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Comment by a_d | Hacker News Reader

> Even on high-contrast sites like Medium, the bright background combined with dark text can be tiresome on the eye, meaning that highlighted text will invert that yielding a more comfortable white text on blue.

Agree with OP and super OP. This is exactly why I do it (highlight). Question: Is there any consensus on which combination of text color/background color is best for reading?

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I read once upon a time - and can't find it now - that white or yellow text on a dark blue background was the best combination, and that's why a lot of Microsoft curses-type software uses that scheme (e.g., edit.exe).

https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/e/doseditwindow.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/D9wzGjkYvqs/maxresdefault.jpg

The contrast ratio is far more significant than the exact colors. I’d recomend using a WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) conforming contrast checking when picking colors. A 4.5:1 ratio is recomended for normal size text. Here’s a simple web based one: http://colorsafe.co/.

While this will sound snarky in a way I don't mean it to, there are people who will reflexively scream the contrast is terrible how can any of you read any of this if your colors aren't #FFF on #000 or vice-versa. I've lost count of how many times I've come across folks insisting that, say, #444 text on an #EEE background is utterly unreadable. (In fact, it's an 8.4:1 contrast ratio, and easily passes the WCAG's more stringent AAA guidelines for normal text.)

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