Black text versus dark grey text

I've noticed a few websites use shade of dark grey for text (on a white/pale background) instead of black. I have always used black before, but am wondering if dark grey looks/performs slightly better. Does anyone have any views on which is preferable?

For the purpose of clarity, assume by black I mean #000000 and dark grey is #333333 (as used on Facebook).

 

Agree With kerosene

 

Maybe more relaxing for clear, younger eyes, but terrible for visitors with diminished vision or older eyes (like me) even when using corrective glasses. I usually increase the text size via the keyboard a couple of increments when I encounter "faint" text (most vision impaired users do this) which sometimes breaks the page layout unless the Web author has followed the principle of Interoperable page creation. Some visitors may disable stylesheets or image display or use a screen reader/textual Browser to compensate for faint text.

James

 

I rarely ever us pure black text as it does seem a little harsher on the eyes. You do not want it too grey though. The perfect shade is almost a faded black. If someone has to ask if it is still black or not then it is the right shade.

 

Here is a link that might help with different color backgrounds, trying to see what will work for a different color text, especially a black ground. I do use different color backgrounds with texture and different colored text, although sometimes I do revert back to black text or a lighter shade of black (dark grey).

http://www.w3schools.com/HTML/html_colornames.asp

 

I prefer dark grey or grey to black...specially for articles or blog posts! It appears to be more soothing to the eyes...