4 ms·

A good reason to break "Use near-black and near-white instead of pure black and white" for blacks is if the design will be viewed either on a projector, or with

A good reason to break "Use near-black and near-white instead of pure black and white" for blacks is if the design will be viewed either on a projector, or with an an OLED screen as both will display pure blacks quite pleasingly.

eikenberry 4y ago
I thought the no-pure white/black was due to human visual perception. That neither occurs in nature and they seem fake/artificial to the viewer. Nothing about how good it looks on the medium.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  > That neither occurs in nature and they seem fake/artificial to the viewer. It also doesn't occur on monitors. White and black on a screen is not pure, screens aren't that good.
  - eikenberry 4y ago
    Very true. This is more coming from print media where you can get closer to true colors. This might be one of those things that needs a tweak when translating between mediums. Much like optimal line length.
    - carlosjobim 4y ago
      Sadly we're still in the past when it comes to displays to be used outdoors, but if you compare a Kindle in sunlight, the white background is probably an order of magnitude brighter than any normal computer or telephone screen. "Don't use pure black for text" or "don't use a pure white background" are total myths among designers. You'll never have anything close to a pure color on current display technology.
navane 4y ago
I suspect the designers with their near white and near black to have superior monitors that are capable of more contrast than regular users. Ironically my cheap monitor automatically converts pure black and white to near.
- Dalewyn 4y ago
  My understanding is professional designers use color-calibrated monitors, which unfortunately have nothing to do with the actual monitors and screens most people actually use to view content.
- kuschku 4y ago
  Designers monitors' are calibrated to perfectly match a cheap 90s CRT (sRGB, Rec. 709, 200 nits brightness). Sadly, most cheap modern LCD screens are far worse in contrast and color gamut than 90s CRTs.
- account42 4y ago
  If your monitor is connected via HDMI than it might actually be your GPU assuming the monitor is a TV and sending limited range colors only (16-235).
MrOwnPut 4y ago
Normally yes, but keep in mind if you use pure black/white on a scrollview it will lag the screen and look choppy. OLED has a delay when switching pixels on and off. That being said, if it's static please offer a "high contrast dark mode". Nothing looks better (and more battery efficient) than pure black on an OLED.
- alpaca128 4y ago
  I've used OLED friendly dark modes in phone apps and they're visually extremely boring. Not bad but I wouldn't use it without the battery bonus.
charrondev 4y ago
I actually find pure black to a problem on most oled displays if you have a mix of black and gray in something scrolls. You tend to get a smearing effect, where the pure black parts have a slight delay. You can see it demonstrated in this video https://youtu.be/eHpLN0rX2DI https://youtu.be/eHpLN0rX2DI
jamesrom 4y ago
Agreed, there are many reasons to choose pure black and pure white. Everything about modern design is "unnatural", this design rule is the "appeal to nature" fallacy manifest. If you need proof that beautiful things can be black and white: https://gwern.net/ https://gwern.net/ (also, OP blog is _so close_ to pure black and pure white, it's almost imperceptible)

eikenberry 4y ago

I thought the no-pure white/black was due to human visual perception. That neither occurs in nature and they seem fake/artificial to the viewer. Nothing about how good it looks on the medium.

pessimizer 4y ago
> That neither occurs in nature and they seem fake/artificial to the viewer. It also doesn't occur on monitors. White and black on a screen is not pure, screens aren't that good.
- eikenberry 4y ago
  Very true. This is more coming from print media where you can get closer to true colors. This might be one of those things that needs a tweak when translating between mediums. Much like optimal line length.
  - carlosjobim 4y ago
    Sadly we're still in the past when it comes to displays to be used outdoors, but if you compare a Kindle in sunlight, the white background is probably an order of magnitude brighter than any normal computer or telephone screen. "Don't use pure black for text" or "don't use a pure white background" are total myths among designers. You'll never have anything close to a pure color on current display technology.

navane 4y ago

I suspect the designers with their near white and near black to have superior monitors that are capable of more contrast than regular users. Ironically my cheap monitor automatically converts pure black and white to near.

Dalewyn 4y ago
My understanding is professional designers use color-calibrated monitors, which unfortunately have nothing to do with the actual monitors and screens most people actually use to view content.
kuschku 4y ago
Designers monitors' are calibrated to perfectly match a cheap 90s CRT (sRGB, Rec. 709, 200 nits brightness). Sadly, most cheap modern LCD screens are far worse in contrast and color gamut than 90s CRTs.
account42 4y ago
If your monitor is connected via HDMI than it might actually be your GPU assuming the monitor is a TV and sending limited range colors only (16-235).

MrOwnPut 4y ago

Normally yes, but keep in mind if you use pure black/white on a scrollview it will lag the screen and look choppy. OLED has a delay when switching pixels on and off. That being said, if it's static please offer a "high contrast dark mode". Nothing looks better (and more battery efficient) than pure black on an OLED.

alpaca128 4y ago
I've used OLED friendly dark modes in phone apps and they're visually extremely boring. Not bad but I wouldn't use it without the battery bonus.

charrondev 4y ago

I actually find pure black to a problem on most oled displays if you have a mix of black and gray in something scrolls. You tend to get a smearing effect, where the pure black parts have a slight delay. You can see it demonstrated in this video https://youtu.be/eHpLN0rX2DI https://youtu.be/eHpLN0rX2DI

jamesrom 4y ago

Agreed, there are many reasons to choose pure black and pure white. Everything about modern design is "unnatural", this design rule is the "appeal to nature" fallacy manifest. If you need proof that beautiful things can be black and white: https://gwern.net/ https://gwern.net/ (also, OP blog is _so close_ to pure black and pure white, it's almost imperceptible)