Comments on: White Text On Black Backgrounds Is Bad Design

By: Ampersand

Ampersand — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 15:13:30 +0000

Sam, that’s not a good solution for someone who just wants to turn off the formatting on a single difficult-to-read webpage, but would still like to see the intended colors for other websites.

Deborah, I like your blog’s colors. And I agree with you that black-on-white isn’t ideal either; like you, I think a light-but-not-white background color is easier on the eyes.

By: SamChevre

SamChevre — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 14:50:44 +0000

Red text on a black background brings back fond memories of APL for me.

Seriously, though–in IE you can get black text on a white background by using: Tools–Options–Accessibility–Ignore colors

*APL–a really obsolete numerical–as in, was obsolete in 1975–programming language in which I worked at one time.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 14:40:00 +0000

There’s not a lot of studies of accessibility of typography or page design. It’s mostly seat-of-your-pants.

My blog is dark text on a tan background, and I chose it specifically because it doesn’t bother my eyes. Black text on a white background starts to make me feel burnt out after a while. Too much glare. I experimented with readability and strain and found one that felt comfortable for someone over forty.

But I have one reader who finds my blog causes eyestrain and wishes the contrast was more stark.

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 21:34:58 +0000

On a related note, I sometimes work with elderly people and they have reported back that they find it difficult to read red and orange writing. I’m not sure why, but apparently dark orange text very similar to Alas’s text are harder for some senior people to read than other colors. After the third person told me about this phenomenon I reprinted the brochure that spurred the complaints.