NationStates Jolt Archive


Bring back black backgrounds

Flammable Ice
13-12-2008, 01:18
Seriously, why does every website and piece of graphical software use blinding white backgrounds?

If movies have taught us anything, it's that sophisticated technology is indicated by highly angular neon colour fonts on black backgrounds! I want the future I was promised!
Vampire Knight Zero
13-12-2008, 01:19
Neon on the net? How odd. :p
Skallvia
13-12-2008, 01:21
I prefer Black Backgrounds myself...much better on the eyes
Flammable Ice
13-12-2008, 01:22
Neon on the net? How odd. :p

What I mean is stuff like this: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3011/2368152253_4af5b13d1c.jpg (thank you google search)
Vampire Knight Zero
13-12-2008, 01:23
What I mean is stuff like this: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3011/2368152253_4af5b13d1c.jpg (thank you google search)

Not enough Mineral.
Flammable Ice
13-12-2008, 01:26
Not enough Mineral.

*Sends Protoss Probe*
Hydesland
13-12-2008, 01:26
Because Maddox sucks.
Vampire Knight Zero
13-12-2008, 01:27
*Sends Protoss Probe*

Oh noes! :eek:
Dumb Ideologies
13-12-2008, 01:27
What I mean is stuff like this: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3011/2368152253_4af5b13d1c.jpg (thank you google search)

Wow. I see what you mean. But how can we force a web-wide colour change? Break into Internet HQ and chuck some paint down teh intertubes?
H N Fiddlebottoms VIII
13-12-2008, 01:28
When was black ever the standard? White is better, off-white is betterer, and soothing light gray is best.
Black backgrounds with bright fonts cause blindness and death, as well as excruciating eye-explodification.
Flammable Ice
13-12-2008, 01:34
Wow. I see what you mean. But how can we force a web-wide colour change? Break into Internet HQ and chuck some paint down teh intertubes?

Humankind must be educated!

When was black ever the standard?

On the world wide web it never was, but the original computers used black backgrounds for their command-line interfaces: like this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Bash_screenshot.png/300px-Bash_screenshot.png

But now, everyone's like "Let's use white! It's a metaphor for paper! Dur hur hur!"

But computers aren't paper. I don't want paper! I want sci-fi technology!
Smunkeeville
13-12-2008, 01:41
I'm trying to understand this trend with white backgrounds and light grey colored fonts.

Contrast please.
Dumb Ideologies
13-12-2008, 01:44
I'm trying to understand this trend with white backgrounds and light grey colored fonts.

Contrast please.

Thats because what you're trying to read is top secret. Its only meant to be readable by agents wearing special adapted glasses.
Smunkeeville
13-12-2008, 01:46
Thats because what you're trying to read is top secret. Its only meant to be readable by agents wearing special adapted glasses.

http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/company/index.aspx

apparently.

Also, myspace pages should be illegal.
Dumb Ideologies
13-12-2008, 01:50
http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/company/index.aspx

apparently.

Also, myspace pages should be illegal.

:eek: C'mon. Leave myspace alone. I was majorly into it three years ago. Though mine was easyish to read. Black background, bright pink font. Though one of my friends did have green text on an orange background. That wasn't nice to look at. But then, neither was he so it fit perfectly:p
Thumbless Pete Crabbe
13-12-2008, 01:52
Black fonts with bright colors cause blindness and death, as well as excruciating eye-explodification.

That, and they cause your page to look like it hasn't been modified since 1998 (the high water mark of the black background, I would estimate). :tongue:
H N Fiddlebottoms VIII
13-12-2008, 01:53
But now, everyone's like "Let's use white! It's a metaphor for paper! Dur hur hur!"

But computers aren't paper. I don't want paper! I want sci-fi technology!
It isn't a metaphor for anything, it is just easier to read that way.
Smunkeeville
13-12-2008, 01:55
:eek: C'mon. Leave myspace alone. I was majorly into it three years ago. Though mine was easyish to read. Black background, bright pink font. Though one of my friends did have green text on an orange background. That wasn't nice to look at. But then, neither was he so it fit perfectly:p

I had a "job" once of "monitoring" myspace pages for parents in my parenting group, which basically they were afraid to look or didn't know how and wanted me to check and make sure their kids didn't post inappropriate information...

so I told all the kids I was checking and made a myspace and friended them... all of their pages took 3 hours (I exaggerate) to load and had a tiled background that repeated with transparent boxes and non-contrasting text and the background didn't scroll with the text and they had 32139049348 videos on it.........:headbang: I had to quit it was giving me migraines.
Pure Metal
13-12-2008, 02:17
use ubuntu and hit some control keys or other, and you can invert the screen's colours so a black-on-white website becomes white-on-black), get it to go greyscale (black on a nice shade of grey), or futuristic (well, retro) geen-on-black.

but i do agree. too many sites use plain white. not only is it boring, its ouchy on the eyes late at night
The Mindset
13-12-2008, 02:18
Why do people use black on white? Because it's clearer.

See http://www.ironicsans.com/owmyeyes/

(Speaking as an illustrator/graphic designer).
Pure Metal
13-12-2008, 02:21
Why do people use black on white? Because it's clearer.

See http://www.ironicsans.com/owmyeyes/

(Speaking as an illustrator/graphic designer).

that went all swirly, wobbly and weird, and i can still see it... like, a minute later :(

ow. makes a good point. i still prefer a little less contrast (black on off-white/grey, perhaps). kinda like this nice little box i'm typing in now, in fact >.>
The Mindset
13-12-2008, 02:27
that went all swirly, wobbly and weird, and i can still see it... like, a minute later :(

ow. makes a good point. i still prefer a little less contrast (black on off-white/grey, perhaps). kinda like this nice little box i'm typing in now, in fact >.>

To be honest that example's a little bit misleading. White text on black backgrounds is perfectly fine with the right typeface, good kerning and good layout (attributes that page has none of). I have a personal preference for light on dark because that's how the canvas in the printing industry generally starts - white. That page, however, does show that even when the kerning/font/whatever is bad, black on white is still generally clearer. There's a reason it's called whitespace.
Chandelier
13-12-2008, 02:31
Why do people use black on white? Because it's clearer.

See http://www.ironicsans.com/owmyeyes/

(Speaking as an illustrator/graphic designer).

It hurts my eyes either way there. Black on white is still hard for me to read, I have to highlight the text so that it's easier. White backgrounds are too bright for me.
Smunkeeville
13-12-2008, 02:31
You know what annoys me more than silver font on white pages though? Those pages you can tell someone spent a lot of time on, but it's still horrible.

http://www.villageofarcade.org/
Whereyouthinkyougoing
13-12-2008, 02:37
Seriously, why does every website and piece of graphical software use blinding white backgrounds?
Because black backgrounds with bright fonts are evil and stupid.
The Mindset
13-12-2008, 02:38
It hurts my eyes either way there. Black on white is still hard for me to read, I have to highlight the text so that it's easier. White backgrounds are too bright for me.

Yeah, well, ideally you'd want some anti-aliasing on the text. Black/white and white/black are as high contrast as you can get, and that's not really a good thing in most situations. That's why in print, there's actually two types of CMYK black - black (k=100) and rich black (c=60, k=100). Printed text generally uses black, which isn't actually true black. It's a dark grey.
Christmahanikwanzikah
13-12-2008, 03:57
http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/company/index.aspx


What you don't see is them laughing at you for continually asking for gluten-free products in grey text on the page.

It's for teh safe lulz. :D
Angels World
13-12-2008, 04:06
Black is nice and it looks very professional. But I like a bit more variety. Give us more variety! Make more colors web-safe. *starts web wide protest*
Angels World
13-12-2008, 04:16
that went all swirly, wobbly and weird, and i can still see it... like, a minute later :(

Lol.
Deefiki Ahno States
13-12-2008, 05:11
When was black ever the standard?

Ever heard of MS DOS?
Barringtonia
13-12-2008, 05:26
A basic black background is more environmentally friendly as well...

http://www.blackle.com/
The Mindset
13-12-2008, 05:32
A basic black background is more environmentally friendly as well...

http://www.blackle.com/

Not true for LCDs. It costs more energy to display a black pixel on an LCD than to display a white one. In fact, since most monitors are now LCD, blackle.com uses MORE energy than Google.com to display.
Barringtonia
13-12-2008, 05:44
Not true for LCDs. It costs more energy to display a black pixel on an LCD than to display a white one. In fact, since most monitors are now LCD, blackle.com uses MORE energy than Google.com to display.

Ah thanks, I checked this out a little and seems you're not wrong exactly but that the difference is really too negligible to matter, I'm not sure one can say it uses more but it certainly doesn't seem to make any difference.

There is the point that it might remind you that small individual actions by a large number of people can create great change, hmm...
Shotagon
13-12-2008, 05:53
If you're using firefox, go to tools>options>content>colors, select dark grey as the background and white as the font color, uncheck "allow pages to use their own colors" and you're golden. It may look ugly, but that's as good as you're going to get without writing a stylesheet for every page (http://platypus.mozdev.org/).
Lord Tothe
13-12-2008, 06:17
I'm a draftsman. I use the standard black background on AutoCAD because it's a lot easier on the eyes when trying to focus on the work at hand.
Wilgrove
13-12-2008, 06:46
You know what annoys me more than silver font on white pages though? Those pages you can tell someone spent a lot of time on, but it's still horrible.

http://www.villageofarcade.org/

Holy Diarrhea Batman!
Rambhutan
13-12-2008, 09:52
I have to spend a lot of time at work getting information from websites, and to be honest I hate the people who use anything other than a plain white/off white/pale grey background. People who use different colour text in weird fonts that are too small I would gladly have taken outside and fed to ravenous badgers. Worst of all are things that flash and move around the page. Usually this is all a sign that the website has no useful content.
Rejistania
13-12-2008, 12:12
Why do people use black on white? Because it's clearer.

See http://www.ironicsans.com/owmyeyes/

(Speaking as an illustrator/graphic designer).

With gray text, it'd look better. Also, the alternative style (when following the link) looks worse than the first one.

Yay for command line applications. There, I can select my own colors. but for webbrowsing, command line applications are a bit too minimalistic. :(

Edit: seriously, gray Bitstream Vera Sans Mono on black background is very neat. I understand that Windows users hate the command line because it uses Courier New under their `OS'.
UNIverseVERSE
13-12-2008, 12:50
Humankind must be educated!



On the world wide web it never was, but the original computers used black backgrounds for their command-line interfaces: like this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Bash_screenshot.png/300px-Bash_screenshot.png

But now, everyone's like "Let's use white! It's a metaphor for paper! Dur hur hur!"

But computers aren't paper. I don't want paper! I want sci-fi technology!

Yeah, yeah. Whaddya mean, command lines on original computers only? I have 5 sessions in screen open at the moment.

Anyway, for lots of reading, dark gray on light gray is my preference, and as a result my website lives in those colours. Black on white is evil to read for long chunks of text,

With gray text, it'd look better. Also, the alternative style (when following the link) looks worse than the first one.

Yay for command line applications. There, I can select my own colors. but for webbrowsing, command line applications are a bit too minimalistic. :(

Edit: seriously, gray Bitstream Vera Sans Mono on black background is very neat. I understand that Windows users hate the command line because it uses Courier New under their `OS'.

Stylish for firefox --- rebuild the look of any website with CSS to how you see fit. Great extension.

For interesting cli fonts, my preference is LM Typewriter, but I normally use whatever a debian xterm defaults to (fixed 12, approximately).
SoWiBi
13-12-2008, 12:55
I'm trying to understand this trend with white backgrounds and light grey colored fonts.

Don't try to understand. Fight! (And highlight. It's annoying, but my only rescue when I come upon it)
If you're using firefox, go to tools>options>content>colors, select dark grey as the background and white as the font color, uncheck "allow pages to use their own colors" and you're golden. It may look ugly, but that's as good as you're going to get without writing a stylesheet for every page (http://platypus.mozdev.org/).

Hmm. I tried that (well, with gray as font color and black as background, but that oughtn't matter, right?), and now all kinds of boxes and lining is gone, and ridiculous portions of the screen are in bright, blinding white (even this box), and the text black. Huh?

ETA: Okay, so I unchecked "use system colors" and now I get my black-and-gray, but the weird boxing/lining is still going on. 'sokay, though.
Rejistania
13-12-2008, 13:19
Stylish for firefox --- rebuild the look of any website with CSS to how you see fit. Great extension.

For interesting cli fonts, my preference is LM Typewriter, but I normally use whatever a debian xterm defaults to (fixed 12, approximately).

I do not use FF unless someone forces me to. Konqueror ftw!

I do not have LM Typewriter on my system. Am I right to imagine that it looks a bit like Courier New?
Bouitazia
13-12-2008, 13:34
I fully agree with the op.

I always customize my computer(s) to use black as backgrounds with green(#00FF00) text and Lucida Console type font.

Blinding white is not relaxing for the eyes.
SaintB
13-12-2008, 14:55
http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/company/index.aspx

apparently.

Also, myspace pages should be illegal.

I am SaintB, professionally trained web designer and I support this message.

Why do people use black on white? Because it's clearer.

See http://www.ironicsans.com/owmyeyes/

(Speaking as an illustrator/graphic designer).

Black on white looks nasty and causes eye strain. Who in the world taught you? If you use black it is better to use a contrasting color such as gray, or one of several shades of blue, or green; on a properly adjusted monitor it will be easy to read and easy on the eyes. I prefer a gray background and black or charcoal text with blue links. Those are the best color combinations in my opinion. Black on top of white is the standard because simply put, its like pencil on paper.

Black is nice and it looks very professional. But I like a bit more variety. Give us more variety! Make more colors web-safe. *starts web wide protest*

Web-Safe colors don't really exist anymore. With today's monitors able to display literally every visible color in the spectrum web-safe colors or more like a pastel of paints.
UNIverseVERSE
13-12-2008, 14:59
I do not use FF unless someone forces me to. Konqueror ftw!

I do not have LM Typewriter on my system. Am I right to imagine that it looks a bit like Courier New?

It's the monospace from Knuth's computer modern family of fonts. Try package lmodern* in the debian repos, which will install it all properly into defoma and such.

Great font family, but LM Roman is a little skinny for pleasant onscreen reading --- I like LM Typewriter Variable Width for that purpose. Anyway, they're elegant and slightly archaic in styling, makes a wonderful combination.

*apt-cache search latin modern should also turn up something.

Edit:

@SaintB: How does this site read: http://b.armory.com/~xyzzy/. From a clear design perspective, not a literary criticism one, that is.
Rejistania
13-12-2008, 15:00
Web-Safe colors don't really exist anymore. With today's monitors able to display literally every visible color in the spectrum web-safe colors or more like a pastel of paints.

*ahem* There still ARE old computers with VGA or SVGA graphics cards.
SaintB
13-12-2008, 15:06
@SaintB: How does this site read: http://b.armory.com/~xyzzy/. From a clear design perspective, not a literary criticism one, that is.

Its a bit bland, but it is easy to read and follow. All in all a good layout.
SaintB
13-12-2008, 15:08
*ahem* There still ARE old computers with VGA or SVGA graphics cards.

Yes there are. But they are very quickly falling out of regular usage. Web-Safe colors aren't really the necessary standard anymore.
H N Fiddlebottoms VIII
13-12-2008, 15:52
Ever heard of MS DOS?
Yeah, but that's a command line interface, not a website. And it looked ugly as Hell.