The most popular feature request for Microsoft's Outlook.com has been to add a dark/night theme that replaces the eye-searing white with a calming dark grey, making it less visually traumatic to check your e-mail after dark. Microsoft has now announced that this is coming soon, as spotted by The Verge.

The new theme will be based on a special dark theme that was offered last Halloween. Since then, it's apparently been "redesigned multiple times" and the company claims that it will be "the best Dark Mode of any leading e-mail client."

The https://t.co/0b8YLi7Qx0 Halloween theme is quite something pic.twitter.com/JIMc3ZSlPS — Tom Warren (@tomwarren) October 27, 2017

But as exciting as this is (along with Microsoft's dark mode work in Explorer) I can't help but feel it's all a little old hat. A dark mode? On a website? Why, we've been doing this at Ars for years. Click that little hamburger menu up at the top of each page, and you can switch between conventional dark-on-light text and the eyeball-friendly light-on-dark.





We're damn pioneers.

So on the one hand, good job Microsoft; this will be a nice addition to Outlook.com. But on the other hand? I just gotta wonder why'd it take y'all so long.

Listing image by Peter Pearson