Pale grey on white backgrounds
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Many WordPress bloggers use pale grey on white. I gather this is a WordPress default and that you have to pay to change it. Well, lket me say as a 61 year old with poor eyesight that pale grey on white goes against ALL accessibility advise (see w3c.org for more info on this) – in effect, it discriminates against those with visual impairment.
Come on WordPress – get with it hey? Ever bought a book printed in pale grey on white? No? Wonder that that it?
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I’m visually challenged and I have zero difficulty with readability. I find that all gray fonts on our themes do meet and even exceed accessibility guidelines. There are many themes here that have black fonts on white backgrounds. Why don’t you browse the Themes Showcase and switch to using one of them? http://wordpress.com/themes/
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P.S. I strong suggest that playing the age card is something to be avoided. Why? Because most of the Volunteers here are not young and none of us ask for a concessions based on ageism. We don’t feed and fuel the ageism stereotyping.
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Note this please re: font colors and sizes
For black on white, simple, and medium or large font size, check Book Lite, DePo Square, Publish, Twenty Eleven, Untitled. Also Skylark – the out of the box version, not the one of the demo.
For extremely large font size, check Ryu.
from: https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/hyperlink-colour?replies=22#post-1337090 -
I posted her as I have a WordPress account – but no blog; the post was in response to at least three WP bloggers who had this template, who all said that to change it they would have to pay, and did not intend to. As for the age card, older people have worse eyesight. Fact.
If I was misinformed, then I can only assume that WP have misinformed at least whoever runs this blog…
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If the owner of that blog has something they wish to discuss with Staff about the font on their theme then that’s up to them to do.
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@jeremyp99:
a) Yes, to change the font color and/or the font size on a particular theme, you have to pay (with a few exceptions). But color and size vary from theme to theme, so if a blogger doesn’t like the font colors of a theme, paying isn’t the only option: they can simply switch to a different theme (at the moment there are around 50 themes with black text on white bg).
b) All browsers allow you to zoom in, and some browsers allow you to set different colors than the original ones of the pages you visit. -
justpi – thanks. I will pass that on. And yes (I am now retired but worked in IT and wrote web systems for the likes of the National Library of the Blind in the UK (hence my insistence on accessibility) for many years. Sure you can change contrast and increase font size, but the bottom line is that web pages should be presented so that EVERYONE can read them without changes. Especially as it is so easy to do – why complicate matters unnecessarily?
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You’re welcome.
a) Readability doesn’t depend only on the color. Grey on white can be more readable than black, depending on other factors: font family, font thickness, font size, letter spacing, line spacing, line length…
b) Readable is an important factor, but pleasing and harmonious is also a factor, and tastes vary. You seem to prefer black on white, but others (including me) find it too crude. Like many designers, I would never use pure black on pure white for the main text: you soften the contrast by making the text dark-colored instead of black, or the bg light-colored instead of white. And personally I prefer light text on dark bg – as on this theme:
http://visualdemo.wordpress.com/
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