The reemergence of white/grey text on black backgrounds is troubling for me—maybe because I’m getting older or maybe, just maybe, it’s a usability nightmare. I don’t know about you but when I visit a site that uses this and then go to a site that has a white background my eyes have a difficult time readjusting.

One of the major reasons I redesigned the last version of Pop Stalin Design was because it pained my eyes to look at it. I figured if it was bothersome for me, it had to be bothersome for others. My major concern was if it was bothersome to potential clients. If they can’t read my site, how will they hire me?

It’s not to say that there aren’t lovely designs that use negative contrast because there are many out there. I do have to admit though they seem more common for web design companies than the actual companies they are designing sites for. I also understand that being creative with color options is difficult and many designers want their sites to stand out—I get that. I guess what I’m saying is it’s not the design skills, it’s the usability issue for me.

For those who’d like to have a bookmarklet to rectify this issue, Robert posted one over at 456 Berea Street and has this to say about the issue:

Web colors are not like the mattress tags you can’t remove. If it’s less than readable, I zap the colors with this bookmarklet. Just stick it up in your toolbar, use as needed.