Hi, eksisozluk.com is the 5th most popular website of Turkey and it is based on only text as you can also see. Its design has been recently changed and the background color turned into plain white (#FFFFF) from light grey. Many users complained that it was very tiring for their eyes but the website owner continued to insist that it is the right choice. Some say that there are also other problems about the design. So I wanted to ask this very controversial topic to the web designers just to satisfy my curiosity. What do you think about the design? Thanks.
Well, I have no idea what this page is about - for someone not reading the language, it seems like comments on... news? posts? videos? The design is boring and not to fantastic (on-page scroller? really?) - and the page-background of pure white (#fff) is a bit straining - even on my fairly low-adjusted monitor. On cellphones and tablets I would think it's way brighter, and probably rather unpleasant. A simple turning down of the plain white, to either #eee, or even #f9f9f9 would help a lot. Not sure what his argument for the plain white background is - is it just for esthetics? If it is, that's a poor argument. Either color (#fff or #eee) is perfectly within WCAG guidelines for color contrast, so there's no argument there either. Personally, I would change it, because plain white is straining on the eyes for prolonged periods of time.
Well from my point of view it needs a little modification, sometimes it's difficult to find someone's post or reply because of the design layout - not that much user-friendly.
It's nice and clean but a bit of colour would help to identify the different sections. From a usability point of view I'd probably make some changes but that might just be me showing a preference for traditional forums. I did get a giggle from Google's attempt to translate the page...
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. The website is where people write their opinions about certain subjects (you can see them on the left side) which are also created by themselves. It's like wikipedia but people can write about anything and anytime. It's hard to explain really as it's a unique website format. The owner didn't make a official statement but he bases this decision on some researches suggesting "black text on light background is the best option for reading". It may be true but as you also said, plain white is just no good.
It made me laugh so hard The title was saying "unusual end of the iraqi soldier who thinks he is rambo"
There's also a theory that bad website designs can do very well. Especially if it's well established in Turkey. http://blog.crazyegg.com/2015/07/07/ugly-website-design/
Yes, he's right, but there are no difference in WCAG recommendations between black on white, and black on light grey. They're both equally readable, as long as the grey isn't too dark. #eee will work just fine, while being a little less straining on the eyes. The owner doesn't really sound like he knows what he's talking about, or, he knows just enough to shoot himself in the foot.