I'm looking to give this site a more unique personality. I'm afraid I'm not good at designing, and don't have a lot of money for graphics and whatnot. I'm working with a designer (who I'll name once we have something she can be proud of) on basic layout issues but we can't seem to synch up on color.
I seem to be an oddity--I despise black text on white background. I find it highly conducive to eyestrain and difficult to read or look at for long periods. I've had to adjust to it because it's so popular but I still hate it. Black on white is great for books because they are a passive medium; when the light is blaring right at my eyes I find it irritating. The only reason this site has used it for so long is that's the default and I don't know what would look better. I think the most beautiful and readable weblog on the 'net is Andrew Sullivan's, especially his sections on Faith and Culture and Homosexuality. On the other hand, while the Indepundit uses black text, his new color scheme is quite nice.
I'm looking for a text/background combination that is soothing on the eyes and appealing--and since we are text-heavy around here, something you would expect people to be able to stand reading at length. I have tried looking at sites on web design and all I get is vague generalizations about not locking out color-blind users, not using too many colors, etc.. Has anyone got any specific suggestions--THIS specific color with THAT specific background? Once again, I like soothing colors that are easy to read. Flashy is fine but not the primary concern.
I've heard black on a very pale blue or acquamarine background is the most "visually ergonomic" (easiest on the eyes). Personally, my favorite customized colors for using EMACS were always black background with gold letters - very comfortable for staring at a screen for long periods of time AND a good-looking combination to boot.
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While I'd agree the Sullivan's schemes are OK, I think his background colors are a bit too much. For my part, I like Jerry Pournelle's color scheme (his desgin isn't very impressive, just the colors); he uses black text on parchment background, which is much less glaring (he uses a parchment gif for the background, which isn't needed; a parchment color would work better).
White text on black combos tend to suck IMO; they give the impression that the text is glaring. I find them harder to read for long periods than the black text on white. The black on parchment seems to work even better, though.
Blogskins.com provides a number of MT "skins". The Preview button on each skin's page lets you see it. It's one starting point way to see which layouts/colors work for you.
Frankly I think Sullivan's combos are much to garish. I'll also admit that to be a subjective opinion.
In general one should avoid harsh colors and/or contrasts. Sullivan's aren't the worst I've seen (I'd say dark blue on black is the leader) but he's up there.
Of course some people like that sort of thing. One aquaintance very much enjoys the '60s desktop theme that comes with the Win98 Plus! Pack. I shudder when I look at her green text on lavender background screen, but she seems to like it...
One possibility you might want to consider (I'd have to check in a web editor to see how it comes out) is a variation on the old DOS white/bright white on blue, or yellow/bright yellow on blue combinations. Those worked pretty well for me back then. Much better than the default grey on black text, and black text on a white background just didn't cut it in text mode! Urk. Black on eggshell white, a la the original Mac, now, was a different story.
I'm chagrined that Jon Dowell beat me to mentioning Jerry's site, especially since I stole that color combination for my own site! As you can imagine, I find that combination very attractive.
I'll quote from my Tech Writing teacher: one of the first things you do is define your website's purpose. In your case, I would say that can be defined as "to entertain or instruct my audience." Then you get to define your audience, and so on. Point being that this should be a user-oriented analysis. What all (or most of) the users find most comfortable should be your goal here. Unless of course the basic purpose of your site is "to publish whatever I bloody well please, and to heck with what anyone else thinks!" Heh heh heh.
As a closing note I just ran through my bookmarks of favorite sites for things like ideas, information, current events (including a certain www.deanesmay.com), and darn if every one but Pournelle uses black text on white background! Not that the entire page is like that, the text areas were. For good examples try (www. of course) reason.com, strategypage.com, starshipbuilder.com, darwinawards.com, and satirewire.com. A couple of sites that use a black background that don't make me immediately scream are ninfinger.org and culttvman.com
While not a formal survey, from what I've seen most information or text oriented sites tend to use black on white. Probably because most folks find that a good choice. But to quote Dennis Miller: "Hey, that's just my opinion..."
Pssst... Dean, ya wanna know a secret?
It's about my text.
It isn't black - it's gray.
If you want to see the difference, check out my counter - it's true black.
The key is to use non-saturated colors. Don't use 100% anything, it's hard on the eyes.
Red, white and blue!
You can't name a better color scheme (or a better beer for that matter!)
so, Dean, what's the verdict?
I've changed the layout of my site again... cooler colors, yet it's still warm.
Personally, I like gray text on white, possibly boxed, within a darker background. You can then do whatever you want with the rest of the content.
good idea skylat coalfax. those are the colors you should do, red, white and blue. I like how you have your site already though, esmay. it looks nice.
Thanks for the info on Blogskins.com MT "skins", and the Preview button on each skin's page to lets you see it. It really improved my site.
Thanks again, your site is great
Tremendously worded, keep up the tremendou work