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The fight against "default" white seems analogous to Ian Storm Taylor's recommendation to never use black (http://ianstormtaylor.com/design-tip-never-use-black/). I prefer off white (e.g., #f9fafc) because of the same reason I like text color set at #333 — it looks softer, but still almost imperceptibly different from #fff/#000's traditional "paper and ink" aesthetic.

http://www.colorcodehex.com/f9fafc/

http://www.colorcodehex.com/333333/

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I believe in using a black background for talk slides.

Example: http://new.livestream.com/gigaom/gigaomroadmap/videos/579403...

I would prefer dark gray from an aesthetic perspective. But the reason I choose black is simple:

Often, the LCD projector is not pointed straight at the backdrop or maximized correctly. If your slide background is not black, there is a perceptible margin, and your slide area is shaped like a trapezoid, not a rectangle. Using a black slide background minimizes this margin, and makes it look like your slides correctly fill the backdrop.

Just my two cents. I'm curious if people feel strongly against this approach.

White on black is very hard to see in a brightly lit room. Many programming talks like that color scheme and it just doesn't work with crappy projectors.

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