My kid pointed out that the dark mode on their math app made the numbers look blurry to them.

It made me think about how we test contrast ratios for text, but maybe we should also check for that weird 'halo' effect some anti-aliasing creates on thin white lines against a pure black background.

3 comments

3 Comments

avery3661mo ago

Yeah, that halo thing is actually a font rendering issue called color fringing. It happens a lot with subpixel anti-aliasing on dark themes. @samj27 is right that it's an old debate, but the problem is most contrast checkers just look at the color values, not how the text is actually drawn on screen. So an app can pass all the tests and still be hard to read. We really need better standards for this stuff.

murphy.lisa2mo ago

Wasn't there a whole thing about this with some font rendering engines? That halo effect can really mess with your eyes...

samj272mo ago

I remember that font rendering debate back in 2012, and you're right @murphy.lisa, it feels like a lot of modern tech has that same strain on your focus.