This weekend, for the first time since Netscape 2, I bothered to change the background color in my Web browser. I wanted to see how a transparent image looked without a white background. Perhaps out of ancient habit, I picked the grey that used to don blank windows of first generation web browsers.
As I’ve been browsing from site to site, I’ve noticed quite a few that don’t override the browser’s default background color. Yahoo! is the only site of the big three search engines (Google and MSN being the other two) that doesn’t explicitly switch to white. Take that as you will.
Embarrassingly, I even found a few of my sites that I meant to have white backgrounds, but hadn’t actually set them. Since few people change their default background, I probably don’t have much reason to be embarrassed, but it’s amazing how we assume that what we see is what everyone sees. (There’s a lesson outside of Web design in there, if you look for it).
So, it’s worth checking out. Maybe you could choose a better color than grey. How about pink?
Pink would be good. 😉
my background has been a delightful light tan color for years upon years. i find it easier on the eyes. i’ll admit i think less of sites that count on a white default to look good. yahoo included.