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Nobody likes the unfamiliar.

Then why is your blog dim white letters on a black background?

The first thing my reptilian brain thought was that this was some kind of left-brained new-age artistic fluff. But it's not. You have important points to make.

So do your readers (and back button pushers) a favor and practice what you preach. Combine your artistic tendencies with a more familiar, more functional white background and reach more of us. You can do both.



There is a difference between unfamiliar and unconventional. Text rendered in a white font, in a language I can recognize is familiar. Text written in Klingon, rendered in dingbats is unfamiliar. In my mind the designer _should_ be unconventional, while remaining familiar. Ever see a condo development? How boring are all the houses, lined up and all the same? I would hate the web to be the same way.


I would hate the web to be the same way.

I would like that. Then I could use the extra gigabyte of RAM that the code to handle these cases uses for something else.


> I would hate the web to be the same way.

Welcome to Netscape Navigator 2 :)


I'm teaching you that different interactions are ok. Unfamiliarity isn't wrong, it's just different. People get used to it, and often times prefer it. Consider my site your education on different contrast ratios. You did, after all, read the post.


He's teaching you that reading white text on a dark background is actually harder to do and strains the eye more. Consider his comment your education on the usability/readability of different contrast ratios (a pretty well-reasoned post on the topic here: http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200608/light_text_on_d... ). And consider my comment your education on how your tone can be annoyingly preachy and smug.


I didn't read more than a few lines. White on black gives me a full-blown migraine. Many other people also seem to find it literally painful to read, not merely unfamiliar or jarring.

Consider me your education on different contrast ratios. ;-)


Dark text on a light background (on screen) gives some people migraines too. This scheme is my preference, has always been, therefore it's what I make for my own site. Feel free to use your preference for your own.


I found the scrollbar to be a poor example of usability in that website. It was hard for me to figure out where I was in the page. Probably with other browsers works differently, but still!


He's talking about web apps and you point out that he's not practicing what he preaches b/c his blog isn't on a white background?

I really wish comments a/b people's personal blog design preferences and the unreadability of said blog post wouldn't get voted up so often. Use Readability and talk a/b more important, less personal tastes/monitor resolution & brightness-related things instead.


a/b? Are you entering your sentences through a twitter client? 'Readability' looks like a handy tool but so is plain English.




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