Are you using Windows Finale?

Yes, sorry I didn't specify. 

Finale 27 - Windows 11 Pro

And may I add to this that the Mac solution, according to the video presentations of this that I have seen, is at best poorly executed. It is not in any way a proper dark mode. An example of how to do this properly can be seen in for example Trenchbroom, as in the image below:

As can be seen, it is not just getting the dark mode settings from the OS, it has the entire UI designed around what is necessary for dark mode to work properly. Take something as simple as the font. As students of typography are well aware of (and Finale is of course typographic software specialised for music), setting white on black is not as simple as swapping colours. The correct term is ‘printing in reverse’, and as Felici explains (The Complete Manual of Typography, second edition, p. 80f): ‘When you reverse type, the black background will visually encroach on the white type and make it seem thinner, expecially at text sizes.’ The same issues are relevant in on-screen reverse: ‘When reversed, the type is represented by glowing pixels, and the aura of this glow can spread and cause small or tightly spaced type to blend together.’

To execute dark mode properly requires a proper redesign of the UI (which I agree is anciently atrocious, as per https://makemusic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/1500001299501-Finale-27-Shockingly-poor-UI). The UI needs a proper redesign anyway. Just looking at how the mouse control works with zoom and scroll says it all.

I therefore suggest the request by John Hayward. Dark mode is absolutely necessary; any modern web page is expected to support dark mode (though many still do not, such as this one, forcing me to use Opera GX’s ‘Force dark mode’ functionality whenever I get tired). If the developers care about their user base, and if they want to have any chance of competing with MuseScore in the future, they would prioritise this.

if they want to have any chance of competing with MuseScore in the future…

Really—you went with freeware? Dorico, Sibelius, even Overture I can understand since they have support for or default to Dark Mode (Mac only in some cases). 

Unlike any of the above, Finale's palettes are grey and not stark white like any of the above in Light mode. Dialog boxes have improved dark mode contrast since 26.3.1.1.

Finale's Dark Mode support isn't that bad, frankly. I don't know about Windows but my Mac must be in Dark Mode before Finale looks like this.

 The background "paper" can be changed to make it easier on the eyes—same as buying off-white manuscript back in the pen-and-ink days. Likewise, you can darken the background in Preferences with Dark Mode Gradient and Dark Gradient as two of your options.

I'll be the first to admit that Dorico's Light Theme looks hideous, especially compared to well, everyone else, and am glad that it defaults to Dark on the Mac but I have no problem with Finale's current look at all since I can tailor it to suit my needs— only Sibelius approaches what Finale can already do.

I imagine that full, independent dark mode support will eventually happen since all the kool kids seem to think it's necessary but I'm not in a hurry to see it.

Really—you went with freeware? Dorico, Sibelius, even Overture I can understand since they have support for or default to Dark Mode (Mac only in some cases).

The reason I listed freeware is because that is where most people are most likely to encounter engraving/notation software first. I have had several music students (online tutoring) whose first encounter with notation software is Noteflight via their school programme. And as for Musescore, it has several things going for it:

1. It’s free. Your average user will look for free software first, paid software later.
2. It supports MusicXML (so does Noteflight, I believe). To the best of my knowledge, Finale doesn’t properly support this.
3. It supports dark mode natively (so does Noteflight) irregardless of platform (in other words: it isn’t dependant on OS settings to execute it half-heartedly.
4. It has an intuitive user interface. Let’s face it: Finale’s UI isn’t exactly intuitive.

Finale's Dark Mode support isn't that bad, frankly. I don't know about Windows but my Mac must be in Dark Mode before Finale looks like this.

It isn’t supported at all in Windows, as confirmed by Finale’s customer service. They suggested I suggest it here; I was not surprised to find that there already were several suggestions for this.

The background "paper" can be changed to make it easier on the eyes

Sure, but choosing anything else like the ones included (I am using the darkest ones of the papers), such as simply setting it to black, forces the user to redefine every other colour. One thing is that this is very tedious. But even when going through all of this, that doesn’t change the aspect which is completely missing from this:

The same issues are relevant in on-screen reverse: ‘When reversed, the type is represented by glowing pixels, and the aura of this glow can spread and cause small or tightly spaced type to blend together.’

───

When I first began using Finale, I had a 14-inch CRT with a maximum resolution of 1280×1024. Things were tiny and I had a constant headache, but who didn’t back then from the far from ergonomic desktops we had, the noisy computers and the constant buzzing from a not-anymore well working tube? Today I am viewing Finale on a 27-inch 1440p monitor. The amount of light cast into my lights is ridonkulous. There is a reason dark mode is requested today. If not for those of us who spend too much time in front of a screen and just get tired, than at least for those that have actual physical debilitations (clinically light-sensitive) that make using software like this simply impossible. Institutions are today (in most countries) required to provide the necessary software to allow anyone to work their irregardless of physical impairments; light-sensitivity is one such impairment.

In my opinion, if Finale wants to be considered seriously by not just the pros, but also the curious hobbyist willing to invest in professional software, dark mode is simply a must, and by that I do not mean some silly half-arsed realisation only for Mac users. Most of the world uses Windows anyway … Yes, in some fields Mac dominates, but so does Linux in others. I for one wouldn’t use a Mac were it given to me.

My point is simple: Dark mode should be properly developed as a UI alternative, full stop. Doing this requires more than just switching colours. Given how many this impacts, for example 85–90 % of people with migraine, which is the third most common illness in the world (impacting ‘39 million people in the United States and 1 billion people worldwide’), it should be obvious that such a UI feature should be taken seriously, and not just halfway thrown together for only one part of the user base.

Here are some studies and their findings:

• A survery published on Medium found that 82.7 % of users used dark mode for their OS, a large majority stressing that it is easier on the eyes; of those who didn’t use it, they amongst others cited that ‘it didn’t look “right”’, which suggests amongst others what I wrote earlier about so-called bleed. Further, 74.6 % stated that they toggled dark mode based on environment, for example time of day.
• The American Optometric Association found ‘that 58% of adults have experienced digital eye strain or vision problems as a direct result’ of working seven-hour days in front of computers.
• And if you want a more detailed view of the research on the topic, Nielsen Norman Group, researchers on user experience, did an overview of the current research back in 2020. I bring your attention especially to this, under the heading ‘Long-Term Effects’: ‘An intriguing study published in Nature Research’s Scientific Reports in 2018 suggests that sustained exposure to light-mode may be associated with myopia.’ Predisposition to myopia is linked to the thinning of the choroid, and so ‘To see if their predisposition to myopia changed after reading, they measured the thickness of the choroid […]. The researchers found significant thinning of this membrane when participants read text presented in light mode and significant thickening when reading text presented in dark mode. The thinning was more pronounced in participants who already had myopia.’

Individual experience may vary, yes, I will not disagree with your personal experience on this, Mr Halloran. But individual experience does not negate the fact that many people find it straining to work with lots of screen glow all day. Finale is most definitely a tool designed for working for prolonged periods of time. Given that the current implementation of dark mode is linked to MacOS’s dark mode, there really are no good reasons for at least offering this same linked dark mode for Windows users. But if the developers take this seriously, they will get a UI expert and professional designer to have a look at how to best implement this. I sincerely hope this will be considered seriously.