

i highly recommend an app called Alternote. Has amazing & clean UI. It's only available on Mac until spring 16.

 

also, 

It's not a replacement to EN but makes your content look a lot better. Having different fonts, night mode and distraction free writing which are my top fav features. 

 

 

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+1 for dark theme... this is not a paper. We (or at least I) don't want black sad high-contrast theme, just some color like #272822 which is dark yellowish gray. Why company which needs customers to see an information in the app creates the app which makes them partially blind? Thinking about uninstall...

I'm happy that some software authors already understood and let users change eye-bleeding white. And some softwares has already moved this dark to default theme. Such as Photoshop, Sublime Text, ...

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The iPhone has a dark setting.  Go to Options (Gear in the upper left of the home screen) - Customize Home Screen - and select the option.

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Just an update...

...the people who claim most are not requesting a "black theme" are not entirely correct. Those of us who get migraines want things as dark as possible. Google Play Book reader has a nighttime option now that has black background with an orange-like text. It's called night mode I think. It is perfect.

Really, eReader options are exactly what Evernote needs. Think about it. eReaders have to option of white, cream, green or black backgrounds. They let you change the size of text too...which would help with strain.

And let's not mistake things...its the apps that need this the most. On my laptop, I can make adjustments if I must. On tablets, not so much.

Someone a few pages back said that Word 2013 does not allow us to change themes...this is not true at all. That person just doesn't fully understand how to use Microsoft Word. You have theme options, AND you have the ability to change the displayed page color in Word (I have done it).

Because Evernote has ignore this, I rarely use the app anymore. Microsoft Word is now available for Android, so I have been using that and Google Docs.

I'm an author, so I spend a LOT of time using my tablets and laptop to write. I once swore by Evernote. Now...I have no reason to. They dropped the ball.

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You bring up some good points. Here's a quick recap:

First, the original request was for a dark theme because the default (and only) theme had become too bright. Over the course of the updates, it had evolved to be essentially "white on white" which was two bright for many people and did not have enough contrast between regions. Unfortunately, creating different themes to pick would require some actual development effort by EN.

Much of the discussion then moved toward simply asking EN to tone down the default theme. That's when I jumped in. Simply making some style changes should be easy and would fix the problem for a lot of users. Since then there HAVE been several small incremental changes in the theme. The navigation bar on the left is noticeably darker than the editing panel, which is more than could be said six months ago. So from my point of view, that mission is accomplished.

Then the conversation swung back to the original request to ADD ADDITIONAL THEMES (or at least one additional dark theme). Again, that would require a development effort on the part of EN beyond just a bit of styling. So we've come full circle, back to the original request.

I personally have no need for another theme, but I recognize other people's need for it, so I want to join in on the voices that are requesting that.

Comments that talk about workarounds outside of the app are not helpful. This topic is not about ways to mod your OS or hack the way your browser works. This topic is a FEATURE REQUEST. 

 

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I am EXTREMELY grateful for all the suggestions for work-arounds!!  I have implemented the following:

* green scheme for the web version of EN (which I rarely use)

* the batch file that changes the notes to a light gray background - LOVE THIS to pieces!

* purchased the latest subscription to MS Office which does allow background color changes - OFF TOPIC but worth knowing

I am happy with what I have right now though it's a pain to have to reinstall the batch file each time I upgrade EN.

I take the approach that big companies don't listen and, if they make changes at all, it will be a glacial speed. Therefore, those of us who have a crying need have to find our own solution,

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO POSTED WORK-AROUNDS!!  You are my heroes!

Helix Fairweather

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's been years of requests.

Why not, yet? Seriously.    Once a week, I go looking around the web for new alternatives to Evernote purely to see what has a dark mode.  Don't get me wrong, I love Evernote.  I use it heavily, many times a day.  I'm a developer and I am so sad that I need multiple tools since Evernote doesn't "really" let me store code snippets with syntax highlighting.  I'm sad that it doesn't have a Dark Mode so that my eyes don't burn out on the ridiculous stark white that Evernote has become.

What's the deal?   I have NO legs to stand on using the non-Premium version.  I'm not paying currently for Evernote.  I'm using a wonderful tool for free.  I get it.

I'm just super curious why after all the years of people asking (and that's not being sarcastic), why is there no dark mode available?

I'd PAY for premium if it was a requirement for dark mode, at this point.   Lord knows I've certainly paid for alternative apps with similar features.

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You're posting in the right forum for feature requests;
Users can vote and the voting counts are a indicator of user support for this request (top left corner of the discussion)

The current vote count is ...... 0

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I would just love theme support. Microsoft recently added Dark Mode to Office 365. I am not sure if it is publicly available or just on the insider ring for now, but it is there.

I personally don't care for Dark Mode in Office 365 because the other themes and the contrasts in the app are enough, but with Evernote, given the existing mode or dark mode, I'd probably go with dark mode given I cannot see the subtle differences in the 50 shades of gray.

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15 minutes ago, DTLow said:

You're posing in the right area for feature requests.

Users can vote and the voting counts are a indicator of user support for this request (top left corner of the discussion)

The current vote count is ...... 0

could you quit moderating?

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On March 18, 2016 at 9:37 AM, EdH said:

could you quit moderating?

>>quit moderating?
Possibly; I really only have two moderator actions: Move and Hide - the same as you

I also participate in these forums as a user
In this participation I encourage other users to support feature requests by voting.
Are you objecting to this  participation

and Why does this bother you?

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4 hours ago, almorithm said:

I'm sad that it doesn't have a Dark Mode so that my eyes don't burn out on the ridiculous stark white that Evernote has become.

Note Background
I don't know about burning out my eyes, but I also dislike the white background of my notes.
Not exactly dark mode, but I use a background colour.  
The only way I've seen to do this is to work within a table; 1 row 1 column
Sometimes I use 2 columns - it adds a dimension to my notes.

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It's horrible, I'm not going to sugarcoat it.

The stark white UI is awful.  As a fellow developer, I fail to understand why this couldn't be engineered with relatively lower LOE vs. other tasks in the current/upcoming builds.

Dark Mode is a thing.  Apple has embraced it, apps are embracing it, and Evernote - given its position in the marketplace as the most well-known notebooking app around - is surprisingly behind-the-times w/ this.

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3 hours ago, DTLow said:

Note Background
I don't know about burning out my eyes, but I also dislike the white background of my notes.
Not exactly dark mode, but I use a background colour.  
The only way I've seen to do this is to work within a table; 1 row 1 column
Sometimes I use 2 columns - it adds a dimension to my notes.

Are you using Mac, Win or Web version?

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2 hours ago, almorithm said:

Are you using Mac, Win or Web version?

Mac and iPad; Web very seldom
I can only create tables on the Mac so I have templates set up with a variety of colours.

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  • 2 weeks later...

+1 Would love a dark mode. Have tried Alternate which has it but I would much prefer a native dark mode Evernote. It is as high on my list as Markdown support. Overall, gotta say Evernote has really improved across the board though, no complaints here. Search functionality works soooo much better then it used to.

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On March 30, 2016 at 0:48 AM, networkstatic said:

+1 Would love a dark mode. Have tried Alternate which has it but I would much prefer a native dark mode Evernote. It is as high on my list as Markdown support. Overall, gotta say Evernote has really improved across the board though, no complaints here. Search functionality works soooo much better then it used to.

Markdown and, for me - Syntax Highlighting.  Proper support for developers using Evernote is kinda long overdue at this point.  I still cling to another "evernote-esque" App called SnippetsLab which I adore as it's perfect for code snippets, but in the end I would prefer to stay with Evernote for the cross-platform functionality since I have multiple machines and mobile devices of various flavors.

 

My perfect world would have Evernote with:

* Dark Mode (super overdue)

* Markdown, Syntax Highlighting (super overdue)

 

The initial attempt at inserting a code block into Evernote is a good start but it still stinks.

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I activated dark mode in the IOS app but it doesn't extend throughout the whole application. At present it's only active on the landing page where you spend the least amount of time prior to reverting back to light mode for the rest of the app where you create and/or read notes.

Dark mode needs to be extended across the entire application for it to be worthwhile. I've put together a few screenshots to illustrate the issue as it currently stands.

evernote1.jpeg

evernote2.jpeg

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Another migraine last night.  Another attempt to find an Evernote alternative that doesn't insist on glaringly white notes.  Came back and visited this thread again.  Found out about Alternote.  GOD BLESS YOU GUYS.  Alternote rocks.  Finally a note product that's not shouting all the time.

  • Looks way slicker than Evernote
  • Nite mode is beautiful.  Subtle.
  • Uses my Evernote notes.  No need to migrate my data.
  • Default layout is the one I have to wrestle Evernote into for 5 minutes every time they upgrade it
  • It's just for taking notes!  It's not trying to take over your whole desktop (I think Evernote secretly wants to be an operating system).
  • $6.99?  Bargain for the KILLER feature.

 

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Yeah, that's good stuff right there. I can't use it as they don't (yet) have a Windex version, but I've read nothing but good things about it.

Some food for though, though: Alternote will only work until such time as Evernote locks down their APIs... :) </tinfoil_hat>

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1 hour ago, Sam Pierson said:

Another migraine last night.  Another attempt to find an Evernote alternative that doesn't insist on glaringly white notes.  Came back and visited this thread again.  Found out about Alternote.  GOD BLESS YOU GUYS.  Alternote rocks.  Finally a note product that's not shouting all the time.

  • Looks way slicker than Evernote
  • Nite mode is beautiful.  Subtle.
  • Uses my Evernote notes.  No need to migrate my data.
  • Default layout is the one I have to wrestle Evernote into for 5 minutes every time they upgrade it
  • It's just for taking notes!  It's not trying to take over your whole desktop (I think Evernote secretly wants to be an operating system).
  • $6.99?  Bargain for the KILLER feature.

 

If you're using the Web client, you can also use this Stylish style I created (Alternote is fantastic too... for more reasons than night mode): 

 

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After reading 10 pages, I came to the realization that a dark theme for the windows client, sadly, is something that I (as many others) can't expect in the near future.

As certainly there are some workarounds on this situation (css styles for firefox using "stylish" addon, or Alternote for mac users), my favorite one is the use of a external text editor.

Sublime Text has a plugin called (with all redundancy) "Evernote for Sublime Text", which allows you to create, open, and update my notes on the text editor (which has a native dark theme), and even I can create a new notebook!. Additionally, I can use markdown syntax for formatting the text (a huge plus). At least for me, this is the greatest workaround about having a dark theme for evernote (even if it's not the official/original client). I also attach a couple of screenshots to show how a note looks on Sublime, and how is the final result on evernote.

I don't know if someone will find this useful as it is for me, but I wanted to share it anyway.

Best regards.

Evernote_1.PNG

Evernote_2.PNG

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22 minutes ago, Darth Rubro said:

+1 for a dark theme. My eyes would be eternally grateful.

 

(the unresponsiveness of the evernote team is so frustrating)

Well, I'm hardly surprised, Evernote isn't exactly famous for focusing on the needs of their users :)

http://www.businessinsider.com/evernote-is-in-deep-trouble-2015-10

Quote

Several former employees believe a lack of focus hampered Evernote's growth. Instead of focusing on its core note-taking product and on converting users to the paid service, Evernote spent more time releasing a bunch of new products and features that only helped it grab news headlines, they said.

[...]

This person said Evernote didn’t have a formal market-research or usability-testing team as robust as what companies of its scale have until earlier this year.

[...]

Evernote Food, a standalone app that lets users share recipes and food photos, entirely shut down last month, as did other experimental products like Evernote Hello and Peek.

“It was kind of like move on to the next shiny thing, let’s just talk about the next thing we’re going to do,” another former employee said. “There was no prioritization circled down. None of that structure existed at all.”

No wonder that

Quote

Evernote has laid off roughly 18% of its workforce in the past nine months [2015], and said it will shut down three of its 10 global offices last week.

(from the same article)

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I've pretty much given up and am now using OneNote by Microsoft.

I am able to use OneNote on my Tablet, Laptop and in a Web Browser while at work.

I've only commented on this as I've been following this thread and wanted to see if something was going to come back from the Dev's but I am not going to unsubscribe and just forget about this product. 

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I'm afraid that using another product and opting to stop paying for any pay expansions or services from EverNote may be the only way to actually get the company's attention on this and other matters.

*shrug .. They obviously have not decided to step anywhere near this plea of ours for well over more than a year now... not a peep at all.

It tells me that our voices are of zero consequence to them.  It speaks volumes.

I will remain subscribed to this forum and post but, like Matt, I'm no longer going to use the product.  Not until its something I would choose to use again.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just updated to 6.0 today and it seems like it's even whiter but even if it's not, it prompted me to search for "dark evernote theme" and I landed here.  Pretty disappointed to see that there hasn't been any response to this request.  Dark themes are so pervasive these days you'd think it would start coming as a default or at least an option.  I just reupped my premium subscription for a year.  Kinda bummed I did now that I found a couple of cool alternatives that DO have darker themes, or at least less glaring backgrounds.

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