Technical Reports
HPL-2009-182
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Understanding the readability of colored text by crowd-sourcing on the Web
Zuffi, Silvia; Brambilla, Carla; Beretta, Giordano; Scala, Paolo
HP Laboratories
HPL-2009-182
Keyword(s): color; psychophysics
Abstract: We present an experiment about the readability of colored text on a colored background that we have conducted through crowd-sourcing on the Web. Our aim is to contribute to the understanding of the ease of reading text on displays under generic viewing conditions and, at the same time, we aim at demonstrating the suitability of performing psychophysical studies on the Web. Indeed, we compare our results with previous findings in the field obtained by means of visual experiments carried on into laboratories under controlled viewing conditions. Our analysis of reading performance and color dimensions suggests that 30 units of CIE lightness difference between text and background should be set in the design of textual display. In addition, regarding a pleasant color selection, our study suggests a light muted background.
29 Pages
External Posting Date: August 6, 2009 [Fulltext]. Approved for External Publication
Internal Posting Date: August 6, 2009 [Fulltext]