> However, most studies have shown that dark characters on a light background are superior to light characters on a dark background (when the refresh rate is fairly high). For example, Bauer and Cavonius (1980) found that participants were 26% more accurate in reading text when they read it with dark characters on a light background. Reference: Bauer, D., & Cavonius, C., R. (1980). Improving the legibility of visual display units through contrast reversal. In E. Grandjean, E. Vigliani (Eds.), Ergonomic Aspects of Visual Display Terminals (pp. 137-142). London: Taylor & Francis
There is a reason why most sight-impaired people, at least those I know, prefer light-on-dark. A bright background blurs out the foreground and makes reading hard. Dark-on-light only makes sense when switching between paper and screen frequently.
To me, dark-on-light becomes increasingly hard to read as I grow older. So much so that I have disabled CSS in my browser entirely.
> People with astigmatism (aproximately 50% of the population) find it harder to read white text on black than black text on white. Part of this has to do with light levels: with a bright display (white background) the iris closes a bit more, decreasing the effect of the "deformed" lens; with a dark display (black background) the iris opens to receive more light and the deformation of the lens creates a much fuzzier focus at the eye.
> Jason Harrison – Post Doctoral Fellow, Imager Lab Manager – Sensory Perception and Interaction Research Group, University of British Columbia
> Jason Harrison – Post Doctoral Fellow, Imager Lab Manager – Sensory Perception and Interaction Research Group, University of British Columbia
Looks like this study is about people with mild vision problems. As I said before, I know some people with more limited vision (myopia with more than 10 diopters, optical nerve damage, etc), and all of them prefer light letters on dark background. Myself I can hardly read on paper or a paper-white screen. Whatever science may say, this is how I experience it! :)
HN itself has it about right - minimalistic and easy to read.