Why Your Dark Mode Toggle Should Only Have Two Options
"Solving a largely imaginary user goal"
Lea Verou argues that user-facing dark mode toggles should only show two options, light and dark, hiding the 'follow system' behavior behind a smart toggle. This reduces cognitive load and avoids exposing implementation details. The article critiques tri-state toggles as implementation-driven UI, using a keyboard analogy. Despite some flaws in the article's presentation, the core idea is compelling for better UX design.
Tri-state toggles are implementation-driven UI. One of the most common UX mistakes is designing UI around the underlying data model instead of user goals.