[WEB4LIB] Re: Web page color & accessibility

[Patricia F Anderson]

On Tue, 3 Dec 2002, John Creech wrote:

> Thank you for your response, Lee.  I've encountered the printing problems,
> too, and likely will not implement this, but was curious if there was
> empirical evidence to argue against the practice.  The consensus here
> seems to be that yes, dark backgrounds w/ light text create unnecessary
> problems for visually impaired users.
>
> John Creech, CWU Library

Opinions from instructors in web design.

<http://www.leafdigital.com/class/lessons/graphicdesign2/3.html>
"If you must use a dark background ... "

<http://www.santarosa.edu/access/checklist/example3.html>
Accessible Web Design Checklist

<http://ibis.nott.ac.uk/guidelines/ch2/chap2-G-4.html>
"Dark text on a light background with good contrast is more readable than
light text on a dark background, or than any combination of fore- and
background with low contrast."

<http://www.plainwords.co.uk/web_readability.pdf>
"If you use light text on a dark background, you need a slightly heavier
typeface to help readability, but remember that this can make the pages
harder to print."

<http://www.great-web-design-tips.com/web-usability/91.html>
"If you're offering professional services you shouldn't really use a light
colored text on a dark background."

<http://www.colormatters.com/bubdarc3-vision.html>
"The issue is one of contrast, dark type on a light background, or light
type on a dark background. Here are two urls with lots of information
about typography and readability on screen compared to traditional print
media. <http://www.wpdfd.com/editorial/wpd0698.htm#comment>
and <http://www.wpdfd.com/wpdtypo.htm>"

COMMENT: This one is really interesting, since it uses a white non-serif
font on a navy background. Very hard for *me* to read. :-)

... and someone wanted research?

<http://hubel.sfasu.edu/research/AHNCUR.html>
"When light text is placed on a dark background the text may seem to glow
and become blurred; this is referred to as halation, and it may make the
text harder to read."

Enjoy!

Patricia Anderson, pfa at umich.edu