Dark themes

Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Feb 28, 2018 at 07:21 PM

Christian Tietze wrote:
>Dobres et al found
>recognition time of words typeset as black text on white background was
>38% better (faster) than white text on black.

I’m sure this is valid. The famous marketing man David Ogilvy mentions the experience he had with a printed advertisement, which originally ran with white text on black background. Switching to black text on white background doubled the response rate.

If I could interact with my devices only with passive LCDs or e-ink displays (black on white), I would gladly choose them. My second choice would be amber monochrome which I found very easy on my eyes. But, alas, modern OSs and applications don’t take kindly to all of these.

By the way, I found this interesting reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monochrome_monitor
“Pixel for pixel, monochrome monitors produce sharper text and images than color CRT monitors. This is because a monochrome monitor is made up of a continuous coating of phosphor and the sharpness can be controlled by focusing the electron beam; whereas on a color monitor, each pixel is made up of three phosphor dots (one red, one blue, one green) separated by a mask. Monochrome monitors were used in almost all dumb terminals and are still widely used in text-based applications such as computerized cash registers and point of sale systems because of their superior sharpness and enhanced readability.”