[Sigia-l] On-screen legibility

[James Spahr]

The book, Stop Stealing Sheep (and learn how type works) has a section 
on legibilty in these curcumstances. (All type books do, but Sheep is 
very consise)

It goes something like this

White areas expand into dark areas. The more contrast, the more 'optical 
bleed' happens. If the contrast is way too high the eye can have trouble 
focusing, and a blurring/halo effect can happen. Reflective vs 
illuminated images can also effect the degree in which this happens.

Type legibility can suffer if a white background bleeds to far into the 
lettershapes. Or if white text on a dark background is high contrast and 
you start to get a halo.

As with all things type, it all depends on your typeface. The legibility 
problems with white on black vs black on white can ussually be solved by 
adjusting the weight of your typeface.

So to directly answer your question. What ever you choose, other 
variables in the visual presentation can compensate for most problems.

I prefer dark backgrounds with light type on screen. Color fidelity is 
easier percevied by the eye in lighter colors and the dark background 
gives me options. For print, I stick to white backgrounds.

But I've done work for people who want the opposite, and there is always 
a way to make it work.

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 12:46 pm, Antoni J. Gomez Bosquet wrote:
> In order to have good on-screen legibility, it's recommendable that  
> there
> is sufficient contrast between the background and the text. That is why
> the best option is usually a white background and black text.
> Nevertheless, at night, or in dark atmospheres, like some Power point
> presentations , a dark background screen is recommended with light
> coloured text. I read something on this a long time ago, but I do not  
> have
> the reference now.  Do you know of any references on the subject or  do 
> you
> know the possible reasons for it?
>
> Antoni J.
>
> ------------------
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    James Spahr
    james at spahr.org