Contrast on Websites

Jeffery Bryant    – Raleigh, NC
123Triad: Web Design & SEO Company

Contrast on Websites

When designing a website, it’s easy to be caught up in technical aspects, or the creative side of things. Sometimes though, paying attention to the little things is just as important.

Contrast is just one of those little things. Making sure you have a good contrast between background and text colors, and colors on buttons or navigation bars is critical. If users of your site have to struggle to read your content, or get eyestrain from doing it, they will most likely, look elsewhere.

Just because a colour is bright and it’s on a dark background does not mean your contrast is good either! Here are a few tips to make sure you get it right!

• When in doubt, white backgrounds with dark grey or black text are the safest option. They’re also favored by professional web designers because of the clean, uncluttered look the provide.
• Avoid colors from the same family together. For example, a warm tone such as orange, on another warm tone like red.
• Avoid complimentary colors, such as red and green, blue and yellow, or orange on purple. Not only will they be invisible to color blind visitors, they will create eyestrain for perfectly sighted ones too!
• Apply the same principles to all areas of your site – sidebars, buttons, banners and advertising should all be created with backgrounds and text of a good contrast.
• Some good combinations are white on dark blue, purple, red or grey, or yellow on red, grey or black.

The best way to check whether your contrast is good, and your content visible and easy to read, is to make a sample. Have a look at it. Ask a few friends to look at it too. If the consensus is that letters seem fuzzy, or are hard to follow, forget that combination and try something else!

So, while it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of designing a website, remember to pay attention to little things – it will make the whole process a lot easier, and your visitors will thank you for providing them with a clear, easy to read site!

123Triad webdesign offers affordable custom website design. Our full service website design company only hires certified website designers. Please contact us today on 1-800-720-0816 for your next web site design project.

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