Contrast

I know that many find black backgrounds enchanting. I have a couple with dark background color. But that is only because I’m lazy. Eventually I’ll switch them to white backgrounds.

My ViewSonic monitor’s brightness diminished within a year of my buying it. But long before I’d often found myself frustrated and annoyed by low contrast websites. Especially those with small text and inappropriate fonts.

There are blogs can barely read and never linked to because of the eyestrain.

If your goal is to look ‘cool’ do what pleases you. If you want to be read understand that the big commercial sites have spent literally millions of dollars making sure that black on white is what most readers want.

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9 comments ↓

#1 doll on 05.08.08 at 5:30 pm

I have a white and a pink blog, it’s an opportunity to play with colour. What ever colour background people chose it conveys something about them. I must say my personal turn off colour is beige and I never really understand why it is chosen. It makes me think of those old dust coats that were worn by shopkeepers and factory supervisors.

My font size changes and not always by choice but courtesy of google. I am too computer illiterate to solve the problem.

#2 AlmostMagic on 05.08.08 at 11:09 pm

I guess you find mine hard to read then. That’s a shame.

#3 Richard on 05.16.08 at 9:14 am

Almost,

Your blog prompted the entry. Most I just skip.

#4 AlmostMagic on 05.16.08 at 6:59 pm

White backgrounds are just so.. sterile.

I want the layout to reflect the character of the words. Wordpress has so few options. Sigh.

#5 Richard on 05.16.08 at 7:29 pm

My problem is that the font you used was so small and the text color was too close to the background color. There are some nice WP themes with dark backgrounds. I was using one on one of my sites for a time.

I chose this theme - which is actually one of the most famous - only because it is easy for people with impaired vision to read.

#6 Eileen on 05.18.08 at 9:32 am

Why not read Almost’s blog via RSS? That’s my tactic, and it keeps me from having to miss out on her entries.

#7 Richard on 05.18.08 at 10:03 am

Partly an antiquated preference for actually seeing the actual site. Partly because if I put something in a reader I mostly just mark it read without actually reading it.

#8 Sun_Light on 05.18.08 at 11:16 am

I slave.

#9 Richard on 05.18.08 at 11:22 am

We all do, life is just so damned demanding.

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