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A UX writer told me my text contrast was making people's eyes bleed - and they were right
Had a dark mode design review last Tuesday where a UX writer pulled up my app on their phone and literally squinted. They said the gray text on dark gray background looked like "someone whispering in the dark." I had been using #888888 on #1A1A1A because I thought it looked sleek. But after they showed me side by side with WCAG AA compliant text at #B0B0B0, I realized my old setup was basically unreadable after 5 minutes. Now I keep a contrast checker bookmark on my browser toolbar. Anyone else get called out on subtle color choices that seemed fine until someone pointed out the obvious?
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tara3452mo ago
“someone whispering in the dark” is such a perfect way to put it. My buddy had this exact same thing happen with his note taking app, he loved how the dark grays looked but everyone who tried it kept rubbing their eyes. He finally caved and bumped up the contrast, said it was like taking a blanket off a TV screen.
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kim.hannah2mo ago
Hold up, I actually kind of liked how my reading app looked with those low-contrast grays - made it feel more like reading an old paperback than staring at a screen. Did you ever get used to reading in dim light with it before your buddy changed things?
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