So whats wrong with Black backgrounds?

[Dominion]

I've seen it a lot, people saying they don't like black backgrounds on sites. Whats wrong with it though? Is it too subtle? Negative vibes?

[Yankee4Life]

Bad on the eyes. It's not visually attractive. Too much black tends to be a bit overwhelming.

[Lethal7]

hurts your eyes after a period of time as said above

[pipes]

I prefer lighter backgrounds, my eyes can handle it, if i spend a few hours on a black background, say with yellow text i end up with eyes that make me look like ive been drinking. :)

Or switching from reading on a black background site to a lighter background makes me see floaty text, lol

[web23]

you need to have very good design skills to make a website with a black background look good, it's much easier to use a lighter background if you are a beginner. Also black backgrounds are more suited to certain subject topics, may not work well with all subject areas.

[getagged]

Black backgrounds and Dark layouts in general are harder on the eye's. I think the only time you can get away with a black background is if it's suited to the subject. Any time I design something I always go for a lighter background as it is easier.

[bnandika]

It's depend what theme you use the black background, if you use for art, design, fashion, game, movie, entertaintment it'll be perfect, but if you use it for business, news, education, science black it's not a good color.

[guestonline]

design and background color seems very important..it must be appealing to all

[angilina]

its too sharp I guess

[secrets1212]

for some reasons black is to dreary looking for me as a background. Not that bright colors are all that good. But something that makes me want to come back & check for new content, black doesn't do it for me.

[walkere]

I've seen it a lot, people saying they don't like black backgrounds on sites. Whats wrong with it though? Is it too subtle? Negative vibes?
I'd say it's generally because people don't do it right. I've tried, and it didn't come out right either.

In general, black backgrounds are too dark and tend to be a pain on the eyes over time. Then again the same can be said for pure white backgrounds with black text.

However, I have seen a black background done very nicely. The style was a black background with neon blue and green text/accents. It was a good mix of dark and bright. I'm not sure if it would have been comfortable in the long run, but it was definitely appealing at first.

Black backgrounds are just tougher to do right. It's usually safer to stick with a light colored background (like the light green of Digital Point), than to go all black or all white.

- Walkere

[Smyrl]

As someone said above, I think it all depends on the genre. Dark backgrounds seems more popular with the young than with older members.

[Dollar]

Dark themed websites seems to be popular among the hacker culture.
Like hackthissite.org (http://hackthissite.org) & 2600.org (Makers of the Hacker underground magazine (http://2600.org)). With dark background,green text.

Also seoblackhat.com is all black. I would say in web 1.0 black was popular for awhile but now it earned its rep.
Its used for sites that themed around hacking, dirty tricks and sorts, or to convey something that is mysterious/evil.

[LordXenu]

black was popular because anyone can design a site based on a black background. the problem with black is that it tends to make your design SCREAM amateur. Unless the theme of the site calls for a dark feel or theme to it, you should generally stay away from black. it's not your best selling color by a long shot.

[callumchapman1991]

It doesn't make your site scream amateur AT all.
If you have a light foreground, a black background is FINE.