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Comment by pazra | Hacker News Reader

Third-ed. Contrast way too low. Why not use #000000 for the background color? Everything just looks washed out as it stands and almost has the effect of making everything look disabled.

How about something closer to this? http://i.imgur.com/qQr0xId.png

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You should never use absolute black. It's a common phrase you'll hear your first day of Color Theory class http://ianstormtaylor.com/design-tip-never-use-black/

As much as this advice is correct for painting, it's incorrect for design. What's wrong with black text? Nothing. Ironically, the site you link as a very thin font with very reduced contrast, so it's barely legible on my screen. The site is less legible than dark topfive and giving advice on design...

Form follows function. Barely legible text is very bad design.

> is correct for painting, it's incorrect for design

I disagree. It's a fundamental concept of Color Theory, which is a fundamental concept of design.

> What's wrong with black text?

Nothing. But you shouldn't be using absolute black. I tend favor #24242A.

I think it's unfair to call the site I linked to barely legible. The font is perhaps a touch too thin, but it's still very legible. Of course this is all subjective.

On it :) Contrast has got max feedback - thanks for helping out

In short: eye strain can happen at both extremes of the spectrum. As such, #111 is more friendly than #000.

The same background color is fine with a color like #ADAA9E—brighter version of the current color.

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