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I'm always conflicted on reducing contrast by making the text very slightly grey instead of black (or the background very slightly grey instead of white). The
by arrrg 14y ago
I'm always conflicted on reducing contrast by making the text very slightly grey instead of black (or the background very slightly grey instead of white).
The problem with this is, as so many times, that on the web you have no control over what people use to display your content. On an awesome display with tons of contrast I would very much agree: straight black on straight white can be unnecessarily harsh and toning it down a bit (a bit being important here) makes everything look more pleasant.
However, on a bad display with low contrast further reducing contrast can be a bad idea.
On balance I would argue that screen technology is by now good enough to allow for slight reductions in contrast that at least have no ill effects in the vast majority of cases and have a positive effect on above average displays.
Oh, and another advantage of not using straight white or straight black is that you can add color (a slight tint, don't touch color if you are inexperienced) to it.
(Also, I would recommend searching out the worst display you can find to test your designs. That helps with more than just whether you picked the right contrast.)
- harlanlewis 14y agoI don't know much of the science behind this, but monitor backlights tend to exaggerate pure whites and blacks, artificially creating contrast that wouldn't be expected by simply looking at the color value. This becomes especially visible if the user is in low-light conditions (eg in a dark room). The apparent difference between blinding white light (hsl(0,0,100)) and a lukewarm almost-white (hsl(30,10,96)) can be startling. http://hslpicker.com/#ffffff http://hslpicker.com/#ffffff (0, 0, 100) http://hslpicker.com/#F6F5F4 http://hslpicker.com/#F6F5F4 (30,10, 96)
- stan_rogers 14y agoOn an even awsomer and properly calibrated display, it also reduces the contrast below acceptable levels a lot of the time. (The high brightness sells in the stores, but it's pretty horrible for actual use.)
- arrrg 14y agoI was also talking about properly calibrated displays. I should know. I’m using one. (Though realistically, no one uses a calibrated display. They can be ignored for all intents and purposes.) I find that if you use a good display, straight black on straight white is just too harsh for me. Slight reductions in contrast do most certainly not and never will lower the contrast below acceptable levels on those displays. They do have the ability to display plenty of contrast for the human eye to work with. (Did you only want to annoy me with your pedantry or what’s going on with you?)