On 2/15/08, Kristina Floyd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi all
>
> I've always learnt that setting the background colour on a site is a very
> basic thing to do and shows that as a web developer you've taken care and
> pride in your work.
>
> All of the browsers that I use I have set a ridiculously garish background
> colour set to remind myself to do it. I am teased relentlessly for this.
> However it is important to me.
>
> It never ceases to amaze me the number of sites that do not set a background
> colour. As if adding body { background-color: #FFFFFF; } is a really
> tedious task.
>
> I'm curious to know your thoughts on this matter, as it literally drives me
> bonkers. I am fully aware that we have moved on from the default grey
> background of Netscape 3(?) and by default browsers will set their
> background colours to white. Does this mean it's okay for developers to be
> lazy and sloppy and not bother to set it. Or am I just too old school
> (eep!!) and set in my ways.
>
Leaving colours unspecified is definitely a valid design choice, but
not one that many clients would accept, so I have only ever used it on
personal sites. The key thing to remember is that if one colour, e.g.
background, is left to user's choice, then all colours (text and link)
need to be left unspecified to avoid a collision with the user's
settings - e.g. black 0r near-black text on a very dark background. It
also becomes necessary to make all imagery either rectangular or using
alpha transparency (24-bit png - hello IE6!).
It certainly is an elementary but common mistake to forget that
default background can be something other than white (mine is a warm
grey, for comfort and longevity of eyes) and suddenly have unreadable
text or ugly white edge artefacts on images. To me its a sign that the
designer doesn't have a sound understanding of CSS.
--
Richard Grevers, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Dramatic Design www.dramatic.co.nz
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