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Practical Tips

In addition to setting the theme, mood, and message for a Web site, color is used for very practical reasons. For instance, contrasting colors help us read what is on the page. And colors can be used to identify sections of a Web site.

But color can be used with well or poorly. The success if a Web site may depend on simple color selection

Text and Color

Tests indicate that plain black text on a white background is the easiest to read.

This is easy to read text.

White text on a black background is the second easiest to read.

This text is almost as easy to read as the sample above.

But when there is not enough contrast between the text background it become very difficult to read the message.

This is an example of text and background with low contrast. It is very hard to read.

Some colors are poor choices even if the contrast is good. Some people will say that the text in the example on the right appears to vibrate.

The problem here is that red and blue do not go very well together,

Color as Indicators

Color can be used on a Web site to help visitors understand where they are. On the right are four pages from a real Web site. Each of the four sample pages are from different sections within the site. Every section is color coded. All the pages in one particular section have a marker image in the top left hand corner that is pink. All the pages in another section have a blue marker image. Other sections feature purple and green marker images.

The separate colors of each section help visitors keep track of where they are. Visitors are more likely to understand the site and less likely to get lost when browsing around.

Four sample pages from a real Web site

In Conclusion: Choosing Colors

There is no right way or wrong way to choose colors for a Web site. The colors should be used to convey the theme, mood, feeling, and message of the site. We know that there shouldn't be “too many” colors. However, deciding what quantity is too many is hard to decide. And it varies from site to site. In one instance three colors might be just right. On another five colors are appropriate. But on a third site four colors could be too much.

Understanding how color works on a Web site makes selecting the colors much easier.

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Site prepared by Roger Lipera
Interactive Media Center
University Libraries, University at Albany