Interactive Guide to Blog Typography • Hacker News Board

leephillips wrote: post #22

lifeformed wrote: post #18

Can anyone give some tips for using text on a dark background?

I've been wondering why people seem to prefer to code with a dark background, but read prose with a light background. Or am I wrong?

When coding, you usually fine-tune your editor color scheme: light text colors on a not too dark background are relaxing for my eyes.

When reading, instead, you cannot easily change the color scheme of web pages with black background and painfully high contrast.

Example of a website with color scheme alternatives:

http://www.textfiles.com/directory.html

«AAAAH! MY EYES! Click here if you prefer a black and white color scheme.»

http://www.textfiles.com/wdirectory.html

«This is a special "black on white" version of the directories in textfiles.com for people who, for various reasons, have issues or trouble with the green on black color scheme of the site.»

Re: Interactive Guide to Blog Typography

#26

Post by cooperadymas » Wed, Dec 19, 2012, 3:49 PM UTC

Really great guide that seems to nail some of the basics. I can tell the difference between a great reading experience and a mediocre one, but I can never seem to pinpoint the reason for that difference.

Is there a tool that "evaluates" a page for some of these typography basics on a live website? Maybe a bookmarklet. I know at some point it becomes a matter of looking with a trained eye and personal preference, but many of the parameters could easily be computationally evaluated. E.g. measure, line height and paragraph spacing, color/contrast, maybe even visual hierarchy.

Re: Interactive Guide to Blog Typography

#27

Post by hisyam » Wed, Dec 19, 2012, 4:01 PM UTC

leephillips wrote: post #22

lifeformed wrote: post #18

Can anyone give some tips for using text on a dark background?

I've been wondering why people seem to prefer to code with a dark background, but read prose with a light background. Or am I wrong?

I prefer not to code with a light background because it hurts my eyes. Strangely enough, my eyes don't complain when typing with a white background in a word editor.

Maybe it's because text editors come with lots of color?

Re: Interactive Guide to Blog Typography

#28

Post by Silhouette » Wed, Dec 19, 2012, 4:49 PM UTC

josscrowcroft wrote: post #15

Silhouette wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone with a background in both mathematics and typography, I'm still trying to figure out how people come up with that sort of nonsense. There are times when constants like the Golden Ratio are relevant and the exact value matters or some useful property doesn't apply. This is not one of those times. There is absolutely nothing "perfect" or "optimal" about the typography you'll create from this "solid mathemati…

Ok, ok, congrats on a very clever response, but you're missing the point. The key thing (and why I prefer the related tool, linked above) is whether or not the result looks good. Is the article pseudo-intellectual and kind of wanky? Of course it is. It's the internet. Does the resulting typography look good?

Is the article pseudo-intellectual and kind of wanky? Of course it is. It's the internet.

And yet there are many good articles on typography you could have linked to instead: try the typography section in A List Apart or even some of the more recent stuff on Smashing Magazine for basic ideas in small doses, or read the likes of Matthew Butterick for a lot of thoughtful and more detailed comments.

Does the resulting typography look good?

No, it often won't. That's why I challenged your link.

Re: Interactive Guide to Blog Typography

#29

Post by indiecore » Wed, Dec 19, 2012, 4:51 PM UTC

Section 11 seems to be broken (I popped it open in the inspector). Looks like it's not connecting the toggleBlack method up to the text.

Chromium 18 on Xubuntu 11.10

PS: This is an awesome resource. I've always noticed the things that you talk about but I never knew why I noticed them.

Re: Interactive Guide to Blog Typography

#30

Post by tommikaikkonen » Wed, Dec 19, 2012, 5:04 PM UTC

indiecore wrote: post #29

Section 11 seems to be broken (I popped it open in the inspector). Looks like it's not connecting the toggleBlack method up to the text. Chromium 18 on Xubuntu 11.10 PS: This is an awesome resource. I've always noticed the things that you talk about but I never knew why I noticed them.

I'll look into it. Thanks!