This is for anyone who runs a blog with white text on black background. It is also for anyone who uses light grey text on a white or similarly non-contrast background. You don’t mean to do this, but your choice is actively hostile to readers. Your choice is making your post hard to read, impossible to read, or annoying enough to the eye that sympathetic readers who might be inclined to really like your work will walk away.
Jan 13, 2023·edited Jan 13, 2023Liked by Josh Slocum
Low contrast text is such an unnecessary and pointless style. But so is using light-face fonts. Young (and normal) eyes might see such text clearly, but it's a real problem for the rest of us. Human factors used to matter in interface design, but it seems that "artistry" has supplanted such consideration for many.
Years ago I learned that Wired magazine purposely used color graphics and font styles that would be difficult for older people to read. It sounds like in these instances it is more of a thoughtless style decision.
This is an example of the normalization of the abnormal.
These specialized fonts and backgrounds are designed to be of assistance for people with sensory processing disorders, dyslexia, vision problems, etc. The assumption is that if they help some people, they cannot be of harm or inconvenience to others.
A similar problem is happening in schools. We know that phonics, combined with rote memorization, works for most children to learn to read the English language, but for some children, like those with dyslexia, sight words are more effective. So instead of identifying children with dyslexia and tailoring a special program for them, all of the children are taught to read by sight - which means that typical children are robbed of their ability to learn new words independently, leading to less fluency and decreased literacy scores.
But the point was never to get all children literate, the point is to average everybody out.
I appreciate this. I have kept my Substack black on white since someone told me that white on black was hard for them to read, but I really like "dark mode" for most things and I had no idea how hard it was for many others.
Gosh yes, so much this.
I thought it was just me! Thank you for bringing this up. I have read several recently that gave me a headache from eye strain. 😲
Mwhahahahahahahahahaha.
yep
I cannot read white on black either.
Howeverrrrrrr, my hubbs has glaucoma and for him, a white page is glaring.
I understand that struggle, but that should be a feature that one can set themselves.
He has his laptop set to white print on black. I would hope that would be a feature on any computer... is it?
Either case, I concur I greatly dislike white on black paper.
Low contrast text is such an unnecessary and pointless style. But so is using light-face fonts. Young (and normal) eyes might see such text clearly, but it's a real problem for the rest of us. Human factors used to matter in interface design, but it seems that "artistry" has supplanted such consideration for many.
Thanks for this. I like black text on white background for best readability.
Couldn't agree more!! Can't imagine why people do this...
Years ago I learned that Wired magazine purposely used color graphics and font styles that would be difficult for older people to read. It sounds like in these instances it is more of a thoughtless style decision.
Absolutely. There is too much irritation forced upon us in the modern world already, I won't option in for more. Hard pass.
This is an example of the normalization of the abnormal.
These specialized fonts and backgrounds are designed to be of assistance for people with sensory processing disorders, dyslexia, vision problems, etc. The assumption is that if they help some people, they cannot be of harm or inconvenience to others.
A similar problem is happening in schools. We know that phonics, combined with rote memorization, works for most children to learn to read the English language, but for some children, like those with dyslexia, sight words are more effective. So instead of identifying children with dyslexia and tailoring a special program for them, all of the children are taught to read by sight - which means that typical children are robbed of their ability to learn new words independently, leading to less fluency and decreased literacy scores.
But the point was never to get all children literate, the point is to average everybody out.
I appreciate this. I have kept my Substack black on white since someone told me that white on black was hard for them to read, but I really like "dark mode" for most things and I had no idea how hard it was for many others.