Member-only story
TECHNOLOGY
Will You Quit Making White Text on Color Backgrounds?
This is an accessibility issue, not just a preference
I read a LOT. I read quickly, voraciously, and widely. Reading has always been a large and important part of my life.
I have always objected to anything I read that is not written with black text on a white background.
I never understood why; I knew that it caused me to read more slowly, which is annoying, but there was more to it: I had a visceral reaction. I did not like it even if I could not say why.
Dark mode is NOT easier on your eyes! See https://www.allaboutvision.com/digital-eye-strain/is-dark-mode-better-for-eyes/
At a private Facebook site, another writer mentioned that she had heard that astigmatism might be a factor here. As it happens, I am cursed with extreme astigmatism. Without correction, one of my eyes would be legally blind and the other isn’t much better.
Astigmatism distorts and blurs everything I look at. At a distance, the letters on a highway sign are duplicated and pasted over each other. At night, blinking lights are silent fireworks. Could this be related? Apparently so. A quick Google search turned up this today and it opened my astigmatic eyes:
