In a previous article I argued that the reason why gray text is used more and more on the web is because it looks better than black text from a distance, and since designers do not really read the text on sites they design, they prefer the visually better looking alternative. I also offered a solution to the problem in the form of light background colors.
Because computer screens emit light, white backgrounds are hard on eyes, and using black text on light colored backgrounds could actually make the text easier to read. While writing that article, I considered discussing the proliferation of LCD screens, and their role in this issue, but I had not enough evidence to support my claims.
However, after trying several different LCD screens over the past few months, I think I have sufficient proof that the increasing adoption of LCD screens is one of the major reasons of the gray text phenomenon.
Some web designers who use LCD screens wrongly believe that decreasing the contrast of the black text will actually make the text easier to read because it is not “painfully” sharp anymore.
Let me explain: As nicely outlined in this CRTs vs LCDs comparison chart, LCD screens, due to technical limitations, cannot display grayscale text (or graphics for that matter) properly while CRTs can display the grayscale perfectly with infinite intensity levels, and that is the root of the problem.
Here is a test image that you can use to compare LCDs with CRTs.
If you can, place a LCD and CRT side-by-side, and try to see which one does a better job of displaying the above test image.
If the contrast and brightness settings of the CRT is right, the image should look smoother on the CRT. Now, let’s look at other factors that make the problem even worse: Because LCD screens display brighter and sharper images, they hurt your eyes faster after prolonged use as compared to CRTs. So, web designers using LCD screens often turn blacks into dark grays to fix the problem, but they do not know that, for CRT users, the text becomes barely readable.
The solution: Always test your designs on a CRT screen because the majority of the population uses them, and will likely continue to do so in the near future mainly because of the high price of LCDs and partly because of the technical limitations of the LCD technology such as pixelation in resolutions other than the optimum, slow screen refreshes, and poor grayscale and color accuracy. Also, using light backgrounds as I suggested in my original article helps a lot to ease the brightness problem for both CRT and LCD screens.
Previous Article: “Has Your Web Designer Ever Heard of Contrast?”
Aycan Gulez is the editor-in-chief of Wow Web Designs
(http://www.wowwebdesigns.com), a web site that showcases some of the best
web designs of the world. Gulez is also the author of WowBB
(http://www.wowbb.com), a state-of-the-art bulletin board that offers
innovative features such as auto install/upgrade, a WYSIWYG editor with
integrated spell-checker, auto time zone detection, topic-level new post
tracking, smart caching, and native file format support for popular bulletin
boards
