Look at a recording session at night: the room lit for the camera, and one bright rectangle — the prompter — throwing cold light up the presenter’s face. It’s the most common lighting mistake that has nothing to do with lights.
Dark mode inverts the reading view: dark background, light text, same scroll, same controls. One toggle. This page explains when it matters and how to use it in NanoPrompter.
What dark mode fixes
The glow. A white screen bounces light onto the reader — chin, cheeks, glasses. Cameras see it as a second, colder light source that fights your actual lighting. A dark interface goes dark on camera. For anyone recording with prompter and camera in the same line of sight, this alone justifies the toggle.
Eye comfort across sessions. Recording at night or in a dim studio with a bright window in your field of vision is how eyes tire by take four. Dark reading reduces that fatigue — and comfortable readers do better takes, a pattern covered in the first-time guide.
Screen-induced squinting. Viewers notice a presenter squinting at their text before they notice why. Big font, dark mode, calm scroll: the trio that keeps faces neutral while reading.
How to use it
The reading view has a light/dark button among the controls, plus a keyboard shortcut — listed with all the others on the keyboard shortcuts page. The preference is remembered between sessions, so a studio that always records dark sets it once.
Dark mode combines naturally with the rest of the reading setup:
- Fullscreen + dark (fullscreen mode): the entire screen becomes a dim, distraction-free prompter — the default for evening and stage work.
- Mirror + dark (mirror mode): glass rigs benefit twice, since the glass reflects whatever light the screen emits.
- Speed keys and gamepad work the same in either mode.
When light mode is still right
Honesty cuts both ways: some readers — many with astigmatism — read light-on-dark text with more halos and strain, not less. If that’s you, light mode with dark text is one toggle away and equally supported. The correct mode is the one you read best in; the camera forgives a slightly brighter screen far more easily than it forgives a squint.
Daytime recordings in bright rooms also lose less from a light background — ambient light already dominates. Test both once; the choice is a preference, not a doctrine.
Set it once, read comfortably
Open the teleprompter, switch to dark, and do tonight’s reading without the glare. Your face on camera — and your eyes after an hour — will tell you which mode is yours.