Ask HN: Warmer font color?

#1

Post by healthyhippo » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 8:53 PM UTC

I'm looking at some of the fonts on this page and trying to figure out why they look so much nicer than my regular ones in HTML. So, couple questions:

1. How do I get that colored warm look that the designer has used? (see pic)

http://imgur.com/rOy5T

Re: Ask HN: Warmer font color?

#2

Post by mbenjaminsmith » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 9:25 PM UTC

You mean the off-black fonts? Blueprint CSS for one uses a dark gray for its fonts: #222222 and that gives it a warmer look.

Re: Ask HN: Warmer font color?

#3

Post by sielskr » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 9:27 PM UTC

mbenjaminsmith wrote: post #2

You mean the off-black fonts? Blueprint CSS for one uses a dark gray for its fonts: #222222 and that gives it a warmer look.

I regret the trend towards gray rather than black maintext.

Re: Ask HN: Warmer font color?

#4

Post by healthyhippo » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 9:45 PM UTC

I was actually talking about the colors to the side of the font-- the blues, oranges, and reds that shaded the outside of the black. It turns out that most type in my mac shows up like this, though it doesn't show up like that in inkscape where I've been doing my mockups.

Thanks all.

Re: Ask HN: Warmer font color?

#5

Post by timrobinson » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 10:58 PM UTC

healthyhippo wrote: post #4

I was actually talking about the colors to the side of the font-- the blues, oranges, and reds that shaded the outside of the black. It turns out that most type in my mac shows up like this, though it doesn't show up like that in inkscape where I've been doing my mockups. Thanks all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subpixel_rendering

Re: Ask HN: Warmer font color?

#6

Post by moeffju » Fri, Dec 24, 2010, 11:48 PM UTC

This is an artifact of subpixel rendering ("ClearType" on Windows, subpixel antialiasing on OS X). The Wikipedia article is quite good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subpixel_rendering

Re: Ask HN: Warmer font color?

#7

Post by brudgers » Tue, Dec 28, 2010, 4:07 AM UTC

sielskr wrote: post #3

mbenjaminsmith wrote: post #2

You mean the off-black fonts? Blueprint CSS for one uses a dark gray for its fonts: #222222 and that gives it a warmer look.

I regret the trend towards gray rather than black maintext.

Design for Hackers: Why Monet Never Used Black

http://www.kadavy.net/blog/posts/d4h-color-theory/