I’ve been running across quite a few other blog sites lately, which are actually right up my alley. The only problem is that they HURT MY EYES. Seriously. It’s unfortunate because several of them I’d love to read and keep up with on a regular basis, but I can’t because they have black backgrounds with bright white text and that does a number on some people’s vision. And by doing a search, I see I’m not the only one! You can read stuff here and here , to list a couple. I notice there have been a lot of debates too, about this issue and some people don’t have a problem with it. The fact remains, however, that if you *want* to attract a lot of readers for whatever reason, then considering web-friendly choices for *all* readers would be a good idea.

Here is a good site that helps choose font/background colors that are web-friendly. But just on the issue of black background with bright white text, my opinion would be just change the text to a gray color. It’ll still look all awesome and stuff! :-D

And while I’m on the subject, here are a few more not-so-viewer-friendly site Dont’s:

• That Pretty Flash Intro – I know many people will disagree (and that’s OK – just my opinion, folks!) but I can’t stand flash intros!

  I bet most people ’skip intro’ when there’s an option to do so (or close the page out when there’s not). I do every single time. Most people don’t care about the flashy stuff anymore (it was cool about 8 years ago). They want to get right to the content (so they can *skim* the text, LOL, we’re all lazy, it’s OK!) and don’t want to wait for this stupid thing to load to 100% even if it only takes a few seconds for some. Point is, if you’re paying for this damn flash intro thing, you’re WASTING YOUR MONEY. If you’re making it yourself, you’re WASTING YOUR TIME.

• Too Many Widgets & Stuff - Remember this is just my opinion. This is not an attack on ANYONE. I have seen a lot of blog sites, once again, that I think have great content, but I find myself having to sift through TONS of links and widgets just to see something I want to see. A cluttered site for me is like a bedroom you can’t walk through. I start to feel a bit claustrophobic. I’ve seen sites that list the last six thousand blog post titles in the side bar (exaggerated, of course, but you get the idea).  If someone is that interested in your content, they will go out of their way to read all the blogs you posted in the last three years by searching your archives.

So that’s pretty much all. I know my site isn’t perfect, so no need to point that out to me, but I try to make it readable. I try!

UPDATE! 12/20/09 – I just ran across a literary blog that talks about reading on BLACK BACKGROUNDS, too. They also list a few other helpful things:
5 Things That Make Me Stop Reading Websites & Blogs.

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