Text and background colors

When planning color combinations for your web site, you'll be faced with a basic design issue. Should you use dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background?

The answer lies in understanding the purpose of your site and the kind of audience you expect. It's a known fact that black text on a light yellow / white background (similar to this web page) provides the best viewing conditions. Using light text on a dark background, reduces the readability by 10% (or more).

If your site offers a lot of content, I'd recommend going in for dark text on a light background. In contrast to this is light text on a dark background that creates a sense of mystery and intrigue. For such pages, the text is kept to a minimal amount with graphics providing the emphasis.