Readability - CD/web site

[Edgar D' Souza]

On 5/3/06, Kathy Bowman <Kathy.Bowman at saabsystems.com.au> wrote:
> Hi Julie,
> Where the text is very large, white on a black background is not too bad
> provided it is used for headlines or labels. But as soon as I have to
> read more than a few words of white text on a dark background, I find it
> hard going and uncomfortable. Pages that use this can look quite good
> from a distance, but are not easy to read.
>
> Beware graphic designers who put 'artistic' considerations above
> readability. National Geographic magazine went through a stage of
> presenting some of their articles with callouts and headings that
> wrapped over pages, and used backgrounds, font faces and colours that
> made reading the articles really hard work. I nearly cancelled my
> subscription, but they returned to sanity after a couple of issues.
>
> Your first layout sounds the better option by far.

Hi Julie..

If this is a mutually exclusive choice, please count my vote for the
white background with black text.
There will, however, probably be around 10 or 15% of your readership
who, out of pure orneriness, will complain that they preferred the
black background scheme. (Or maybe they really do like it that way!).

Unless you're going to be doing a lot of Flash and/or images as an
integral part of the design, why not offer *both* color schemes to
readers? Two CSS files could probably take care of it all.

Regards,
Ed.