What is the best color combination for readability, easy of use, and reduced eye strain? [closed]

Question

I am trying to pick out the optimal set of colors for a new website project.

I want to do a traditional black on white look and feel for the main content. However my partner on the project wants to do a color combination that more looks like the traditional Windows Forms look and feel.

Is there any research available on the best color combination's to use for readability, ease of use, and reduced eye strain?

Answer 1

• Here are some tips and a study on color-scheming for the color-blind or visually impaired.
• If you want to use complementary colors, or more than two colors, here are some good guidelines [pdf].
• Here are some tools from the NIST to automatically evaluate website usability.

And if the above just will not do, this page has more useful Links than the entire Zelda series.

Answer 2

I would recommend Kuler to find which color scheme to use on your site. If you search for "Windows" on that site you will get some windows schemes that you might want to use.... generally speaking from a marketing aspect, white backgrounds tend to be more accepted than backgrounds with a specific color.

Answer 3

You might also consider using a color matcher ,

I use it and find it very helpful to find complementary color that make your text readable and you design make sense.

Answer 4

White strains my eyes really badly I find.

When it comes to vast amounts of text I typically prefer black on off-white. Some very light shade of gray. Still plenty easy to read, but not burning my retinas.

Answer 5

You can always check your decisions to make sure they are ADA compliant. This is a good place to start

Answer 6

Black text on an off white background works for me. And no background image or color on the desktop

Answer 7

I read about a study that concluded that the readability of a particular color scheme is dependent on the subject's personality. In fact, it was found that some people with a reading disability were instantly able to read faster once a color filter was placed over the pages on a book. I suggest you pick a color scheme that you find easiest on the eyes, and make the font a reasonable size. Something to avoid is the color yellow. The same study found that yellow is a generally irritating color to most people, so even if you find it easy on the eyes, your audience might not. Some people find darker backgrounds easier on the eyes, but if your audience isn't already using their own color scheme, your site will be seen a nuisance, since most of the web is dark-on-light.

Answer 8

Windows Forms look will only keep visitors who like that look. So say goodbye to all the Mac, Linux, and other Windows haters.

Personally, I prefer black on white.

Answer 9

There aresome resources out there that explain the topic.

As a rule, you should avoid black background with white text, it's anoying to a lot of people.

Answer 10

in the past I liked vert much turbo pascal 7 default color scheme: yellow on blue. I'm not sure about it's scientific relevance however I think it is better than black on white.

Answer 11

I personaly use C0DCC0 (greenish) instead of white for background color in windows. Easy on the eyes when you have to stare at the screen whole day. Consider this to be one datasample study :).

(Imagine my disgust at OSX with fixed colors...)