Update: I switched from a dark theme to a light one for my portfolio site
For the last two years, my portfolio was all dark mode with deep blues and black. I thought it looked modern and sleek. Then I saw a talk from a designer in Austin who showed data that light backgrounds increased readability and client engagement by a lot. I redid my whole site with a clean, bright layout over a weekend. Honestly, the feedback has been way better, and my contact form submissions went up. Has anyone else made a big switch like that and been surprised by the results?
Remember when everyone was obsessed with those pop-up timers? I tried one that said "5 people are looking at this right now" and it just made people leave faster.