Dark mode is live everywhere PaperScorer runs — the marketing site, the web app, and the iOS and Android apps. If you've been quietly hoping we'd ship this, thank you for your patience. It's now on.
Why dark mode?
Dark mode isn't just an aesthetic choice. A few practical reasons:
- Reduced eye strain for teachers grading late into the evening
- Lower battery drain on OLED-display devices (phones, many modern laptops)
- Better focus in low-light environments — grading in a dim classroom after hours, reviewing reports during an evening parent-teacher conference
- Matches the rest of your system — if your OS is in dark mode, your tools should respect that
How it works
On the corporate site and web app: we respect your system preference automatically. If your OS is in dark mode, PaperScorer loads in dark mode. If it's in light mode, you get light mode.
Override available: a toggle in the header lets you override the system preference. Your choice is remembered across sessions on the same device.
Mobile apps: same behavior. Respects your phone's appearance setting, with an in-app override.
What got designed carefully
Dark mode isn't just inverting colors. A few things we paid specific attention to:
- Brand colors remain distinct — primary (the PaperScorer blue) still reads clearly against both light and dark backgrounds
- Answer sheet previews stay in light mode — when you're reviewing what will actually print on paper, you see what the student will see
- Data visualizations work in both modes — charts, gradebook summaries, and item analysis reports have dark-mode-specific palettes for clarity
- Semantic colors — green for correct, red for incorrect, yellow for flagged — tuned for contrast in both modes
Accessibility notes
Dark mode doesn't replace accessibility features — it's an alternative theme, not an accommodation. If you need higher contrast, larger text, or screen-reader optimization, those are configured separately in your device or browser settings and work regardless of theme.
We tested both modes against WCAG AA contrast requirements for all body text and interactive elements. If you find anything that falls short in your use, please let us know — we track these as bugs, not preferences.
When dark mode doesn't help
A few places dark mode isn't active by design:
- Print previews — showing you dark paper with dark ink would be confusing
- Exported PDFs — these are always light-mode because they're destined for printing
- Some third-party embeds — LTI integrations that render in an iframe may not inherit PaperScorer's theme
Try it
Toggle the theme switch in the header (on the web) or appearance setting (in the mobile apps). If you've been grading late at night, the difference is immediate.
Tip: combine with your LMS
Canvas, Blackboard, Google Classroom, and Brightspace all have dark modes of their own. Configuring them all consistently gives you a more coherent grading experience when you're switching between tools.
