Beginner, Dark Background for Blog?

[pdiperna]

Hi--

I'm new here, and would like to ask for anyone's help.

I am redesigning a blog-like website, and I wanted to ask if using a black background is a major no-no for design.

This is the redesigned home page rigth now:
http://blauexchange.org/indexpractice.html

The only downside I can see is that dark backgrounds are not printer-friendly. But to me, it seems to train the viewer's eye very well compared to lighter backgrounds.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Paul D

[KDLA]

Dark backgrounds are not printer-friendly only if the user has enabled the "print background colors" option in their settings. Most don't. But, to avoid this, you can create a stylesheet to be called only when the document is going to print.

Reference: http://alistapart.com/stories/goingtoprint/

KDLA

[pdiperna]

KDLA!
Thanks this is very helpful. Do you see any issues with the home page I linked on the previous message? Just curious.

I've tried a million light/dark backgrounds, and this is the one I like most, but I don't want to hurt usability in any way. That's most important to me.

- Paul

[KDLA]

Personally, I don't like the color scheme. I suggest changing the royal blue links to the color of the blue-green in your banner, then using a much darker color of that blue for your background, like #004466 or #002233.

You might use these color tools to help you with selecting:
http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/color-blend/
http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html
http://www.hitmill.com/html/rgbcolorvalues.html
http://slayeroffice.com/tools/color_palette/
http://infohound.net/colour/
http://www.karakas-online.de/myServices/colorwheel.html

KDLA

[pdiperna]

Thanks, these are great resources..

I'll check back here with a new mock-up in a bit.

Paul D