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Edward Tufte on Background Color
- VLM 13y agoGood points, there are also biological concerns where your pupils shrink with brightness making brighter displays clearer. Another semi-bio related issue is contrast. The net aggregate brightness of the display should be roughly similar to the surroundings. So a "white background" needs to be microscopically brighter than the room with black letters, but a "black background" needs the few illuminated glyphs to be incredibly bright to meet the same average brightness level. I grew up on terminals and CRTs where for visual quality (and tube lifetime) you needed white text / black background but having the luxury of choosing for a couple decades now, I am happier with black letters on white-ish background. I would be very interested in seemingly obvious neuroscience study if your whole visual system works better with light fine details on a dark background or the opposite colorscheme. There doesn't seem to be an obvious answer. For example a wolves eyes on a pitch black forest background should be highly noticeable, which sounds good, but it should also be highly stressful for obvious reasons.