Testing… 1… 2… 3….
I originally started work on this blog last year, but got busy. I deleted all the early test posts and cleaned everything up and updated to WordPress v2.7. I’m good to go.
Thanks to my good friend and creative associate Amy Stewart of Stewart Design, for the boot in the backside to get this thing up and running. You’ve done me a greater service than you know, Amy, and I appreciate it.
The comments on this post were from the original publish date.
Congratulations, Doyle! I can’t wait to read your posts. The world deserves to see more of you and I’m so glad you’re finally in the blogosphere! We’ve been putting ours up today too– check it out at http://www.stewartdesignweb.com. (You’ll notice that I also figured out how to make the blog appear to be at the root even though it’s under a subdirectory.) We’ve decided to call ours “Stewart Design Doodles.” I’m still working on customizing the design after messing around all day with various templates.
This is just a test comment to see how it will format.
Second paragraph…
Third paragraph…
Here’s another test comment to check out how blockquotes will look.
Blah blah blah blah.
Hi Doyle,
Great to see this live. Looking forward to reading more over the coming weeks.
JS
Hey Doyle,
I’m really glad to see you blogging! You really need to share that brain of yours on the interwebs.
One thing I’m noticing after reading my second post of yours: the high contrast white-text-on-black is causing me to have eye strain. I just looked up from the screen and it took my eyes a good 15 seconds to readjust– it was as though I’d had a flash bulb flashed in my eyes.
Trying to find info on this topic of ease of reading, I found:
http://www.writer2001.com/colwebcontrast.htm
http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200608/light_text_on_dark_background_vs_readability/
You might consider offering a stylesheet option that will change the colors to dark text on a light background.
Hi Jonathan!
Thanks for taking a look and adding me you your blogroll. I’ll look into the iPhone formatting thing.
I’ve also got a post coming up concerning a vintage synth I’ve got that’s 30 years old. Comes from your neck of the woods too.
Hi Amy!
Hmmm… I’ll read those links. Sorry about the eyestrain. Purely unitentional.
With me it’s the exact opposite. The lighter text (it’s actually a light shade of lavender to go with the purple frames and not be so glaring white) is much easier to read for me and the darker colors overall much easier on my eyes.
I’ve got all my CS4 app interfaces set very dark grey (and the CS3 ones still installed).
I respect your opinion, and your design knowledge far exceeds mine, so I’ll have to rethink this blog skin. I like it because of the compartmentalization of each post. But I’m weird that way.
Thanks for the heads up and links!
Hey Amy!
I read those links you sent and they were very illuminating (grin) and instructive!
However! The first one actually supports the contention of light on dark being much less stressful to the eyes, and provided evidence that that’s why it’s the standard for film credits and why the choice was made for the original old dark green on black early CRT terminals.
The second article was someone with the same challenges you, and evidently a significant portion of the population, suffer. I found it very interesting in the comments of that second article that there were several people who had been advised by their ophthalmologists to read light on dark to reduce their eyestrain.
I fit into that category. A completely white page with black text is like staring into a light bulb for me, and it tires and irritates my eyes very quickly. I have to reduce the brightness of my laptop when I’m sitting with the laptop in our darkened theatre because it’s just too bright. After all, the screen isn’t reflecting light; it’s emitting it.
I asked the Beloved Darla to check out the blog and she said that after a while the white text (it’s light purple, doggone it! *grin*) seemed to jump around for her.
That first article said that the lighter text needs to have some heft to the size and weight of the font because if it’s too thin that causes problems. So I’m going to darken the purple-grey text a bit more, and increase the size of the font, as a start.
One of the main reasons I chose this dark background is because a lot of the content of this blog is going to be video and animation. And video looks much better on a dark background… just like a movie theatre.
From reading those articles and comments, I think it most likely boils down to a genetic as well as a habitual and personal preference.
I’m not sure how to set things up with this skin to do graceful changes, but I’ll look into it. I don’t want to drive people that take the time to visit this blog away.
Thanks for your input, Amy. As always, much appreciated!
Doyle,
Keep it like it is. I totally agree that the black background is a better canvas for your flash work, and the font is big enough to be easily legible– and the light purple (which I can easily see now) is a good choice. When I your posts a couple of days ago, I was reading from a very bright room in the morning. The contrast and flash-effect on my eyes was obvious and immediate. Today, it’s gloomier in this room, and for some reason, I don’t seem to have the same flashbulb-in-the-eyes issues as before.
I know the Kindle chose black text on greyish-white non-reflective “paper” after much study on eye strain. Whether you choose white on black or black on white, I think it probably boils down to not having too much contrast.
Amy,
Totally agree, and thanks for the excellent feedback. I also think it might’ve had something to do with differences in the Mac’s gamma as opposed to the PC’s. Stuff produced on a PC always looks too bright on the Mac. I’ve run into that a number of times in projects that are viewed by decision-makers with Macs.
Based on your feedback, I made the changes to the font size and color and I definitely like it better.
However, after reading that link you sent about color theory, I’m seriously thinking about changing the purple and black look and feel to a hopefully more comfortable and pleasing collection of greens.
It will still be light on dark, but not nearly so close to absolute black. And taking into account green’s complementary inverse to the human eye’s natural photo purple cast (never knew about that!), I think it might kill two birds with one stone.
I get a layout that is more comfortable for my contrast-sensitive visitors, and it should still look great for videos and animations.
Thanks again for the help, Amy!
P.S.
I’ve really got to figure out how to do the threaded comment posts in this thing. Lots to learn…