6 ms·

Grey text is one of the silliest trend I have seen. If you've changed the background from white to light-grey, that's enough. Stop changing text from black to

by fizixer 11y ago

Grey text is one of the silliest trend I have seen. If you've changed the background from white to light-grey, that's enough. Stop changing text from black to dark-grey (especially the non-bold text)!

jeffpersonified 11y ago
This is not a tend. For instance, finding pure black in fine art or elsewhere is next to impossible and if you do it's a modern trend (not the opposite).
- Dylan16807 11y ago
  But this is text. Black ink.
  - ams6110 11y ago
    Look at a printed book or magazine. The ink is dark. But it's not black.
    - roywiggins 11y ago
      The contrast ratio (how bright whites are to black) is the important thing, and the contrast ratio of printed text in sunlight is a lot greater than your average LCD.
    - Dylan16807 11y ago
      Neither is 0,0,0 on your typical screen. Black is the goal in the case of printed text, and should be the goal on a screen too.
seivan 11y ago
I wouldn't call it a trend for a trend sake, it's much softer on the eyes, making it easier to read. But I would have preferred 1.25 line-height :)
- jakub_g 11y ago
  #222 on #eee is fine but some sites do #777 on #ddd or go farther. This radically lowers the contrast and makes text really unpleasant to read with some fonts.
jakub_g 11y ago
10x this. See http://contrastrebellion.com/ http://contrastrebellion.com/ When this is additionally compounded with a non-standard super thin font, the result is text almost invisible, even when zoomed, at least on non-retina non-macs. I also noticed some (very few, but not that rare) websites use a font that looks completely rubbish on my Windows machines (certain serifs not being displayed, making it impossible to decipher letters). I thought it was impossible that every Windows user had this, they would have learnt. Turned out my ClearType settings hugely affected the rendering of mentioned font (ClearType is antialiasing method on Windows, when you enable it, it goes through manual calibration process, hence every Windows machine may have radically different config) Don't go wild with colors and fonts for main content of the page. The more standard ones you use, the better chance it will render well for every user. Not everyone has same device with same config as yours.
- jsmthrowaway 11y ago
  When you're aware that high contrast can exacerbate and trigger scoptic sensitivity reactions in those with dyslexia, that page takes on a different tone.
  - cuckcuckspruce 11y ago
    Okay, so should I have to provide a screen reader download with my website as well? If you have a condition that between 5 - 17% of the world has[1] then you should be responsible for setting up your own environment (possibly with the help of your OS) the way it works for you. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexia#Epidemiology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexia#Epidemiology
    - jsmthrowaway 11y ago
      You want a huge portion of the world, most of whom not knowing how, to override your stylesheet because you can't be bothered to take five seconds to ease up on contrast (or even consider it)? Please tell me you're joking. This is why the ADA happened.
jsmthrowaway 11y ago
Hard black on hard white is 21:1 contrast, and most accessibility guidelines aim for on the order of magnitude of 3:1, 4:1, 7:1, or so, depending on usage. Black text is tiring on the eyes with an LCD, and high contrast text can trigger word motion and blurring for those who suffer from dyslexia. That's right: your text contrast in your 'ideal' black/white world can make dyslexic readers struggle to read what you've written. It's not 'trendy,' it's out of respect for those with disabilities. Please make an effort in your own work to respect those in the world with dyslexia, colorblindness (never use red/green for status without another visual indicator, an overwhelmingly common sin that I'd wager 80% of those reading have done at some point), full blindness, and many other disabilities that can affect those who use your software. If your organization doesn't have accessibility guidelines, it should write some; there are a lot to start from online. You can (and should) also run your software through accessibility tools to help. Hard black, #000000, is a modern thing and itself the trend. Typography has never in history been hard black until Web pages started just throwing 'black' on 'white' down without understanding color and color physiology. Hard black, all zeroes, is even outside of generally usable color in television; almost all broadcast equipment stays in the 16-255 range and relegates 0-15 for superblack purposes. Notice you can tell when a TV is on? That's why, and there are numerous technical reasons for even that.

by fizixer 11y ago

jeffpersonified 11y ago

This is not a tend. For instance, finding pure black in fine art or elsewhere is next to impossible and if you do it's a modern trend (not the opposite).

Dylan16807 11y ago
But this is text. Black ink.
- ams6110 11y ago
  Look at a printed book or magazine. The ink is dark. But it's not black.
  - roywiggins 11y ago
    The contrast ratio (how bright whites are to black) is the important thing, and the contrast ratio of printed text in sunlight is a lot greater than your average LCD.
  - Dylan16807 11y ago
    Neither is 0,0,0 on your typical screen. Black is the goal in the case of printed text, and should be the goal on a screen too.

seivan 11y ago

I wouldn't call it a trend for a trend sake, it's much softer on the eyes, making it easier to read. But I would have preferred 1.25 line-height :)

jakub_g 11y ago
#222 on #eee is fine but some sites do #777 on #ddd or go farther. This radically lowers the contrast and makes text really unpleasant to read with some fonts.

jakub_g 11y ago

10x this. See http://contrastrebellion.com/ http://contrastrebellion.com/ When this is additionally compounded with a non-standard super thin font, the result is text almost invisible, even when zoomed, at least on non-retina non-macs. I also noticed some (very few, but not that rare) websites use a font that looks completely rubbish on my Windows machines (certain serifs not being displayed, making it impossible to decipher letters). I thought it was impossible that every Windows user had this, they would have learnt. Turned out my ClearType settings hugely affected the rendering of mentioned font (ClearType is antialiasing method on Windows, when you enable it, it goes through manual calibration process, hence every Windows machine may have radically different config) Don't go wild with colors and fonts for main content of the page. The more standard ones you use, the better chance it will render well for every user. Not everyone has same device with same config as yours.

jsmthrowaway 11y ago
When you're aware that high contrast can exacerbate and trigger scoptic sensitivity reactions in those with dyslexia, that page takes on a different tone.
- cuckcuckspruce 11y ago
  Okay, so should I have to provide a screen reader download with my website as well? If you have a condition that between 5 - 17% of the world has[1] then you should be responsible for setting up your own environment (possibly with the help of your OS) the way it works for you. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexia#Epidemiology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexia#Epidemiology
  - jsmthrowaway 11y ago
    You want a huge portion of the world, most of whom not knowing how, to override your stylesheet because you can't be bothered to take five seconds to ease up on contrast (or even consider it)? Please tell me you're joking. This is why the ADA happened.

jsmthrowaway 11y ago

Hard black on hard white is 21:1 contrast, and most accessibility guidelines aim for on the order of magnitude of 3:1, 4:1, 7:1, or so, depending on usage. Black text is tiring on the eyes with an LCD, and high contrast text can trigger word motion and blurring for those who suffer from dyslexia. That's right: your text contrast in your 'ideal' black/white world can make dyslexic readers struggle to read what you've written. It's not 'trendy,' it's out of respect for those with disabilities. Please make an effort in your own work to respect those in the world with dyslexia, colorblindness (never use red/green for status without another visual indicator, an overwhelmingly common sin that I'd wager 80% of those reading have done at some point), full blindness, and many other disabilities that can affect those who use your software. If your organization doesn't have accessibility guidelines, it should write some; there are a lot to start from online. You can (and should) also run your software through accessibility tools to help. Hard black, #000000, is a modern thing and itself the trend. Typography has never in history been hard black until Web pages started just throwing 'black' on 'white' down without understanding color and color physiology. Hard black, all zeroes, is even outside of generally usable color in television; almost all broadcast equipment stays in the 16-255 range and relegates 0-15 for superblack purposes. Notice you can tell when a TV is on? That's why, and there are numerous technical reasons for even that.