Background and Text Color
When choosing a background and text color, keep in mind that the purpose of your site is probably not to show people pretty colors; it is to convey information or to sell a product. Either way, visitors want to be able to read your content. That means that your choice of background should be well thought out.
Now, please take a look at the following five samples of text on backgrounds:
Shown in the first sample is a very popular style for beginning web designers, where, the subject of the site, John Cleese, is tiled in the background below blue text. As you can tell, the blue, along with any other color, is very difficult to read. Generally, pictures are very difficult to have as backgrounds due to the huge variety of colors present. This is most certainly not a good choice.
The second sample is very basic, black text on a plain white background. This is a style avoided by many novices at web design because it seems boring and bland. It may be, but it is also easy to read and print and looks very professional. If you go to most prestigious websites such as Yahoo, Amazon.com, or Google, you will find black on white. This is a very good choice.
The third sample shows a bright green background with yellow text. This style "glows" on computer screens and tends to be difficult to read. Your users don't want to strain their eyes reading your site, so make sure that your background isn't too bright and that your colors contrast.
The fourth sample shows a very "busy" background with pink text. As you can tell, this very difficult to read. Also, when put over a large area on your computer screen, it tends to give people headaches, which is probably not what you're aiming to do.
This last sample is acceptable but not perfect. It is a two-color background
with a text color that contrasts enough. If you are making a personal
site, or one for fun, it is okay. However, if you are trying to sell a
product, black on white is your best choice.
Link Color and Consistency
When designing your web page, you should set the link color so that
it is easy to read and stands out on the page. Do not make the links the
same color as the rest of your text. If your text is blue or purple, make
sure to change the "link" or "visited link" as these are the default colors
for most browsers. The best colors, however, may be those that come as
default, because they are universally recognized by most Internet surfers.
Make sure that when you design your page, you are consistent with all
of your colors. Don't try to change your background halfway through the
page and never change your text color as you are writing. This is very
bad form and is distracting to your readers or potential customers.
