6 ms·

It makes me incredibly sad that people are willing to stare straight ahead at a fucking lightbulb (a.k.a. sites with a white background) and destroy their visio

by cool-RR 14y ago

It makes me incredibly sad that people are willing to stare straight ahead at a fucking lightbulb (a.k.a. sites with a white background) and destroy their vision.

yuchi 14y ago
There's a lot to discuss here. I personally cannot read through light-on-dark digital designs. After a few lines everything blurs. With dark-on-light on the opposite I can read for hours. Most probably is due to a non-optimal screen both at home and work-place, but I suffer from the same issue even on 2010 iMacs. But the most pleasant scheme for me (I mean, my eyes) is light-gray-on-dark-gray.
- chewxy 14y ago
  It's the contrast between the text/content and the background that affects your comfort though. There was an article about how you should never use black for your text on a white bg[0]. I think the points there are rather salient. In fact the W3C has a good calculator for colour contrast [1], which I think is a good guide for calculating colour contrast when designing sites [0]http://ianstormtaylor.com/design-tip-never-use-black/ http://ianstormtaylor.com/design-tip-never-use-black/ [1]http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#contrast-ratiodef http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#contrast-ratiodef
  - kyberias 14y ago
    I think there are no points in [0] what so ever to support the claim than one should not use black (#000). The author does not argue at all. All he does is present a photo he has taken which does not have black pixels. What the hell is that supposed to prove?
    - yuchi 14y ago
      I should redirect you to the interesting discussion happened on Ian's article here on HN. About eye stress.. that's another story. Could anyone here point us to a scientific paper out there?
carbocation 14y ago
I do not think there is actually evidence that white instead of grey backgrounds "destroy" your vision.
DustinCalim 14y ago
see my post
Frozenlock 14y ago
I agree. "Why the Web is White" Because it's designed by people who are not using the websites. It's easier to 'sell'. Same reason AutoCAD is shown with a white background in publicity, but users switch to a dark background the instant they have to use it professionally. Same thing with a text editor... Emacs default to white, but the first thing I do with a fresh install is to change it to a dark theme.
shousper 14y ago
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to turn down your brightness. Also, see my reply to DustinCalim's comment.

by cool-RR 14y ago

It makes me incredibly sad that people are willing to stare straight ahead at a fucking lightbulb (a.k.a. sites with a white background) and destroy their vision.

yuchi 14y ago

There's a lot to discuss here. I personally cannot read through light-on-dark digital designs. After a few lines everything blurs. With dark-on-light on the opposite I can read for hours. Most probably is due to a non-optimal screen both at home and work-place, but I suffer from the same issue even on 2010 iMacs. But the most pleasant scheme for me (I mean, my eyes) is light-gray-on-dark-gray.

chewxy 14y ago
It's the contrast between the text/content and the background that affects your comfort though. There was an article about how you should never use black for your text on a white bg[0]. I think the points there are rather salient. In fact the W3C has a good calculator for colour contrast [1], which I think is a good guide for calculating colour contrast when designing sites [0]http://ianstormtaylor.com/design-tip-never-use-black/ http://ianstormtaylor.com/design-tip-never-use-black/ [1]http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#contrast-ratiodef http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#contrast-ratiodef
- kyberias 14y ago
  I think there are no points in [0] what so ever to support the claim than one should not use black (#000). The author does not argue at all. All he does is present a photo he has taken which does not have black pixels. What the hell is that supposed to prove?
  - yuchi 14y ago
    I should redirect you to the interesting discussion happened on Ian's article here on HN. About eye stress.. that's another story. Could anyone here point us to a scientific paper out there?

carbocation 14y ago

I do not think there is actually evidence that white instead of grey backgrounds "destroy" your vision.

DustinCalim 14y ago

see my post

Frozenlock 14y ago

I agree. "Why the Web is White" Because it's designed by people who are not using the websites. It's easier to 'sell'. Same reason AutoCAD is shown with a white background in publicity, but users switch to a dark background the instant they have to use it professionally. Same thing with a text editor... Emacs default to white, but the first thing I do with a fresh install is to change it to a dark theme.

shousper 14y ago

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to turn down your brightness. Also, see my reply to DustinCalim's comment.