
Ask HN: Why do more and more websites have light grey text on white backgrounds? - caiocaiocaio
Or worse, light grey text on slightly lighter grey backgrounds?<p>I find it a strain to read, especially if it is a very light grey. I also think it looks drab and indistinct, especially if it&#x27;s a very light grey.
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koralewski
I believe it's a remnant from the past, before ambient light sensors and auto-
brightness became commonplace. People thought #000000 on #FFFFFF put too much
strain on the eyes. Fortunately, it looks like web designers are moving away
from that—a good, unapologetic example is Bloomberg's website:
[https://www.bloomberg.com/](https://www.bloomberg.com/).

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briar
I'd assume it's due to the designers and devs not doing proper WCAG contrast
testing.

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billconan
I guess this? [https://uxmovement.com/content/why-you-should-never-use-
pure...](https://uxmovement.com/content/why-you-should-never-use-pure-black-
for-text-or-backgrounds/)

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dsego
Designers have monitors with better gamut and contrast so it looks fine to
them?

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splodge
Is it because less people care about accessibility these day?

