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Serious question, should dark mode text be pure white or a light grey?

A designer friend in Austin argued pure white is too harsh on dark backgrounds, but I read a blog post that said light grey can hurt readability. What's your take?
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2 Comments
mark_fisher48
Oh man, I've wrestled with this. Pure white on pure black is brutal for long reading. I use a very light grey, like #E6E6E6, on a dark grey background, not true black. It cuts the glare way down without making you squint.
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elliotburns
Wrestle with this every time I set up a new app. My eyes are getting old, so pure white on black feels like staring into car headlights. I go for a soft off-white, something like #F2F2F2, on a dark charcoal background. It keeps the text crisp but takes the edge off. The blog post has a point about grey hurting readability, but that's only if you go too dark.
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