Why’s the site gone white?
A couple of weeks ago I opened a poll to see whether this site should be black with light text or white with dark text – see this post for the whys and wherefores.
The poll was a wash-out, largely because I didn’t publicise it well enough – eight people voted (thanks all of you!) and the result was a draw between dark-on-light and light-on-dark.
While the poll was running I did some research, and discovered that the vast majority of people who know what they’re talking about agree: light text on a dark background is hurty on the eyes. So given the inconclusive poll result, I’m turning the site white as an experiment. I’m going to keep an eye on my traffic stats and see whether inverting the colour scheme encourages more people to visit and read my stuff, like the people who know what they’re talking about say it will.
If you have a position on this riveting and highly worthwhile issue, do comment below.
I also faced the dilemma with my website and blog. Although it may be a purely visual thing though, it also depends on contents and whether you use any images to support text. White backgound may also get tiring for the eyes, as it projects a lot of light in your face, while a darker backgound has less light and is energy saving as well. But for longer texts white is less tiring for the eyes, while dark is good for image based sites. Anyway, try and see!