Working on a large scale intranet, I am forced to look at blue text on a black background. A big time fancy design firm came up with the idea, the VP’s bought into the layout, and it’s not going to change. There is nothing I can do.
Doing user testing, studying focus group answers from surveys, and reading user feedback emails, I can only guess the design firm does not specialize in developing websites.
Black Text on White Background
Sure, everyone does it, black text on a white background. Boring you say. Maybe so, but that is about the only complaint you will ever get about it.
Put blue text on a black background on a busy website, and you will get emails like:
- I have trouble reading the text
- the text is too small (even though its default is 1.2 em or 12px) – It’s not small text creating the problem, it’s poor contrast
- the webmaster is an idiot – why would you do that they ask
- the webmaster is an idiot – I have heard it more than once
- it hurts my eyes
The list goes on, and doing more user testing tomorrow, I am sure to hear some more complaints about it.
So the lesson here…don’t be afraid to use black text on a white background. It may be a little bit boring, but that is the only complaint you will ever get.
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Maybe I’m wrong, but I remember hearing of law suits in several schools who had black chalk boards because it hurt the students eye sight over long periods of time.
Try yellow text on white background (from the Mosaic days) … amazingly there are quite a few bozos who still do that
Go Steelers!
black letters on white background sounds boring, but still the best
The only thing worse is dark blue on black… Too much contrast.
Awesome article post. Black on white is the easiest to read, but it can get kinda boring, there are so many different combination’s that work well you just have to find the right one. I love black&white most.
This is very true, its hard to read some texts on some back grounds but it offers a unique design. Finding the right balance is very hard but once you do it makes for a great design.
It hurts my eyes and they are young.
How can I change the text color in the windows command prompt …. For example, to change the background to blue and the foreground to gray
I find that black text on white background works best if you also darken the border background of the page.
Instead of having all white everywhere for those large 19 inch monitors, you get just a page of white in the middle, which to me is easier on the eyes.
if u are write something for your business then black font are always good because black text is the symbol of strength..and in business we focused on the way of our services..
black is right for business letters…
“It may be a little bit boring, but that is the only complaint you will ever get.” < I'd take boredom over a headache any day! It's strange what visual torture you can find online.
Great article. Very well-written. I am always interested in learning something new with languages..
I can confirm this. Tried it once and got the same responses you got. I’m glad people were complaining at all though
As long as it is readable… but I still like the black on white background
white font on black background is the best on for blue. it is visible to the to read.
Blue on black won’t look nice, black and white or blue and white is much better or may be we are used to it that’s Y.
Decent this. I agree, Black font on white background sounds arid but still the best.. How can you back your bulletin to your readers if at the aboriginal abode they acquisition harder to apprehend the argument through to bad chantry color.
It is hard sometimes to pick how you want things to work along with user ability. I think that some sites don’t take this into consideration as much as they should. It can be hard and straining on the eyes to look at your screen all day like most of us do, and every little bit helps.
as per the readability point of view blue or black font on white background is the best practice of html