Why do white on black anyway. Ever see a book printed like that?
No - but of course a computer screen is not the same as a book page.
For a reason that I'm afraid I haven't enough know-how to explain technically - you just seem to get a LOT more glare off a computer LCD screen (or I suppose a monitor...) than you would do off any sort of white page with print.
Since they're both Black and White only , I just can't explain.. but that's how it is .. to me anyway .. depends on eyesight maybe , but I'm sure a lot of folk find the same.
Historically, computer screens had a tendency to spill light from bright areas into darker ones. So black text on a white background would become lighter and thinner than intended, and consequently be difficult to read. On the other hand, white text on a black background would tend to be come a little thicker rather than thinner, and hence remain readable.
In the case of printing, the problems are reversed. Attempting to print white text on a black background can result in the ink spilling from the dark areas over into the text itself, resulting in illegible text, unless the printing is of extremely high quality. Generally it is only used for headlines and text in a large font where the ink spilling over into each letter is relatively less of a problem.
Modern computer monitors tend to render edges more sharply, so some of those problems have been reduced. However, I still find black text on a white background is a source of glare, and prefer a dark background with lighter text.
It's still the case that what works on a printed page is not necessarily the same as for an illuminated screen.
Regards,
Peter
