Industry preference - Light or Dark Backgrounds

[disco4me]

Is there a generally accepted industry the forum viewers in general prefer a lite background or a dark background...not neccesarily your own personal preference but an industry wide preference of one over the other. I want to add a custom skin and there are many excellent custom ones out there, but I'd like to go with what is generally thought to be the standard preference between the two.

[Tom M]

I think you're going to get a pretty broad range of answers here.

Personal preference aside I think it really depends on your customer base. The major problem with most of the darker skins is that they can be difficult to read in normal room lighting. This will make them unacceptable to many "older" customers. Far and away, at least in my opinion, it's much safer to go with a more traditional light background/dark text for a generic customer base.

The other option of course is to have the light background be the default and provide a dark background as an alternative style.

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[KW802]

Disco4me, don't forget also that a lot of a sites style depends upon a sites subject. A site about rabbits for example, would tend to be bright & cheerful while a site about heavy metal music would tend to be darker.

[disco4me]

Your points are well taken. I'm always open to hearing more.

Thank you

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[Boosted MR-S]

I usually use something neutral like a flat blue or a gray.

[-Chef-]

I usually use something neutral like a flat blue or a gray.
Me too. It's all about the content and target audience.
All my sites used to be rather dark but the last year or so I have been shifting more toward lighter themes and they seem to span a pretty wide audience either way. I think lighter is more versatile.