The Effects of Background Colors to Images
Click on the various colors to see how the background affects perception of a somewhat dark image and the details in it.
The results of this little test may not be the same on all displays (depending on their calibration and setting) but should give you some idea how the background color affects perception of details,
and how framing an image in various amounts of light can almost blind you and make certain details harder to spot.
This is why I don't even bother to post night photos on flickr or such sites that use a white background.
- Classic white background and black text
Widely used on the internet, possibly because many graphics artists consider a white background to be "default" for any medium,
whereas I believe this combination is more suited for eInk displays and print.
- Light grey background and black text
Same as the above, but emitting only 75% as much light. As far as I can tell, this makes reading a lot of text 25% more pleasant.
- Dark grey background and light gray text
Probably my personal favorite when having to read a lot of text on a computer screen in a dark room,
as this set of colors has enough contrast for easy reading, but does not emit so much light that it strains the eye.
- Black background and white text
Depending on your screen technology and the content being displayed, this may be pleasant, or it may be too contrasty.
- Red background and yellow text
To demonstrate a strong color over a large area
- Blue background and white text
To demonstrate a strong color over a large area
- Black background and green text
This should be the same as white on black, except that green light scatters less than white in certain cases.
So theoretically this would provoke less chromatic aberrations for people with certain kinds of impaired vision.
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