White or Black

If it ain't broke don't fix it....white means pure and good :O)

black on white is a lot easier to read then white on black. Especially for a site that has 100,000 word stories that would get tiresome on the eyes pretty quick.

I will also comment that the poll is a little tricky to follow-does white mean white text, or white background with black text?

Actually, as far as books go, the historical processes for making paper tended to produce white or sepia tones. Bleaching was use to make a uniform color. Also, black inks were easy to make, starting with ash and evolving from there. So the "technology" favored black on white-ish/sepia for so long it became the norm.

That said, there are some who argue persuasively that we can and should improve on that ancient technology with computer displays, but I've tried everything over the years, and have never found anything kinder to my eyes than slightly off-white (not as much as sepia) with black letters and larger than average font styles.

The only thing closest were the old monochrome monitors (late 80's) that were black with amber characters. That was really easy on my eyes, but when I try to recreate that today, I don't find it as compelling any more and just go back to black on white background.

Of course, I'm a well-known nut in that I like Comics Sans MS font the best. It's easy on my eyes and it's somehow appropriate for this genre. So what does that tell you?

lfan wrote: As a UI designer told me a long time ago, "it's no coincidence that all books are published with black text on white paper." While it might not be "all", his point always resonated with me. Black on white!

ElF

fats wrote:

castor wrote: I will also comment that the poll is a little tricky to follow-does white mean white text, or white background with black text?

The text colour would be changed to match the new theme, so black text on a white background or white text on a black background.

fats

Ugh. So many people voting for white text on a black background? When I saw that the comments were mostly in favor of black text on white, I figured it would win.

Dare I hope that the confusion has misled people into voting for the opposite of the option they really wanted? Because I'm really not looking forward to white on black.

Jabbrwock wrote:

fats wrote:

castor wrote: I will also comment that the poll is a little tricky to follow-does white mean white text, or white background with black text?

The text colour would be changed to match the new theme, so black text on a white background or white text on a black background.

fats

Ugh. So many people voting for white text on a black background? When I saw that the comments were mostly in favor of black text on white, I figured it would win.

Dare I hope that the confusion has misled people into voting for the opposite of the option they really wanted? Because I'm really not looking forward to white on black.

Yeah if thats the case i would like to take back my vote-this is confusing.

Really it should be:

White text on black background

Black text on white Background.

Now I'm confused too. My vote for White was black for text on white background. But I can see how someone else may have seen it the other way.

castor wrote:

Jabbrwock wrote:

fats wrote:

castor wrote: I will also comment that the poll is a little tricky to follow-does white mean white text, or white background with black text?

The text colour would be changed to match the new theme, so black text on a white background or white text on a black background.

fats

Ugh. So many people voting for white text on a black background? When I saw that the comments were mostly in favor of black text on white, I figured it would win.

Dare I hope that the confusion has misled people into voting for the opposite of the option they really wanted? Because I'm really not looking forward to white on black.

Yeah if thats the case i would like to take back my vote-this is confusing.

Really it should be:

White text on black background

Black text on white Background.

Black background, bright text.

The difference between books and screens is that when you read a book, you are not constantly staring into a light bulb.

Put me down for black text on white background.

Oh yeah, I did request a long time ago for a toggle-able mode, perhaps called Good and Evil mode

1. My vote is dark text on a light back ground. So black on white (or black on very pale gray).

(On most screens in most environments white text on a black background gets painful on the eyes.)


2. Fats, would you consider extra spacing between lines (1.5 spacing), to make long stories more readable?

I would second the 1.5 line spacing for my old eyes.

TranslucentOne wrote: 1. My vote is dark text on a light back ground. So black on white (or black on very pale gray).

(On most screens in most environments white text on a black background gets painful on the eyes.)


2. Fats, would you consider extra spacing between lines (1.5 spacing), to make long stories more readable?