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Why is contrast so important in web design
gomediazine.com — Good contrast in your design goes hand-in-hand with your color selections. Contrast is the value difference between the colors on your design. Value is how bright or dark the color (ink) is.
Lyndoman- 1480 diggs
- digg it
- morphie, on 11/02/2007, -5/+430And this comes from a website where all text is light-gray.
- 10goto10, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14I could swear I've seen an article AND a comment just like this yesterday...
- tape, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I saw this headline and figured this was a response to that one. But no!
Oh the humanity. - tyywebb, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Don't worry it's just the matrix screwing up.
- tape, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I saw this headline and figured this was a response to that one. But no!
- dani8559, on 10/12/2007, -0/+31I checked the comments just to make sure everyone else was catching this. On my CRT (yeah, I'm living in the 20th century) the text is painful to read.
- Wuss, on 10/11/2007, -1/+12took the words right outta my mouth.
- jhshukla, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7although not well presented, the point is to have right amount of contrast, not to maximize contrast. in some cases you might want to maximize it, in some minimize it and in most cases you want something in between.
- springboks, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I'm glad the text is light gray, when my boss sees my monitor they figure I'm reading real important work related stuff. Minimalism is best!
- heyitsgarrett, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10How does light gray text correlate to work?
- springboks, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8if it doesn't look like fark.com it looks like a business/ news site.
- heyitsgarrett, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10How does light gray text correlate to work?
- gmhafiz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6My eyes bleed reading those text. Wait, I cannot read them.
Can't you practice what you preach? - Ireland, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Like the guy a while back who companied about useless 404's, and then his appeared, and it was exactly what he said 'no't to do.
- Konstantino, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Irony at its finest.
- hackmyballs, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2For the love of god, never color text above #444 ktxby1
- tnoy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3They did not even follow their 50% rule for their text.
- jballer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1dugg for this comment.
- cbuddha42, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Eh, wtf are you people talking about? Background at the edges is white, but not under the text; there is a pattern under the text. I can read it just find and found it more plesant to focus on than super high contrast stuff everyone likes to use. Turn the contrast on your monitors up maybe?
- 10goto10, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14I could swear I've seen an article AND a comment just like this yesterday...
- CoolGoose, on 10/16/2007, -23/+6Light-gray text on white background it's called a light contrast :). Contrast doesn't need to burn your eyes you know.
- tortfeasor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18It helps when the text is readable without causing one's eyes to bleed from the strain.
- Theisos, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4The goggles do nothing!
- tortfeasor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18It helps when the text is readable without causing one's eyes to bleed from the strain.
- willynilly, on 10/12/2007, -19/+14Here's an idea: Don't force a glaring white background on your users. Would you choose to read black text off the surface of a light bulb all day? Don't expect anyone else to.
- chidori, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10is not that bad.. just look at google, digg, nytimes...
- dani8559, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I've read usability studies that suggest that it can go either way. Some users find one more comfortable, some find another. Why not use a custom stylesheet?
- HonoredMule, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4My default background color (In all window panes, not just browsers) is a moderate light grey. Most sites don't bother to set a background color at all, and as such look really stupid, but don't hurt the eyes so much.
- shavenlunatic, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3it must pain you to visit digg regularly then eh?
- HigherLogic, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4It's better to use an extremely light white and almost black, like #f7f7f7 to #f9f9f9 for the white, and #111111 to #333333 for the black. It is easier on the eyes too.
- resplence, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2#fff is prettier.
- palmer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2And the original point was modded down why? It's true; no one is even challenging that.
- swatward, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2is that you Maddox?
- mentol, on 10/16/2007, -1/+88Man the blue text on the red background killed my eyes :(
- UnstableMind, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Reminds me of alot of people's myspace pages...hard as hell to read
- caledoniaman, on 10/16/2007, -2/+58I ran their site through a contrast analyser. Fails on God knows how many foreground/background combinations. They should perhaps practise what they preach.
- Mohanned, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Contrast analyzer? I'm intrigued.. link?
EDIT: Nevermind, http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=contrast+anal ...- kevisazombie, on 10/12/2007, -2/+22hahahaha anal
- Mohanned, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Contrast analyzer? I'm intrigued.. link?
- woxidu, on 10/12/2007, -5/+19dugg, despite the shameless eharmony ad in the end
- crazy1kim, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0wasn't an ad, just an example. read the author's reply on post #66
- boot20, on 10/11/2007, -8/+6How about not using light grey text on a white background, thanks...
- RecoDesign, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6How about reading at least the first comment before posting the same thing someone else does.
- derrikirred, on 10/11/2007, -6/+6Buried for being elementary.
- indyjones85, on 10/12/2007, -1/+23This reminds me of what my design professor says, "there is no such thing as bad design, if it's bad design it is not design at all."
- rderveloy, on 10/11/2007, -2/+10I see what your professor was trying to say, but comments like that blindly embrace an ideal while tuning out reality.
- rderveloy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9Why am I being buried? There are examples of bad design all around us every day. The bad choice of text color in the article is a perfect case in point. Burying your head in the sand isn't going to change that.
- MtheoryX, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7I think what he is getting at is that there is no such thing as bad design. There is design, and not. If it's good, its design. If its bad, its not design at all.
At least, thats what I think he's getting at.- fluorite, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8And that is the idea that rderveloy is objecting to.
Accepting defaults is "not design at all." Choosing eye-wrenching colors is *bad design*.
- fluorite, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8And that is the idea that rderveloy is objecting to.
- MtheoryX, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7I think what he is getting at is that there is no such thing as bad design. There is design, and not. If it's good, its design. If its bad, its not design at all.
- baaj, on 10/11/2007, -8/+7Also buried for stating the obvious.
Next article - "Why HTML is Important in Web Design"- TheDreadDiggerD, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6"Why the title of your page should be 'OMG!!! PONIES!!!'"
- unfilterthought, on 10/11/2007, -6/+7Buried for "DUH" factor
- cobracommander, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Exactly what I was thinking. Oh Wow let's make a blog post about the obvious!
- madcaesar, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15Fix the text ahole!
- svivian, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5He's a textaholic, he can't live without textahole
- TheSkunkMonkey, on 10/16/2007, -1/+13Glass houses.
The contrast of text on that site is horrible. Light gray on white? It actually hurt my eyes straining to read that article. While the advice is spot on, the author/site owner need to consider it themselves.
Going with the point made that you want high contrast for items you want to direct your visitor to, it's clear this site is designed to make the ADS pop out at you as the rest of the site is completely subdued. - graealex, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13http://flickr.com/photos/graealex/1542130749/
- phenom2k7, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2lol, nice one.
- Alchemeron, on 10/16/2007, -4/+19Ugh. This website is light-grey on white. Hello, Pot? It's the Kettle.
- thailand1972, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Also the form inputs have light grey borders, making the textfields/textareas pretty much white-on-white with the background (hard to select with mouse, need to tab through), as well as the form buttons being very light grey.
Why do those who contemplate design all day have to be "clever" and arty? Can't they just use common sense? Or is that too simple, too obvious? - G0Ducks, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Once again... Another article for those people recovering from their lack of design/art education, but think they are some kind of designer. Get a degree already.
Contrast comes in more categories than color, btw... Color, light, shape, size, orientation, on/off grid, just to name a few. All of these are important to consider. - 200iso, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2If you have to ask, you shouldn't be designing
- skyshock1, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Why contrast is important in photos - http://www.killsometime.com/Pictures/images/BlackS ...
- skyz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6i like dark backgrounds ~ all that white with 12 hours a day on the net is punishing ~
- trylleklovn, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2Turn down your monitors brightness?
- palmer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Why in hell should anyone turn down the brightness on his monitor, ruining the reproduction of pictures or other materal, just because some morons force an inverse color scheme (like Digg's) on you?
- trylleklovn, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2Turn down your monitors brightness?
- underthesun, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Buried for being hypocritical, and/or unknowingly ironic.
- Ubermann, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4I elect this guy "King of the Obvious."
- mbelleghem, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2dug for the josh wink reference.
- technoticau, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1wink ftw
- jonbon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1it bothers me that currently 931 people didn't know this...
- anononon, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0What did the article say? I could not read it. :(
- stutimandal, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1It's not contrast, it's color theory. Get the classic handbooks on color theory for better luck with this subject.
- laserjobs, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1If anyone can help me find a graphic artist or a good web designer that knows stuff like this for a good website design for a book I am publishing, please contact me. laserjobs at yahoo.com
- chippper, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I hate to say it, but I would hazzard a guess that whoever designed the site tested it on a mac. I'm on a mac right now, and the text is just readable to me. But I can also see how if someone were reading it on a PC, with the lighter Windows gamma value, it would be nigh impossible. Just something to keep in mind for next time, I suppose.
- ps801rk, on 10/17/2007, -0/+0Excellent advice for non-designers like yours truly.
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