hi, im starting up a discussion website and so I created this mock-up of the design that I wanted. currently, it has white text against dark colors (black hues) and I'm scared that people will come to the site, and leave because of this. I'm wondering what are your opinions on designing with light text and a dark background, and if you know of any successful sites that have a lot of text and use this design concept. most blogs that I know of use a white background with a nice black font, however, I have both versions (dark and white) and find that the darker version seems to look more... "cooler" but more unprofessional since it is not a trend. thanks.
Either way it would make the text stand out: black background, white text or white background, black text I think you shouldn't take what you think is cool entirely into consideration as you're designing a site to attract other visitors.
ok, thanks. I just wasn't sure because almost all of the more popular websites (digg, cnn, facebook) all use a white background against dark text. I have never seen a popular website that uses a dark background.
Maddox' Best Page in the Universe was (is?) famously black with white or coloured text... he said it reminded him of vi and was easier on the eyes. This is true for me too, but other people have trouble with it. You only need to worry about readablility, I think. Many webbuilders think that white is more "professional" like banking sites, etc. However, black alone will not deter customers if the site is otherwise well-built and professional-looking (few but well-placed images and scarce use of blinky-flashy things, etc). Dark colours which suit your topic or theme are also quite appropriate. Check out web-artist Jenny Romanchuk's http://thezombiehunters.com and tell me if that site would have nearly the visual impact if it was white. The forums, on the other hand, are the default of simplemachines.