Dark text on light backgrounds
Display long reading text as dark foreground on a light background, prioritizing luminance contrast over hue contrast.
ColorNot testedApplied in the lab
Sources
- EmpiricalBuchner & Baumgartner (2007)
Advantages of positive display polarity do not depend on ambient illumination or chromaticity; hue contrast cannot replace light–dark contrast.
“proofreading performance was consistently better with positive polarity (dark text on light background) than with negative polarity displays”Abstrak
- EmpiricalPiepenbrock et al. (2013)
The same positive-polarity advantage applies to both younger and older adults.
“A positive polarity advantage was found for both age groups.”Abstrak
In this lab
The lab uses light mode only: text #1d1d1f against light backgrounds with contrast ≥ 14:1.
Experiments
No experiments yet.
How to test it: Compare the same article in light and dark display polarity under bright and dim ambient conditions. Measure proofreading errors and reading time.
Findings
No findings yet.