Using Medium is way worse for readability than using grey text.
Long body text should have sufficient contrast and good typography. Using only maximum contrast for all text "just because it worked for books" is bad advice. Not only was there not really a choice when it came to books, also books reflect natural light instead of emitting light. This is fundamentally different and needs to be taken into consideration when designing.
The web does offer incredible flexibility for improving information transmission with _good_ design. Establishing visual hierarchies, guiding the eye and emphasizing things, just to name a few. Just look at your code without syntax highlighting.
The issue is - as with most things - that there is a mix of bad taste, carelessness and lack of education going on.
Just like the design of this article.
> books reflect natural light instead of emitting light. This is fundamentally different
But do not forget that there are other technologies around: EPD, OLED do not quite overlap with that general idea. And both call for maximum contrast (EPD to reach a decent threshold for contrast, OLED to get a completely mute background on one pole and to be energy efficient on the other). Edit: I forgot "projectors" (there where the issue of contrast is nightmare).
> maximum contrast ... Not only was there not really a choice when it came to books
Not really. Try reading a printed book with non-black text. Your "eyes" should tell you it's "not good".
Yes I agree that there are special considerations for e.g OLED where I also prefer pitch-black background. My argument was just that the medium can hugely influence the design and needs to be taken into consideration. Also books are kind of a special category as they contain a LOT of text. So legibility really is the primary concern. With the often shorter prose on the web I feel we can give a little leeway. I would trade dark gray text for removal of intrusive ads any day of the week. Also a lot of books (at least in Europe) are also set in Serif typefaces. Something which did not really translate fully to the web either. Stuff like max line length, font size and kerning are also very important and often neglected elements of typography on the web.
> Also books are kind of a special category as they contain a LOT of text
:) I assumed that the context was that of focused-reading material, long text. Even the movement at https://www.contrastrebellion.com/ does not use B/W everywhere... I assumed that we were discussing a context where «legibility really is the primary concern».
For an aside, a title etc., function prevails - it works in a context; optimal readability: "for the time I will spend on it"...
But the web is full of articles - long text - set as grey on grey.
Long body text should have sufficient contrast and good typography. Using only maximum contrast for all text "just because it worked for books" is bad advice. Not only was there not really a choice when it came to books, also books reflect natural light instead of emitting light. This is fundamentally different and needs to be taken into consideration when designing.
The web does offer incredible flexibility for improving information transmission with _good_ design. Establishing visual hierarchies, guiding the eye and emphasizing things, just to name a few. Just look at your code without syntax highlighting. The issue is - as with most things - that there is a mix of bad taste, carelessness and lack of education going on. Just like the design of this article.