Colours not to have on your website
Pure black and pure white are two colours not to have on your website.
It might seem counter-intuitive because using black and white look crisp and easy to read. This is true of physical content – books, leaflets, and so on – but it’s not true for screens.
Why?
Two reasons:
- Black and white create too much contrast, which makes us squint. Given the amount of time we all spend on screens, squinting unnecessarily for long periods of time can cause headaches. Making your website screen contrast more acceptable gives your website visitor a better experience. That means visitors can stay reading your content for longer.
- Any visitor to your website with visual impairments may find it hard to read content with very high contrast. Using alternatives to pure black and pure white ensures that your website is accessible to all your visitors.
What is pure black and pure white?
These are the hex numbers to avoid:
- Pure black is #000000, often shortened to #000
- Pure white is #fffffff, often shortened to #fff
Great alternatives to pure black
- #202124 (as used on Google Fonts)
- #241c15 (as used by Mailchimp)
- #1f1f1f (here, on our on Flat White website)
Great alternatives to pure white
- #f2f2f2 (on Apple)
- #fafafa (on Instagram desktop)
- #fdfeff (again, as you can see here on our website)
Avoiding the colours not to have on your website is such an easy way to improve the experience for visitors, which means they spend more time on your content – great for everyone!
How we can help you further
We’re here to help you improve your website.
Here are links to two more blogs we’ve written to help you improve your website:
If you’re a small business owner without the confidence to set up your website from scratch, we’re here for you – with our simplified, affordable WordPress templates, we’ve already made the big decisions on the best layout and structure for a small business website, saving you time, money and stress. Book a Quick Chat with Fred to find out which of our packages will work best for your business and you.