Gray fonts are killin' me...

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Please, please, help me! I need to know how to change the gray fonts on this forum to black so I can read it. This is serious eyestrain, gentlemen...

I found the Safari preference font change panel but have no clue as to how to change the color to black on the fonts. Most of the rest I know (what are all those buttons for on the bottom??):'(
 
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I've been trying to find an easy way to turn off colours in Safari, but I can't find one, either. My dislike for that browser has just increased another notch. It is so far from being user-friendly that I won't use it.

Another poster had the same question, but he was using Firefox, as I do, which makes it child's play to turn off the gray fonts on this board. I do each time I come here. This link is to that thread that also has a clickable thumbnail pic attached to it.

If no one has an easy answer to the Safari dilemma — and I certainly could be missing something obvious — and you'd like to try downloading Firefox, let me know here or by a PM, and I'll talk you through the process if it's confusing.
 
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I think black would be too contrasting. But I agree that the gray here is too light.
 
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Newspapers world-wide are changing their layouts to accomodate the aging baby-boomer bubble, such as increasing the type sizes and ledding, to name one change.

Millions upon millions of people are experiencing cataracts, and more and more find themselves trying to deal with macula degeneration, both of which cut contrast enormously.

IMO, the use of gray type yields to form over function. The main objective is to pass on information easily, not throw up artifical barriers, with pretty page layouts important but secondary. Gray type has its place, as does any other typographical device, but it shouldn't be the default. How long would it take before the newspaper was cast aside if the New York Times or any other paper switched to gray type? it would be out of business in a week.
 
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Is there any way to make the fonts darker on the forum? I am really having trouble reading the posts and I don't think I am alone in this. Any help?
 
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hm... I (and probably everybody else here) can just read it fine. what screen are you using?
 
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I have problems with it too. I can't read the forums for more then 5 minutes at a time, because my eyes hurt too much. :(
 
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Have you tried lowering the brightness of the screen? That helps me a bit.
 
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Newspapers world-wide are changing their layouts to accomodate the aging baby-boomer bubble, such as increasing the type sizes and ledding, to name one change.

What else do you see in the layouts, I think your right on the leading, but standards of type size will stay 9-10pt.

The the photos become like TV screens displaying Headlines right on them...
 
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What else do you see in the layouts, I think your right on the leading, but standards of type size will stay 9-10pt.
The broadsheet Toronto Star changed about a month ago. The body typesize is larger — the announcement blurb mentioned the size, but I can't recall to what. It appears to be larger than 10, but no type sizes have been cast in stone since PageMaker was all the rage, so it might be something like 10.2 or larger on 11.1 or more.

The serif body type was changed, as well, to something with a touch heavier strokes, as I recall. I don't subscribe so I didn't personally notice the change, other than reading the blurb that also mentioned a one-inch reduction in page width to save money on newsprint. I think the gutters were made wider, too, so the column widths would have to have been shrunk. The head type was changed; probably a touch more condensed.

Larger type and narrower page width means a lot in total word count. A lot less can fit on a page or in a given news hole. Each can represent a financial hit, and in combination moreso. To mitigate that, it also means less story.

But readability is considered more important — different reasons for different age groups but the same changes target both — so the trend continues. The broadsheet Globe and Mail did the same a couple of years ago, and the tabloid Toronto Sun six months or a year ago.

Some layout differences are change for the sake of change, but none of them decrease readability, especially for the ageing baby-boomer set that represents a paper's largest income generator.

There's a big difference in audience age between newspapers and websites. But that's changing, too. A person who discovered the web at age 30 is now 45, and someone who's been online since age 45 or 50 is now 60 and 65, so both audiences are growing and converging. Fifteen years ago, anyone 60 or older regularly or even occaisonally using the web would be a relative rarity. Now there are millions.
 
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Very well said 'Brown Study'.

It is interesting to see how Editors and Publishers actually discuss these things at meetings (I have shadowed a couple of them) they really break everything down into numbers and audiences.
 
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I don't have any trouble elsewhere. In fact, typing in this reply is fine. When it goes to the foum, it appears in a lighter gray. My eyes just can't take it for long. I would like to read this forum more because it is so educational but my eyes give out. Yes...I am a mature reader with no eye disease according to my doctor.

Grandma Bear
 
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I've been trying to find an easy way to turn off colours in Safari, but I can't find one, either. My dislike for that browser has just increased another notch. It is so far from being user-friendly that I won't use it.

Another poster had the same question, but he was using Firefox, as I do, which makes it child's play to turn off the gray fonts on this board. I do each time I come here. This link is to that thread that also has a clickable thumbnail pic attached to it.

If no one has an easy answer to the Safari dilemma — and I certainly could be missing something obvious — and you'd like to try downloading Firefox, let me know here or by a PM, and I'll talk you through the process if it's confusing.

Wow thanks, now I finally have a reason to switch back to Firefox!
 
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You can't directly compare an infinite-dpi ink and paper to a 72-dpi light emitting device. Consider:

A) When creating letters on a piece of paper, we do not need things such as anti-aliasing.

So to make the screen letters look as much like those on paper, we have to do some tricks.

B) Making fonts a little greyer than black will help text look more like pencil / graphite. Which is not pure black.

C) If you notice really close - antialiasing doesn't use a flat blend of text color - to background color. Colors are actually used. See attached image, a blow up of the letter "M" that I typed above.



Newspapers world-wide are changing their layouts to accomodate the aging baby-boomer bubble, such as increasing the type sizes and ledding, to name one change.

Millions upon millions of people are experiencing cataracts, and more and more find themselves trying to deal with macula degeneration, both of which cut contrast enormously.

IMO, the use of gray type yields to form over function. The main objective is to pass on information easily, not throw up artifical barriers, with pretty page layouts important but secondary. Gray type has its place, as does any other typographical device, but it shouldn't be the default. How long would it take before the newspaper was cast aside if the New York Times or any other paper switched to gray type? it would be out of business in a week.

Untitled-2.jpg
 
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Every time I come on the forum I click view and "make text bigger" 3 times. It makes the text so big, I can't imagine anyone would have a hard time reading it.

True, it's a few steps, but I'm used to it now and I have no problem (or eye strain) when reading posts here. :D
 
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Put this forum into Safari's RSS feeds and you will have black on white type to read at least for the new posts :)
Changing the computer screen contrast may help too.
Best
 
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i agree the gray is kind of buggy.
 
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I don't see why you are all defending the gray color. I agree that any non black color is harder on the eyes to see. The admins should add an option to make to make the default color of posts black, or change black to the default.



I don't see why you are all defending the gray color. I agree that any non black color is harder on the eyes to see. The admins should add an option to make to make the default color of posts black, or change black to the default.
 
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Yeah, I'd say black would be nicest. :)

All who wants Black text put Black Text FTW in your sig
 

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