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A lot of people actually prefer reading black text on white background because paper works like that. Personally I do too. For writing prose and reading article
by yoz-y 7y ago
A lot of people actually prefer reading black text on white background because paper works like that. Personally I do too. For writing prose and reading articles or blogs I prefer a light (but not pure white) background and black text. If you want the same legibility with white on black text you need to make the text bolder but this is rarely done.
For coding I always use light text on dark background because dark background makes the syntax coloring more useful as more colors are available.
- jrootabega 7y agoAll good and impartial points. Another is that dark background and light text leads to distracting retinal afterimages. But it can be mitigated by understating the contrast: making the black dark gray and the colors muted
- RenRav 7y agoI've always been accustomed to black text on white. If I switch to black background, the text is blurry and I either need to put on my glasses or physically move my face closer to the screen. In regular life, all lights at nighttime have huge 'auras' or glows, this is kind of what happens with dark modes as well.
- mindslight 7y agoBut this is not how paper works! Paper reflects existing light, and thus automatically matches the general brightness/whitepoint of the ambient illumination. Whereas a monitor is often the brightest thing in your field of view. If laptops with epaper displays ever become a thing, programmers will likely prefer those black-on-white. If someone earnestly prefers bright backgrounds, I'm not going to say they're wrong. But it feels like much of the "preference" here is due to deprecating dark backgrounds as "weird" plus then pure momentum, and articles like this one don't help.