

Edward Tufte on Background Color - vpj
http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0000M0

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VLM
Good points, there are also biological concerns where your pupils shrink with
brightness making brighter displays clearer.

Another semi-bio related issue is contrast. The net aggregate brightness of
the display should be roughly similar to the surroundings. So a "white
background" needs to be microscopically brighter than the room with black
letters, but a "black background" needs the few illuminated glyphs to be
incredibly bright to meet the same average brightness level.

I grew up on terminals and CRTs where for visual quality (and tube lifetime)
you needed white text / black background but having the luxury of choosing for
a couple decades now, I am happier with black letters on white-ish background.

I would be very interested in seemingly obvious neuroscience study if your
whole visual system works better with light fine details on a dark background
or the opposite colorscheme. There doesn't seem to be an obvious answer. For
example a wolves eyes on a pitch black forest background should be highly
noticeable, which sounds good, but it should also be highly stressful for
obvious reasons.

