Articles
Do you prefer light or dark?
25 January 2005
It’s fairly common knowledge that, in the print world, black text on a white page is the norm for easy reading. For the most part, this has also been the case on websites—at least for longer passages of text. I obviously practice this myself on this website, I suppose it just feels like the right thing to do.
But computer screens are not print. As Robert Bringhurst stated in The Elements of Typographic Style, “The screen mimics the sky, not the earth.” Instead of reflecting light as a printed page does, the screen radiates light—so the lighter the color, the brighter the light assaulting the reader’s eyes.
So should we switch to white type on a dark background for screen typography? I have noticed when I’m browsing and come to a site with a dark background such as Design Observer, there is a small sense of relief. Joe Gillespie wrote an article on type and dark backgrounds that backs this up completely. He says that with black type on a white background the letterforms appear thinner because they are overpowered by the surrounding bright area. With white on black (or dark) the opposite is true, so the letterforms appear bolder.
I’d like to know other opinions on this. It seems obvious that most designers still incorporate dark text on light backgrounds, but is this a deliberate decision or is it simply because this is the norm? What do you think?
Update: I appreciate the input from everyone. I thought I’d share some links related to this topic that I found interesting:
Comments
Posted by Jeff Smith on Jan 26, 10:44 AM #
My personal preference is definitely dark text on white. For some reason when reading light on dark, I find the dark area extremely distracting.
I agree with Jared, light on dark is definitely a nice break from the ordinary because the majority websites have light backgrounds. But, it’s just not for me. I think I’ll continue on for the most part designing my sites with dark on white.
I’m still not sure which I prefer. Darker backgrounds, I feel, are easier on the eyes, but I’m still not convinced it makes for easier reading. Dimming my screen just a bit does make vast white screens a bit more tolerable, but who wants a dim screen?
Posted by Jeff Smith on Jan 26, 02:47 PM #
That’s true Addison. I find that a background color something like F6F6F6 or in that range makes reading a little easier on the eyes.
I much prefer darker text on lighter backgrounds. It hurts my eyes reading light text on dark backgrounds, especially white text with black backgrounds. I get too much after effect or whatever it’s called.
I find it less so on a LCD monitor, but with my 21" CRT I definitely prefer darker text.
Posted by Jeff Croft on Jan 27, 09:33 AM #
My personal preference is towards darker text on lighter backgrounds. I find it easier to read.
However, I do agree with the idea that darker backgrounds with lighter text is much more acceptable on screen than in print, and there are definitely sites I read quite regularly that use light-on-dark in such a way that gives me no readability problems at all (Daring Fireball comes to mind).
I also agree with Richard that light-on-dark is better on a LCD than a CRT—probably simply because LCDs tend to be brighter.
Personally, I generally prefer dark on light. Sites like Daring Fireball are a nice change of pace, but then if everyone was doing it wouldn’t be a change of pace anymore now would it?
Last year I taught high school Comp Sci and had a student who had a visual disability that required him to carry this blue overlay everywhere. He had difficulty focusing very long on black text on white paper or on the screen. I’m not sure it’s a common disorder, but it sure seems like another vote for letting the user have more control over your site’s style.
Posted by kris artman on Mar 3, 01:07 PM #
I love you Addison!
I know that Windows’ High Contrast setting for the visually impaired turns backgrounds black and makes text white, so there must be some scientific reasoning behind that combination. I’ve also read some stuff by Joe Clark that encourages web designers to create widgets that trigger similar effects for the visually impaired.
As non-visually impaired fella, I can’t say I’m crazy about white text on black backgrounds, at least when it comes to textual material of any considerable length. It’s sometimes a nice break from the ordinary (I’m looking at you, Daring Fireball), but for the most part I find the combo harder on my eyes.