Alter.Nation
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Here to save your retinas!
After hearing the call from @shift, @_richardr, @grossal, and 100+ people who liked their threads, Alteryx Community & Gallery Dark mode is now available in the form of two extensions on the Chrome store:
Alteryx Community Chrome Extension
Alteryx Gallery Chrome Extension
The Dark Mode Extensions
As an ex-software developer, any screen which isn’t noir or matrix themed is a wasted opportunity in my mind.
That is exactly what these extensions aim to rectify.
For those that are unfamiliar or skeptical of dark themes, I’d like to highlight a few benefits other than appealing to your inner Batman/Bane:
- It can be easier on the eyes. If you’ve ever suffered from eye strain, moving away from bright color schemes may be what you need.
- Dark backgrounds can provide more focus on visuals and make it easier to read text elements.
- Dark mode might be preferable for people with vision impairments, making a website more accessible.
- Dark mode saves battery life! One we all love.
- Oh, and it looks cool, and you will look cool using it.
What’s next…
I see the release of these extensions as the first steps in a community-led development program.
That spirit prompted me to write this blog and ask the community for help in the further development of these extensions. We can push the project even further through constructive feedback and direct contribution to the open-source codebase!
If successful, I hope it will lay the groundwork for others to develop their own Alteryx extensions to further diversity the options and features available to Alteryx users.
Down below are the GitHub links to both projects if you want to contribute or use them as a blueprint for your own custom plugins:
Alteryx Community Dark-Mode Extension GitHub Page
Alteryx Gallery Dark-Mode Extension GitHub Page
But what about Alteryx Designer? Designer is a desktop application that is more complex than a website to edit. Therefore, the current theme available will have to do.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom. With the introduction of Designer Cloud powered by Trifacta and its full web customizability, the dream of a fully customized community lead Alteryx stack will become a reality!
Moreover, for those non-Chrome users out there, please make your voices heard if you are interested in getting in on the project!
For the 5% of us who use Edge (myself included), the extension should work near identically to Chrome. However, only limited testing has been done on that browser.
Summary and Acknowledgments
The first release of these extensions could not have been achieved without the thorough testing and feedback from my fellow colleges at Bulien. I would like to give a big thanks to @MarkJackson, @mceleavey, @Shifty, @TheOC, and my editor, who removed most of the dyslexia: @ALTSkelly.
The dark mode project is just the tip of the iceberg for what can be achieved with community-made add-ons. The potential for increased accessibility, customizability, and creativity is huge. Therefore, the more feedback we get on ideas, bugs, and general thoughts, the better.
So please don’t hold back!
Please note: Alteryx does not provide technical support for the Chrome extensions in this post.
