Need your opinions: light or dark design?

Guys, I'm torn. I'm having a hard time choosing between light and dark colors my new design. What do you think? Please note that the 'dark' design isn't complete yet, which is why the sidebar looks so awkward. I'm leaning towards the darker colors, but I'd like to hear your opinions.

• Light design
• Dark design

 

i think dark design is more elegant... because the background is dark tooo

 

Light. IMHO. It makes all elements stand out equally.

 

i think dark desing is more elegant because the backgroind is dark too

 

The dark design gets my vote. The light design seems to be a bit "in your face" with the white background. Just make sure if you use the dark design, that you change the "you are now logged in as" text to a lighter colour, to make it easier on your users eyes

 

Dark design for me, too. The white large border grabs attention of a reader for which in turn they ignore content- this is not what you want to get achieved. Plus, for my own old eyes, it's just too much contrast on one monitor screen There is whole psychology study behind contrasts (I can't find the link to it now, sorry)

 

I would personally go with the dark background. The white in contrast with the dark really doesnt look that good. It simply looks out of place. Nice job i like this

 

i like the dark one

 

The dark blends better. The light just doesnt look quite right to me..

- Ray

 

Just stick to the dark, it seems the votes have it. however pick whatever suits you lol

 

Well, most people now a days think "Dark makes you 1337", when in reality, a darker site is more likely to be unappealing to a random visitor or customer who is trying to find quick information, because dark is harder on the eyes. White on black gives it a very crisp distinction between content and design. My vote is for the light design. It's the best one from a content and visibility point of view.

 

I'll agree with you. From an accessibility/ease of browsing standpoint, the white background offers high contrast and immediately pulls the user to the content area. However, I find the black background much more visually appealing, which is why I'm torn between the two. Seems a lot of people so far are preferring the darker version, so I'll see if I can't make it work.