Discussions

White text on black background hard to read?

Posted by AppleMan • 9/30/07 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: colors, layout

A few days ago I gave my Apple blog a whole new look to match the company's traditional colors. I have been reading in many places that black backgrounds with white text is very hard to read, but I don't think it is. I wanted to know what all you bloggers thought about it and whether it is a turn-off for you when you visit a blog, or no big deal. Here's the link to my blog so you can decide:

apple-report.blogspot.com

User Comments

9/30/07

monkeytale

I find it hard to read, but I'm getting old and half blind. But it's also your blog and if it's pleasing to you that's all that matters I guess.

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9/30/07

neobluepanther

It is indeed a little hard to read!

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9/30/07

AppleMan

Is there a color that might go better with a black background? Like a slight gray?

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1. 9/30/07
  
  monkeytale
  
  I dunno. Maybe it doesn't actually need changed though. Perhaps consider a larger font if you like the look?
2. 9/30/07
  
  neobluepanther
  
  Yeah, a light gray could be better. The pure white comes across as too bright and seems to hurt the eyes (or that could be because of the amount of time I have spent on the computer). Just my opinion.
9/30/07

antibarbie

I just commented about this before. A bunch of net gurus since the nineties have spouted that black backgrounds are bad and white text on black backgrounds are hard to read but I think it's utter tripe. If you have a large enough font.

Gray has always been harder to read on black than white unless you are making it a very light grey which is pretty much the same as white, just a bit less bright.

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1. 9/30/07
  
  AppleMan
  
  In fact it was your comment that I read that inspired me to post this discussion!
2. 9/30/07
  
  monkeytale
  
  Ah, antibarbie, bask in your good eyesight while you can. Us old fools who can't see as well long for those days.
  *sigh*
3. 9/30/07
  
  antibarbie
  
  mikster:
  
  Actually my eyesight is horrible, I am supposed to be wearing glasses and have Cataracts in both my eyes. I can't read text up on a movie screen but I have read white on black as clear as day if the text is an appropriate size.
4. 9/30/07
  
  dotartdude
  
  I worked in graphic design in print. Avoiding white type on a black background is not Internet specific. It is a design concern.
9/30/07

AppleMan

I've just changed it to a gray text on black theme. How does this go on the eyes (my eyes are only 14 years old so I won't know if they strain adults' eyes)

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1. 9/30/07
  
  neobluepanther
  
  Looks better to me!
2. 9/30/07
  
  antibarbie
  
  that purple clashes with the moss green background and the blue links plus it's very dark for a black background. Dark on black does not make for a good combo.
9/30/07

AppleMan

You must be on an evil Windows, antibarbie, that would explain why the colors show up differently on yours... the blog colors are white overall background, black immediately behind the text, which is very light gray with purple links.

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9/30/07

DaneMorgan

I avoid any reading on pages with light text on a dark background. Reading on the screen is more of a strain on the eyes than reading on paper, and I already read a LOT on the screen.

The light purple text on your page isn't too bad, but if I were reading your blog, I'd read what I came for and then leave. I wouldn't do any exploring. That's compounded by the links in the lists eg. The Archive section. The link text color you are using makes any block of text more than just a couple of words take more effort to read than I would be inclined to exert.

BUT. I think you are targeting a younger audience than me, so my input may not be worth much to you. I'm over forty by a couple of years.

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1. 9/30/07
  
  AppleMan
  
  Well, I've taken your advice and changed the link colors to a dark gray. Is purple better, or should I stick to gray?
9/30/07

Tonylewis

Hi all,
I think your blog looks great, I didn't see it with the white text so I can't compare. I am 44yrs old so my eyes aren't as good as they used to be but I can read it just fine. One problem I found is those dark blue links, I have to move much closer to the screen to read them, could you maybe change those to a lighter color, or at least a lighter color if you hover over the link?
Talking of black backgrounds with white text, yes I remember a lot of gurus saying it's bad but not so much now,I was looking through wordpress themes just the other day and there is many black backgrounds but they seem to be using gold text which actually stands out quite well.
I think your blog looks great don't change it (apart from those dark blue links,you want people to check them out so they need to be able to see them)

Tony:)

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1. 9/30/07
  
  AppleMan
  
  Thanks tony. I've changed my blog a bunch over the course of this discussion lol. How do the gray links work for you?
9/30/07

Importjap

Some people want to turn the web into a newspaper. Suffice to say most of those people are from the boring, 2d publishing industry. The web is a multimedia platform not a slab of paper.

If you want to stick to professional canon for professional (boring) websites, stick to black on white, blue links etc. Else try something new. Some very big sites use light on dark.

I can read it perfectly as long as your text is a *readable* size.

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1. 9/30/07
  
  AppleMan
  
  And is the text a readable size? I tried making it one size bigger, but it looked very bad.
2. 9/30/07
  
  DaneMorgan
  
  Yep that's it. I for one simply pretend that large amounts of text (the question was about text btw) presented in light on dark are difficult to read in an effort to bore you and stifle peoples' radical expressions of their coolness.
  
  I'm pretty sure every one else is just pretending too.
3. 9/30/07
  
  AppleMan
  
  So you think everybody is just pretending to not be able to read white on black?
4. 9/30/07
  
  DaneMorgan
  
  That was sarcasm, sorry. No, it is a pretty well established fact that many people have difficulty reading large amounts of text in a light on dark format.
  
  It isn't really some grand conspiracy against coolness. And while some "large sites" do indeed use dark backgrounds effectively you'll find that they are not designed primarily to deliver text to be read, as your blog is. For text delivery it is not as effective except in cases where you want to pull out and call attention to spcific small amounts of text on the page.
  
  But, as I said before, some people are more interested in cool than comfort and I'm older. Your audience might like the dark background. The only way to know for sure is test it **with your audience**.
5. 9/30/07
  
  dotartdude
  
  Bad design is bad design, newspaper or web!
6. 9/30/07
  
  dotartdude
  
  The typographer I worked for used the term "horsey" when he felt type was too big.
9/30/07

comicbookshaman

Yes, hard to read-use sparingly for design or emphasis, not blocks of text.

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9/30/07

Tonylewis

Hi all,
Yep that's way better, at least you can read them clearly now. I also think the color is darker depending on your screen size and type of computer, colors are much darker viewed on my computer than on my wife's, she has a larger screen than me so this could be why. Definitely works better with the lighter colored links appleman, good job.

Tony:)

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1. 9/30/07
  
  AppleMan
  
  Thanks tony!
9/30/07

scorpy01

First, black background with white text hurts my aging eyes. I'll search elsewhere for what I want rather than try to read that combo. Also, it reminds me of my first website on geocities back in 1996 or 97 so I automatically have a sense of "stale info" when I see it.

To check your site for accessibility, see the color contrast calculator. It's an excellent resource and worth a bookmark.

juicystudio.com/services/colourcontrast.php

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1. 9/30/07
  
  sbpoet
  
  Thank you so much for this tool -- I've just made some changes on two of my sites, and bookmarked it for future use.
9/30/07

cardiogirl

Oh AppleMan,

Please, please don't go black with light text. As soon as I see a page load like that I go back. It's much too hard on the eyes.

If you love black what about doing what BlogCatalog has done -- have the black on the left and right (sort of like a border around your text) and then a lighter color (maybe grey) for the background and then you can use black text without making the font bigger.

I find your categories impossible to read (except the number in parentheses) without highlighting the text. Another reason I would leave your site without looking around a bit. Too difficult to navigate.

Just for the record I do wear glasses (near-sighted) and I am 39 years old.

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9/30/07

kirewass

I had no problem reading your blog. I'm 60+. I wear glasses.

I find it hard to read black with light text. White background and black text, it’s easiest to view. However, with good content your visitors won’t care what color your text is - or your background.

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9/30/07

VioletsVintage

I don't like black backgounds on blogs or web sites....it is unappealing to me, especially if there is alot of text. I have enjoyed picture only sites with black as the background though.

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9/30/07

Tonylewis

Hi all,
I've noticed you changed the color scheme again Jason, you can take advice on board and it's good to have feedback but don't let the feedback sway you toward doing something you really don't want to do. For everyone who doesn't really like black sites there will be someone who does, if you get a 50-50 for and against that's fine, go with what you really want but adjust accordingly to accommodate various visitors, if you really want the black background I think you should stick with it, maybe try some other fairly light colors against it, like I mentioned before, there are a lot of black templates coming out now using gold text, this works quite well.
My point is use the feedback well but don't let it take you to the point you have a blog/site that you don't like yourself.
I have just rated your site and added a comment.
Tony

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9/30/07

dotartdude

Ideally you want people to read what you've written. If you make it difficult to read with small type and white on black background, then you discourage readers.

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9/30/07

sbpoet

I also have trouble reading on a dark background -- and antibarbie, I was distressed to discover that design on your site. I went there a few days ago, and I know I would be interested in your content --

but my eyes just can't do it.

We each must decide how much our site is for us, and how much for our readers. I've vacillated on this a great deal over the years, and only recently complied with many requests to remove the widgets and links I love from my sidebar.

I could only do this when TypePad added the 'pages' feature, so I had a place to move all that stuff. And I do think our sites (at least our personal sites) are for us and our readers. We need to be happy with them in order to keep them active & interesting.

So it's an individual decision, I think.

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9/30/07

dotartdude

The black text on gray background looks OK and is a nice size. I would maybe go one increment lighter in gray. The overall neutrality in color makes the color photographs nice accents. You've kept your widget and buttons to a minimum and they do not detract from nor compete with your blog posts.

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9/30/07

yarinh

Looks good. though its still hard to read in my opinion.

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9/30/07

GFG

The black backdrop and black fonts makes it hard to read... also the overall look of the site is very - well ... Dark

moneyshiok.blogspot.com/

[reply]
1. 9/30/07
  
  AppleMan
  
  What is hard to read about black font on light gray? Or does your computer see it differently? Also, I am trying to implement apple's main colors, which are black, white and gray.
9/30/07

mtchick

I find it hard to read. As a matter of fact, whenever I'm trying to read a page like that, I always do Ctrl/A to select the text, reversing it to black on white.

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9/30/07

sbpoet

Whoa! I didn't know that trick. Thanks.

Wait -- is that Windows, or Mac?

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