Since I switched the blog to WordPress, I’ve been getting a slow but steady stream of complaints about the white on black theme. I’m going to be experimenting with the colors of the theme, but for now, I’ve switched it to black on white. I like that less, but I understand the readability argument that some commenters have made. The black was particularly nice for photo posts, and I’m sorry to be losing that. If there are any Hemingway theme experts out there I’d be happy for some advice.
Comments and suggestions of all kinds welcome.
I’ve started using Hemingway for the new version of my blog, but I feel the font is way too small for my monitor, so I’m thinking the font size might have to be enlarged a little bit.
Thank you, Ted, definitely better. It was not only the black background, but also the grey text that was quite unreadable.
The problem is compounded by the annoying tendency of designers to reduce font size. We users take great care to set it as we need it, why do they screw it up so often?
Besides, it’s not a Web 2.0 thing to do, at all. 😉
My complaint wasn’t that you had white on black but that you had 40% gray on black. The higher contrast is appreciated.
The black background was nice but when paired with the 40% grey text *and* the small font size – that was painful
+1 if you can switch it back and use a larger font
My complaint wasn’t that you had white on black but that you had 40% gray on black. The higher contrast is appreciated.
Would you mind sharing the css for the light/white version of Hemingway?
Also, if the font size is bothering people (to small) you can use the ‘wp-chgfontsize’ plugin (google-it) to let the user select the font size they prefer. I have implemented this at http://www.bytestreamsolutions.com. It works quite well. I have moded the graphics for the font changing but it is quit easy to change the font size without degrading the layout of the site. It makes the lower contrast of the black background to light-gray more paletable. (14px instead of the default 11px seems to be the sweet spot).
Your contrast to the original Hemingway on your site is great. I am looking for a light version so I can let my users select the original dark theme or a light theme.
Great work.
construk,
go to the WordPress control panel and do Presentation->Hemingway options. Select white.css from the custom styles pulldown.