Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Time for a Change of Format?

Two of my older readers have protested that the white text on black background is hard to read. I'm thinking about changing my layout to something a little less badass and more user-friendly.

Opinions?

16 comments:

Murray Newman said...

Will it come with a new blog photo?

Just kidding.

Nice job on Channel 13, by the way.

Mark Bennett said...

Definitely a new photo; this one won't be a self-portrait.

I'm happy Channel 13 got the portrait of my dog in the picture. I didn't see my "Gunfighters don't charge by the bullet" poster, though.

Anonymous said...

Keep the black and white. It matches your style, Mark. You are the epitome of badass. No joke.

Anonymous said...

Truly bad-ass would be black on black (says one of your older readers.)

Anonymous said...

Your opinions are bad-ass enough, and worthwhile enough, that you should make them physically easy to read.

Now, if you carved your letters into woodblocks, and inked them with your own blood, light on dark would be truly bad ass. But checking a configuration box on a website simply does not make the grade, and isn't worth your readers' eye strain.

Mark Bennett said...

All cool ideas. Would black on white really be easier to read?

Unknown said...

It's much easier to read.

Anonymous said...

Ugh!! Bright light. Bright light.

Who put you up to this? Gideon?

Damn those yankees!

Anonymous said...

The plus-side of white type on black is that it saves energy. Check it out @ Treehugger.com. Search "Black Google."

For readability, however, they also suggest using, "EMERGY-C, a low wattage palette that gives you a bit more flexibility, and only costs about 4 watts more than an all black page."

Windypundit said...

White on black. That's the way our fathers did it, that's the way our grandfathers did it...

The energy saving thing only works for big old CRT monitors or some projection systems. Flat-panel LCD monitors are backlit by a constant-intensity light source. On a black screen the pixels are all set to keep you from seeing the light source, but it's still there.

Anonymous said...

White on rusty red from Anonymous' Energy-C pallet is easy to read and a little bit bad-ass.

Plus, the energy savings from your Chinese and Asian readers still using CRTs would reduce global warming and possibly save the planet.

Mark Bennett said...

The emerg-c green is kinda sorta like the hundred-dollar-bill green on the walls in my office.

Anonymous said...

Ok, Mark's Dad, several articles, including the one I mentioned, say CRTs account for 25% of monitors used worldwide. I will admit that they are used more in other countries, but Mark posts on a criminal justice systems in other countries (see Japanese justice post) as well as ours, and links to several British blogs. It would not be far-fetched to expect blog visits from afar. Besides, black on white is BORING, and with global warming, every little bit helps . . . . :)

Anonymous said...

Who you calling an older reader??

Mark Bennett said...

Sorry, uncle Ken: more seasoned readers.

Falconv said...

I liked the previous black background - perhaps it would be easier to read with the font one point larger, or possibly bold. The following link shows a similar web page - the 'bright white' text really 'pops' out of the black background, as do various shades of blue & yellow:
http://www.tabbenoit.com/tourdates.html
Your new icon looks great!