| What do YOU find easier to read: | ||||||||||||||
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| Total Votes : 11 | ||||||||||||||
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| Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 5:20 pm Post subject: Text reading preferences: Black on White? Or White on Black? | |
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An age old question subject to much debate in geek and design circles.
What's your preference? |
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Joined: 04 Jul 2003
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| Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 12:11 am Post subject: | |
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Subject of much debate, yes, although I doubt that said debate was borne of such a simple question as the one posed here - "what's your preference?". The debate is a bit more complex than made out to be here and it has raged on in more circles than just geek and design. In fact, it is those circles other than geek and design who brought that debate to the table to start with.
Esthetics, design, eye/mind/muscle strain... a myriad of issues encapsulate the "black/white v white/black" debate. However, if the question posed here requires a simple binary response sans discussion, so be it. Unless I am looking at a flight or train schedule display board, I prefer black text on white background... framed in some sort of blue (as recognised to be the most appealing combination on the web and as witnessed on this very site). And as much as I want to put a vote in the current underdog's column, I have to go with my declared "preference". Okay, I confess, I was bored waiting for the clothes to dry. 
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Joined: 06 Oct 2004
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Location: mid-west
| Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 12:31 am Post subject: | |
Kanaka, you sure can put lipstick on a pig... 
Black on white for me. |
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 12:44 am Post subject: | |||||
I can go both ways. Though, for the most part, my preference is for black on light greys. Too much contrast hurts me eyes sometimes. I also really like white on darker blues. It's not as easy to read as black on grey, especially in large quantities, but it sure looks fine.
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Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 216
Location: California
| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 1:06 am Post subject: | |
| I like the black on lighter grey (is that about a 25% grey shade?) If that were one of the choices to vote for I would've voted for that. | |
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 1:22 am Post subject: | |
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I'm not sure what % it is, it's just an html color word thingy.
The poll isn't meant to be specific. I just wanted a general idea of peoples preferences to help me choose the default color scheme. |
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Joined: 04 Jul 2003
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 3:03 am Post subject: | |||
The same reason why light grey text on black/dark backgrounds cause much less eye strain than white text on same. 999999 works great on black. Probably something like #ccc on that 000033 blue in your example. The only problem is that after spending some time on a less (eye) strainful site, once you leave and hit the rest of the interweb, your eyes get such a shock from the sudden contrast difference that it pretty much negates the short term benefit they had gained. Worrying about eye strain works when one spends several hours on one arena. Most surfers bounce around the web, so the "eye-friendly" sites may actually be doing more harm than good, by introducing more contrast to the rather uniformly black and white web. How many themes are you "making"? |
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 3:33 am Post subject: | |||
I dunno yet. Probably just two, one light and one dark. But now that the layout is nearly complete and the style has been 99.9% removed from the structure it's just too easy to do more. I tend to get carried away with the style stuff when I should be working on the back-end. The biggest pain in the ass are the icons though. I've made 7 or 8 sets and I'm just not happy with any of them. The last batch isn't too bad; they look good with both colour schemes but they could certainly use an actual artists touch. Maybe one day I'll be able to afford to buy a nice icon set and save myself the trouble. |
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| Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 1:07 pm Post subject: | |
| *bump* | |
Joined: 23 Sep 2005
Posts: 13
| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:30 pm Post subject: ?????? | |
Well, as a graphic designer....or geek....or just one smart cookie.  It isn't just the black on white that is easier to read. Design has nothing to do with it. Design could mean black fronts on a busy background.
So why did you not bring up, lower case opposed upper case? That's a very, very important component in all of this! 
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| Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2005 12:36 am Post subject: | |||
Or the one space or two spaces after a sentence. |
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Joined: 04 Jul 2003
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| Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2005 1:55 am Post subject: Re: ?????? | |||
I'd rather work at Sears than read all upper case. Oh, wait... |
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