Site Design Reasons
While I was attending Wake Technical Community College during Aug2000 to Dec2003 (when my father died), I learned one thing of importance in Web Design. I will admit, I can no longer remember the exact URL where I found this information. However, I have found it enlightening.
Here is an interesting "Hmm…"
When did Star Trek: The Next Generation first originally premiere on television (TV)? 1984?
In 1996, Harvard University performed a study, on the fledgling World Wide Web. Want to know their scientific analysis?
On a page of paper, what EXACTLY are you seeing? On a CRT monitor, and today, on a LCD display, what EXACTLY are you seeing?
On a page of paper you are actually seeing REFLECTED light. On any monitor, whether Plasma, LCD, CRT, you are seeing REFRACTED light.
These two forms of light are very different from each other. Reflected light is much weaker than Refracted light. Another way of putting this. Reflected light is "bounced" into your eyes. Refracted light is "beamed straight" into your eyes.
Hell, let's try another way. Take a MAG-LITE® flashlite, almost any will do. Get into a room which has as close as possible to "total darkness" as you can possibly get. Carry a sheet of white paper with you. Make sure you have the MAG-LITE® flashlite turned to create a tight-beam ray. Once inside, and the door is closed, try your best to aim the MAG-LITE® flashlite at the sheet of white paper flat. Yes, the sudden brilliance does tend to blind you and cause you close your eyes. However, shut the MAG-LITE® flashlite off and let your eyes adjust again. For some, this may take some time. Once your eyes are adjusted again (you no longer see a bright spot when you close your eyes), then point the MAG-LITE® flashlite straight at your eyes. No paper, no nothing blocking the light. Then turn the MAG-LITE® flashlite on so it is pointing straight INTO your eyes (or at least as close as you guess). See any difference? Which method blinded you the worst? Which method were you able to get your eyes to the point you no longer saw the the bright spot in your eyes when you closed them? I'll go ahead and tell you. The method where you "bounced" the light off the paper.
The above experiment shows the difference between REFLECTED and REFRACTED light. The first step is REFLECTED. The second is REFRACTED.
Have you ever wondered why you get headaches when staring at a computer monitor after many hours? The headache is caused by your eyes trying to continuously focus into a field of REFRACTED light rays. Human eyes are not meant to do so. Human eyes are meant to accept REFLECTED light and process it. They were never meant to be burned out by REFRACTED light being shot straight into them.
This is the reason you will see any website designed by me having a darkish background and lightish text. It is so much easier on the eyes. This is also the reason I have "negative" desktop schemes. In other words, highlights are actually lowlights and vice versa. However, with Windows XP, I cannot choose such a "negative" scheme. I have to go out on the WEB and find such that someone else has created. Do you think Microsoft wants all persons to have failing eyesight so as to further blind them from the truth?…
Most of the time when I am typing and converting my data files from WordPerfect into HTML, I almost never look at the screen. Yes, I make typographical errors. However, with SpellCheckers, I can catch most typos. But, not always. I still have to proofread on a monitor screen. Even I have to admit it is much, much easier to do so on a screen that is mostly dark with bright text than a bright background with dark text. Some find this easier. I do not.
As memory serves, Harvard University found that almost 83% of the people found it easier to sit and read long documents which had a dark background and bright text than ones with a bright background and dark text.
Which is easier for you?