A client wants darker text - I’m using black #000. Is there a way to darken it a little without going to Bold?
Thanks
Thanks for the input, rmorrow - you don’t find white too glary?
Take it from someone that has had serious vision loss - the best contrast to use for low-vision people is a larger font size in white against a black background.
True. But it’s a compromise, since dyslexics will have problems if the contrast is too high (as someone else already mentioned). And since all professional web designers* always use relative font sizes, the font size is less of an issue.
- Professional as in those who actually take a pride in doing a good job. Unfortunately, they are not the most common of breeds.
Take it from someone that has had serious vision loss - the best contrast to use for low-vision people is a larger font size in white against a black background.
For someone with low-vision, black text will appear light gray until their vision degrades to where they can’t see the text at all.
If you’re using a Windows computer and want to see what the computer uses for high contrast, hold down the left-alt, left-shift and hit the prnt-scrn key on the keyboard. Tell it OK and it will switch to high contrast mode. Just repeat the keystrokes or restart the computer to return to your normal settings.
Yeah especially as you get further down… there are people deliberately using it to reduce contrast at times.
Some interesting responses in that link - thanks!
Her computer showed the background as pale yellow, not white. Isn’t that strange - it just goes to show how different monitor settings render things.
This may actually be a setting, not a monitor foo.
Is your (website’s) underwear showing? – Jeffrey Zeldman Presents The Daily Report
Could be some default the client never changed or turned off.
I find that some colours render as a different shade of that colour on a Mac when compared to my Windows pc. I think the rendered colour also depends on the colour space profile the user is using for their monitor, which you can’t control.
fwiw I’m using sRGB IEC61966-2.1 which seems to be the same or very close to what many local commercial printers are using for printing images, but that’s another issue and I digress (:
On the “bad” example, take it one step further, and justify the text.
cheers,
gary
oh man… this fall under clients are INDEED stupid. it also reminds of a shirt a coworker got me (" I am only wearing black until they invent something darker").
Returning to client stupidity tho, remeber many clients don’t know how to communicate what they are envisioning. It is possible ( since you considered “bolding” to be a possibility) that the client doesnt mean make it darker… but make it heavier or that the client just want higher contrast ( background lighter)
be aware of the potential problems with too high a contrast.
Namely, the negative impact it has on dyslexic readers.
which is a good point. but that goes back to client education…
I don’t think you can get darker than black. #000 or rgb(0,0,0)
No, no colour is black so you cannot get any darker; if anything it might be their monitor settings that are set too bright or the text too small. Giving the impression of a lighter colour.
Yes, they can have a choice between normal or bold. As it is a site for the over-50’s I have already made the text 105% so it is larger than normal.
Thanks for replies.
Some fonts are ‘thicker’ than others (expert terminology 
), so perhaps you just need a different font.
That’s a thought, Ralph - will have a look to see if anything appeals - thanks!
My first thought was “lighten the background”.
But I’m wondering if the monitor is making it look “glossy” and they want “flat”.
I know there’s a difference between subtractive and additive colors (paint vs. screen) but I’m wondering if there might be some trick that could result in a somewhat flat look.
I’m talking about black text on white background. Current font is verdana. As it is mostly the elderly using the site they want to make sure the text is really legible.
If you’re using 000 text on FFF background that’s all the contrast you’ll get.
So that does leave finding a “crisp-edged” larger and thicker font and maybe adding letter spacing.
Yes, I’ll definitely check out fonts and give them a choice of some that will still look nice.
Thanks for replies.
Best bet is probably to try another font; but imho you could also use a light grey background rather than white - the glare of a completely white background can make the text harder to read, whereas light grey is a bit softer on the eyes.