I can use all sorts of cool colors in this blog!

I just found out that I can change the color of headers, text, and background on this blog post. Hurray!

However, I am going to resist the temptation to do so. This blog is going to stay black and white.

Readability

The truth of the matter is that not all cool text innovations should be pursued. People’s vision is not up to all those cool colors.

Let me explain: Our eyes need contrast, lots of contrast, to see letters against backgrounds. We need those letters to have sharp edges.

Let me try something: Do you see these letters as well? No? Not enough contrast.

How about these? Better, but doesn’t your brain hurt a bit?

I could also change the background. Again, less contrast, and lots of eye pain.

The takeaway

I guess the takeaway is that just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. The design palette for this blog offers me options that I don’t choose to use because they’ll mess up my message. How frustrating! I’m going to have to stick to the black and white.