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Is there any point in having medium-grey text on a slightly lighter grey backgound, other than to make it very hard to read? http://contrastrebellion.com/ http:

Is there any point in having medium-grey text on a slightly lighter grey backgound, other than to make it very hard to read? http://contrastrebellion.com/ http://contrastrebellion.com/

tokenadult 14y ago
Thank you for sharing the Contrast Rebellion link. I will link to that from the updating version of the colophon of my personal website as I do personal website updates this year. I wish I could upvote that link more than once, as there are many websites posted in designs with too little contrast for reading. And speaking of readability, there are still too many sites that break if a user resizes the browser font size (done with CTRL-+ or an analogous Apple command on most browsers), although that is not a problem with the site kindly submitted here to open this thread.
- tracker1 14y ago
  Thank you for bringing up the font scaling issues.. I do about 2/3 of my casual reading on the TV, from the couch (HTPC), and usually have to scale to 125% for readability.. I hate when the font is already too small AND doesn't scale properly. A point made in the article is important to me as well... there are times when zooming on my phone is important too, and sites/apps that disable this ability make it painful.. I tend to make the initial size device with, and limit scaling to 1-2x, which is generally enough. I wish that more people paid attention to scaling, especially given higher pixel displays on the horizon, and already in mobile devices.
- FredFredrickson 14y ago
  Might I ask what browser you're using? Older browsers used to just resize the font inline, and leave other elements alone, but most modern browsers resize everything these days when you use those commands, so sites shouldn't look any different when scaled up or down. It's been this way for a long time, it seems.
lowboy 14y ago
It's easy on my eyes on my monitors. And it's #555 on #fafbfc, hardly "slightly lighter". For that font size/weight I would have gone #333/444 but it's pretty close.
- dminor 14y ago
  There's also a white text-shadow, so plenty of contrast for my eyes.
- cabalamat 14y ago
  The text is not too bad. I was thinking more of the code examples such as thnis one: http://i.imgur.com/YBgOIpv.png http://i.imgur.com/YBgOIpv.png
sdp 14y ago
It always amuses me when this gets posted on HN. As a link, it appears as medium grey on slightly lighter grey.
orangethirty 14y ago
Its looks good in the eyes of a designer, but sucks for users. I can't read shit and made my eyes hurt (for real). I can't even comment on the content because I can't read it. First rule of producing good content: 1. Make sure people can read it.
dewey 14y ago
I like how the "Like" count is light-grey on black. http://i.imgur.com/6HVmt1S.png http://i.imgur.com/6HVmt1S.png
- rhizome 14y ago
  dark grey!
Ecio78 14y ago
on my laptop this is way worse: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5091763 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5091763
elliottkember 14y ago
I don't have the best vision, and I thought it was fine. I don't know whether it was the slight background texture, or that the colours were different enough, or whether the designer changed it after this feedback - but I didn't find it too difficult.
switch007 14y ago
Are you talking about the article or HN ;)? (Your link has HN as an example !)
hayksaakian 14y ago
It'd be great if that site actually gave some tips to improving contrast.

Is there any point in having medium-grey text on a slightly lighter grey backgound, other than to make it very hard to read? http://contrastrebellion.com/ http://contrastrebellion.com/

tokenadult 14y ago

Thank you for sharing the Contrast Rebellion link. I will link to that from the updating version of the colophon of my personal website as I do personal website updates this year. I wish I could upvote that link more than once, as there are many websites posted in designs with too little contrast for reading. And speaking of readability, there are still too many sites that break if a user resizes the browser font size (done with CTRL-+ or an analogous Apple command on most browsers), although that is not a problem with the site kindly submitted here to open this thread.

tracker1 14y ago
Thank you for bringing up the font scaling issues.. I do about 2/3 of my casual reading on the TV, from the couch (HTPC), and usually have to scale to 125% for readability.. I hate when the font is already too small AND doesn't scale properly. A point made in the article is important to me as well... there are times when zooming on my phone is important too, and sites/apps that disable this ability make it painful.. I tend to make the initial size device with, and limit scaling to 1-2x, which is generally enough. I wish that more people paid attention to scaling, especially given higher pixel displays on the horizon, and already in mobile devices.
FredFredrickson 14y ago
Might I ask what browser you're using? Older browsers used to just resize the font inline, and leave other elements alone, but most modern browsers resize everything these days when you use those commands, so sites shouldn't look any different when scaled up or down. It's been this way for a long time, it seems.

lowboy 14y ago

It's easy on my eyes on my monitors. And it's #555 on #fafbfc, hardly "slightly lighter". For that font size/weight I would have gone #333/444 but it's pretty close.

dminor 14y ago
There's also a white text-shadow, so plenty of contrast for my eyes.
cabalamat 14y ago
The text is not too bad. I was thinking more of the code examples such as thnis one: http://i.imgur.com/YBgOIpv.png http://i.imgur.com/YBgOIpv.png

sdp 14y ago

It always amuses me when this gets posted on HN. As a link, it appears as medium grey on slightly lighter grey.

orangethirty 14y ago

Its looks good in the eyes of a designer, but sucks for users. I can't read shit and made my eyes hurt (for real). I can't even comment on the content because I can't read it. First rule of producing good content: 1. Make sure people can read it.

dewey 14y ago

I like how the "Like" count is light-grey on black. http://i.imgur.com/6HVmt1S.png http://i.imgur.com/6HVmt1S.png

rhizome 14y ago
dark grey!

Ecio78 14y ago

on my laptop this is way worse: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5091763 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5091763

elliottkember 14y ago

I don't have the best vision, and I thought it was fine. I don't know whether it was the slight background texture, or that the colours were different enough, or whether the designer changed it after this feedback - but I didn't find it too difficult.

switch007 14y ago

Are you talking about the article or HN ;)? (Your link has HN as an example !)

hayksaakian 14y ago

It'd be great if that site actually gave some tips to improving contrast.