...white text on dark background?
By Morris Dean
Two people have told me of their difficulty reading our white text on the website's dark background. Both of these readers prefer black on white, and one of them routinely prints out longer pieces rather than peruse them on the screen.
Horrors! Are you in that predicament? We want to know!
Simply as an aesthetic choice of my own, we now have white on what I call "Jingle Jangle green." I came to like this background color in the course of working with Jim Rix on the cover design for his true-crime book, Jingle Jangle: The Perfect Crime Turned Inside Out.
As far as I can remember, the color was suggested by the artist Matthew Moss, and I used the color for the original website of the book's publisher, Broken Bench Press. I myself could easily read white text on this background and, until Monday, I knew of only one person who had difficulty with it...so I stuck with it.
But maybe many of you find it difficult? We need to find out. Please, by comment below, tell us your preference: black on white, or the contrast we currently have, white on Jingle Jangle green.
For ease of comparison, here's the text again in black on white:
And here, both alternatives again, but this time using the Georgia font, whose letters are a little larger and more open and may be slightly easier to read:
Two people have told me of their difficulty reading our white text on the website's dark background. Both of these readers prefer black on white, and one of them routinely prints out longer pieces rather than peruse them on the screen.
Horrors! Are you in that predicament? We want to know!....
...Please, by comment below, tell us your preference: black on white, or the contrast we currently have, white on Jingle Jangle green. And do you find the Georgia font easier to read than the one we currently use?
Thank you! [Using our normal font again.]
_______________
Copyright © 2014 by Morris Dean
By Morris Dean
Two people have told me of their difficulty reading our white text on the website's dark background. Both of these readers prefer black on white, and one of them routinely prints out longer pieces rather than peruse them on the screen.
Horrors! Are you in that predicament? We want to know!
As far as I can remember, the color was suggested by the artist Matthew Moss, and I used the color for the original website of the book's publisher, Broken Bench Press. I myself could easily read white text on this background and, until Monday, I knew of only one person who had difficulty with it...so I stuck with it.
But maybe many of you find it difficult? We need to find out. Please, by comment below, tell us your preference: black on white, or the contrast we currently have, white on Jingle Jangle green.
For ease of comparison, here's the text again in black on white:
| Two people have told me of their difficulty reading our white text on the website's dark background. Both of these readers prefer black on white, and one of them routinely prints out longer pieces rather than peruse them on the screen. Horrors! Are you in that predicament? We want to know!.... ...Please, by comment below, tell us your preference: black on white, or the contrast we currently have, white on Jingle Jangle green. |
And here, both alternatives again, but this time using the Georgia font, whose letters are a little larger and more open and may be slightly easier to read:
Two people have told me of their difficulty reading our white text on the website's dark background. Both of these readers prefer black on white, and one of them routinely prints out longer pieces rather than peruse them on the screen.
Horrors! Are you in that predicament? We want to know!....
...Please, by comment below, tell us your preference: black on white, or the contrast we currently have, white on Jingle Jangle green. And do you find the Georgia font easier to read than the one we currently use?
| Two people have told me of their difficulty reading our white text on the website's dark background. Both of these readers prefer black on white, and one of them routinely prints out longer pieces rather than peruse them on the screen. Horrors! Are you in that predicament? We want to know!.... ...Please, by comment below, tell us your preference: black on white, or the contrast we currently have, white on Jingle Jangle green. And do you find the Georgia font easier to read than the one we currently use? |
Thank you! [Using our normal font again.]
_______________
Copyright © 2014 by Morris Dean
| Comment box is located below |
Please, let us know your preference for legibility between our white text on dark background, and black text on white background. THANK YOU!
ReplyDeleteLove the dark greenish color with white letters
ReplyDeleteThe Green never has bothered me.
ReplyDeleteBlack on white works for me.
ReplyDeleteCheers !
Dawn
black on white always seems best to my eyes...tho its not distinctive..i'm also just not a green fan...unless its "lime"...or "emerald"...whoo hoo so, we have at least 4 readers :-), good to know
ReplyDeleteI don't care what color it is but black on white looks more like and e-mail than a blog. Just saying----
ReplyDeleteI've never been bothered by it - but just realized that I usually read the e-mail version, which comes through in black and white. Now that you mention it, the current color scheme is a little hard on the eyes. I agree with Ed, though, that there's value in something unusual.
ReplyDeleteYou're in a pickle now buddy. I prefer white. ha!
ReplyDeleteAs a design professional, I'm hoping I get a vote and a half. I think the green is beautiful and sophisticated. But perhaps I like it so much because I only glimpse it for a nano-second before my firm's nuclear-missile-silo-firewall-system takes over. The screen flickers for a moment and then I get a white background. The text is still a very, very pale yellow, however: more like an ivory white. So for those of you complaining about legibility... Don't cry for me yet, however: if I hit Control "A" the text turns black, but the graphics fade away, including the images. When I read Moristotle on the road, it's usually on my handheld, which formats everything very oddly, but at least I get the lovely green. So, on second thought, I don't deserve a vote at all!
ReplyDeleteBlack on white seems easier to read, and you don't have to worry about the green shifting to an odd shade due to monitors being set differently. That said, I really like the green with the Georgia font sample (not bold, just regular Georgia) because it seems easier to read than your current font, and more stylish and sophisticated than black and white. It is a blog, not a shopping list, so a bit of color seems a nice touch.
ReplyDeleteHi old friend, up for the mid-night feeding and decided to check us out?
DeletePaul, thanks for responding to the request for input. I especially appreciate your commenting on the Georgia font. We considered that back when we were trying to choose something with serifs (for better legibility of characters). At the time, Garamond won out. But Garamond, while appealing for its less-dense packing of lines of text, is less legible when it comes to individual characters. I will soon be changing from Garamond to Georgia. If we have second thoughts, it would be easy to return to Garamond...or consider other alternatives.
DeleteI have already changed from Garamond to Georgia for everything currently scheduled for publication and in the template I use to prepare each new post. Georgia it will be.
DeleteDawn, Susan, Vic, and anyone else who either finds black on white easier to read or sometimes needs to print a strong black on white version, a solution is at hand. It's the one mentioned by Chuck: receive an email notification of each post as it is published. These contain the complete text and photos.
ReplyDeleteHow do you sign up to receive notifications? Just complete the "Follow by Email" option in the sidebar. You should subsequently receive an email asking you to confirm, then, after you confirm, you will start receiving the notifications.
To comment on a post, you will of course have to visit the blog. Chuck does this regularly with no problem.
Apology to Vic. I misinterpreted his statement that he "prefers white" to mean that he prefers a white BACKGROUND, but he meant white TEXT. Sorry for the confusion.
Delete