Indeed we did. It was for a bank website and the test groups consisted of actual banking customers of all ages, backgrounds and abilities… Thanks for bringing that up Oh and the point was in answer to MrMr who was interested whether anyone actually conducts usability testing when they design sites with softened contrast.
Can’t agree with you there… Data is data. If one were to conduct a study, this could be part of the data. Furthermore:
Point 1 is unlikely due to the “fact” that yes we are web professionals and are more likely to experience eye strain from over use of screen text. I don’t know about you but I spend 8 - 10 hours in front of the monitor on average every day.
Point 2… I don’t see your point.
Point 3 & 4 …More of the same unsubstantiated
Great point… I set my base copy leading to 160% and adjust from there… Often for an H1 block of “Welcome” text, I’ll crank it up to 180% for better readability.
[COLOR=“silver”]I Lawlz’d at that one. Srsly.
I never used to be bothered by high contrast. Nowadays I do and that’s prolly cause I stare too much at the screen.
BTW I’m feeling so trendy right now, I could almost buy an Apple product.[/COLOR]
I went back and read the posts again and I think you’ll have to rephrase one more time…
Most of the responses didn’t say anything about what is nicer. They said they used a dark grey to make it read better. There’s a huge difference between nicer and reads better
I have to disagree.
It really depends who filled in the survey or did the test.
If you want scientific proof for this type of test. You’ll have to get a certain amount of people, where all categories of persons are presented (in the same %'s of the total population that uses the internet).
point 2 … online surveys are biased because mostly only people who
really like the site/topic/company
really dislike the site/topic/company
will be the ones that do the effort to answer them.
Your average user will most likely not answer the survey.
Forum posts are even more biased. You will only see the posts of the
forum post whores who just want to post on every thread
the people that are really against it
the people that are really pro
A lot of people do have their opinion on this subject, but don’t want to make it clear to the public, because they don’t find it important enough to spent time on (or even to register).
Most people that don’t have an opinion on this, or don’t find this subject important, or think both parties are 50% correct, will not respond to this thread.
Because of this, the posts on Sitepoint do not represent the average thoughts of the visitors of Sitepoint. It only represents the part of Sitepoint users that shouts the loudest or does care to express his opinion in public. (take a look at some average forum stats on subscribed members vs active members)
point 3 … You really can’t generalize web developers / webdesigners opinion as a descent reference for the opinion of all the internet users.
If i’d think that way, 50% of my users would have a 1600x1200 screen, 99% of all my users would hate (& never use) Internet Explorer.
(figures are fake, but you’ll get the point)
2nd rephrase
Most members who commented this thread on the design-aspect of grey text, agreed that the design of dark grey on white is nicer then black on white.
point 3 … You really can’t generalize web developers / webdesigners opinion as a descent reference for the opinion of all the internet users.
If i’d think that way, 50% of my users would have a 1600x1200 screen, 99% of all my users would hate (& never use) Internet Explorer.
(figures are fake, but you’ll get the point)
Lawlz. I want users like that : )
You’re right, though the answers here could certainly be useful for measuring web developers : ) the same people using light grey on white, and
-people staring at a screen all day
-browsing the internets (not working on say a banking system with its own set colours)
-who care about text colours : )
No, I wouldn’t call what was posted in this thread scientific at all, but it IS useful. Just not the same as a sit-down-and-test usability study.
-people staring at a screen all day
-browsing the internets (not working on say a banking system with its own set colours)
-who care about text colours : )
we do stare all day
why are so many sites using gray text?
because screen staring web developers with sensitive eyes design most sites.
In photoshop, I always figured the best way to stay on the same color range was to pick the primary color (that is not gray, white or black) and, in photoshop, just change the ‘h’ attribute – which I always figured the degree just meant height – to find all other colors on that range. Could be wrong.
When it comes to gray instead of black on white, besides the contrast, the gray looks smoother than high-contrast black. Cleaner. Though, yes, sometimes it does turn out being harder to read.
Oh and the point was in answer to MrMr who was interested whether anyone actually conducts usability testing when they design sites with softened contrast.
