Developers can’t agree on anything. We disagree on programming language, app design, functional vs object oriented programming, or what app (IDE) to use for development. However, there is one thing we can almost universally agree on: development should be done with a dark theme. The background to our integrated development environments (IDE, the apps we use for development) should be black with light text. It’s just easier on your eyes, it’s easier to stare at for hours on end, and well, it looks cooler. Xcode is the only IDE or text editor I use that doesn’t have a dark background. Eclipse, Android Studio, Sublime, even Vim in my dark background terminal, all have a dark mode. Except Xcode.
With WWDC this year, Apple will finally change that. In fact, they could be introducing a dark mode system-wide.
Apple Leaks
The source of this leak is the most reliable one we can get: Apple. Apple shared a video that included the new dark mode on Xcode. The video should have been hidden from the public, but, as these things go, someone always finds out. While Apple has removed the video, others managed to save it, in the form of the video above and screenshots below.
Apple currently has a dark mode on macOS, but it’s severely limited. Instead of changing the look of the operating system, it merely changes the menu bar and dock to a dark gray hue. A previous leak showed that Apple is preparing UI elements in Safari for a dark mode that’s controlled by the operating system, not the browser. That means the dark mode in Safari and Xcode would be enabled by a system-wide dark mode feature. It seems clear that the next version of macOS will have a system-wide dark mode, to be revealed tomorrow at WWDC. If Apple’s bringing a dark mode to macOS, it could mean we’re also going to get it on iOS. We’ll know more tomorrow during WWDC at 1PM Eastern, 10am Pacific.
