Choosing Web Site Colours
Many people inquire whether their web site color has any bearing
on the success of their site. I am here to tell you that its probably
not the main colour but the colour combination being used that may
be effecting your success.
Colour schemes are not everything, they simply set the mood for
your visitors experience. To properly address this topic lets take
a look at the history on how we have read text based mediums in
the past.
Off White Pages and Ease of Reading
Paper back books are made with thin paper that develops a yellowish
tinge to the page. This off white colour diffuses the contrast of
the black text on the stark white page, making it easier on the
eyes to read.
This is the same case with newspapers. This does not mean that
having a pure white background is bad just that an off white colour
is better for lengthy reading.
I have also come across many arguments against using a black background
for a web page. but you will notice that old computers used a amber
or green text on a black background. These colour combinations are
proven by the evolution of programming (DOS programmers) to be an
acceptable colour choice, that is easy on the eyes for lengthy reading.
Natures colors never lie
Mother Nature is Never Wrong in Choosing Colours
Take a tree for example, all the browns in the bark compliment
each other. Another example is a parrots feathers and their variety
of bright colours, that all mesh well with each other.
Sampling Colour from Nature
The best way to sample colours from nature would be to take a good
quality photograph of nature and use the eye dropper tool in one
of your graphics programs, Adobe Photoshop is a great program for
this. If you don't have a camera or are stuck in the concrete jungle
of society away from any nature. Then simply grab an image off the
web. It's not like you need the royalties to the photo. You only
want to sample the colours of the photo not the actual image.
Moods of Different Colours
A single colour will give off a different mood, depending on the
individual and/or their culture. To some red will give a feeling
of blood and warning. When others may perceive it to give the felling
of love or romance. This is true for all colors so my advise is
to choose a color that you feel represents your information, because
there is no right or wrong color to use.
A Design Tip Using Grey
There are many tricks that you can use to force a persons eye to
focus on a certain part of the page. One way that this can be achieved
is to use a combination of greys and to only use colour for the
section of focus. Making the focused section jump off the dull looking
page.
Colour is portrayed differently by each individual user, and a
color can be argued to perceive any meaning. I suggest to use the
nature's colour theory mentioned above or to use a a colour wheel
to find complimenting colour combinations. Other than that, feel
free and experiment with different color schemes.
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