A light-on-dark color scheme is a color scheme that uses light-colored text on a dark background and is often discussed in terms of computer user interface design.
Originally, computer user interface images were formed on CRTs. The phosphor was normally a very dark color, and lit up brightly when the electron beam hit it. The human eye adjusts to make this appear to be green or amber on black, depending on phosphors applied on a monochrome screen. RGB screens continued along a similar vein, using all the beams set to "on" to form white.
With the advent of teletext, research was done into which primary and secondary light colors and combinations worked best for this new medium. From a palette of black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan and white, it turned out that cyan or yellow on black was typically found to be optimal.
The opposite color scheme, dark-on-light color scheme, was originally introduced in WYSIWYG word processors, to simulate ink on paper.
There seems to be a dispute among vision and perception researchers about whether it is actually easier or healthier to read text on dark or light background; there is a similar dispute between users, when using each other's computer terminals.
Read more about Light-on-dark Color Scheme: Energy Usage, Issues With The Web, "Blazing White"
Famous quotes containing the words color and/or scheme:
“Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one’s soul; when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood.”
—Josephine Baker (1906–1975)
“We doubt not the destiny of our country—that she is to accomplish great things for human nature, and be the mother of a nobler race than the world has yet known. But she has been so false to the scheme made out at her nativity, that it is now hard to say which way that destiny points.”
—Margaret Fuller (1810–1850)