How to 'Go Light'?

My text is showing up white letters on a black background- ugh! The 'Go Light' button is not displayed.

How do I switch to proper (light) display?

reply to post by mishigas


Hmmm...good question...the "Go Light" link seems to have disappeared...I know it was there right under the menu bar because I tried it out no more than 3 days ago...but it looked really lame anyway so I changed back...

I'm not seeing it now either. I'll keep looking.

reply to post by mishigas
Possibly the feature is discontinued? Can't see it where it was. It's all about the black anyway

please, don't discontinue the light feature. some of us prefer to use it to the dark background.

can it not be added as an option to be set in each member's settings if it is to be removed permanently from the forum section??

[edit on 12-2-2010 by justyc]

reply to post by justyc


ATS wouldn't do that, would they? I mean, discontinue a user feature without any notice or discussion?

I think it's some temporary glitch (I hope).

reply to post by mishigas


i hope it's just a glitch because i find it very difficult to read as it is and have a bit of a headache from squinting to look at the text. we don't all have the same eyes (or taste for the dark design)

here's hoping we hear something about it being just an error soon

reply to post by justyc


I agree - it is very hard on the eyes. Hopefully we'll get some resolution today.

Hang in there!

I would give it a few days and see what happens...

But I have my fingers crossed, too.

After a review of the feature usage, very few (in fact, hardly any) were using the feature, and as we prepare for a massive site-wide redesign (ATS 2010 project), it's better to focus on one set of visual standards.

The first question ----> What can be done to the light-text on dark-gray background to improve readability for those having trouble? Larger font maybe?

(In reality, in an emitted light format such as a computer monitor/TV/LCD, darker background with light - but not white - text is easier on the eyes.)

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


perhaps most members didn't know they could change the colour scheme.

personally i find it very difficult to read white on black text on websites regardless of text size - i always end up screwing up my eyes (like trying to see something in the dark). i usually click straight off them when i come across them on the web.

surely it is not that much trouble to have a separate option to display black text on white/grey for those of us who have problems reading from the dark colour scheme?

some people prefer dark option. no study proves either way which is better (most seemed biased by their own preference) but it would be a pity if those of us who actually do suffer physical discomfort when viewing the dark option are ignored just because the majority use it or because 'corporate image' is more important.

Originally posted by justyc
personally i find it very difficult to read white on black text on websites regardless of text size

So do I, which is why we don't use it.

The light-warm-gray text on a darkish-gray background is the optimum computer screen reading environment recommended by optometrists. Less light, less eye strain.

So does this mean when the site is redesigned the 'go lite' option will be totally gone?

The 'go lite' feature was great. My eyes had no trouble with it and I used this feature exclusively.

Making the text larger on a dark background doesn't help at all. I find that when I have trouble reading texts, I have to highlight everything just in order to see the text. That's a pain and I avoid sites that I have trouble seeing the text.

Is it so hard to keep the 'go lite' option?

We may be in the minority, but don't we deserve the right to see the text?

[edit on 12-2-2010 by virraszto]

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord

The light-warm-gray text on a darkish-gray background is the optimum computer screen reading environment recommended by optometrists. Less light, less eye strain.

depends which ones you ask.

the american optometric association say -

The color of VDT screen characters may also affect their ease of visibility. The color of the characters can affect how the eyes focus on the VDT screen and may bring about the development of harmless, but annoying, after-images for some individuals. Monochrome, or single color, displays often provide more legible images for word processing or data entry/acquisition tasks. Negative contrast VDT displays (dark letters on a light background) generally provide a more legible image than positive contrast displays (light letters on a dark background). Either black characters on a white background or white characters on a black background have been found to be more visible than green, yellow-orange, blue or red characters.

iowa university dpt of health and safety say -

Black text on a white background optimizes contrast and makes a good choice where large blocks of text are displayed.

Color text and/or color backgrounds reduce contrast and should be used with discretion.

White or light text on black or dark backgrounds can lead to increased screen glare.

Black text on a white background promotes contrast and reduces eyestrain.

White or light text on a black or dark background increases screen glare and can reduce depth of focus.

Color text on color background reduces contrast and is not recommended for large text blocks.

there's an interesting read here on the problem (they recommend a separate colour feature option) - unfortunately i can't get the bookmarklet to work for manual colour changing -sorry.

some polls also show just over 60% prefer the white on black text with over 20% black on white.

i could get links from all over showing one thing and i'm sure you could do the same to disprove it but at the end of the day, some of us just have a problem viewing light text on dark backgrounds because it causes physical discomfort to do so.

can this really not be taken into consideration with the new design?

I see much better at daytime rather than nighttime. Light background with dark text is the same thing, to me.

Change just for changes' sake is a poor reason to modify what was a working system. And a 'one-size-fits-all' approach rarely does.

The craziest thing, to me, is the fact that my preference has absolutely no effect on anyone else's display, so there seems to be no reason why anyone else should care if I prefer light. It's not as if my bright monitor is glaring into your viewing area, right?

But it appears we will need to accept this change.

[edit on 12-2-2010 by mishigas]

Can't we just have it in our personal preferences?

I really do not like the current dark background, that's why i used the light and only the light background.


I can't see why letting those who liked and used it is such a problem...

Just have it in the member tools.


Pretty please?

[edit on 12/2/10 by blupblup]

It may be a psyops. I wasn't even aware of the go light feature until today. When I needed it, when I spent about an hour inwardly reflecting how obnoxious those black paged sites are, about a month or so ago, I came to ats reluctantly because of the black pages, having something to say. I clicked on ats and everything was nice and bright. I could even read in medium lighting!!! (I squinted under a special curtain in order to read this). Sometimes the scalar mind reading weapons are a good thing! Praise God. They can read our minds and nobody cares.

It's pretty grim with the blackness. I think it's a way to keep the bloggers in mom's basement, so that sara palin has more chance to get soetoro reelected.

Sad. Hope I hit the 'post' button.

So, can we get a ruling? Will we be able to choose the 'light' option, or not? Frankly, I have not seen one good argument to remove it. We're not asking for a new feature to be added... we're just asking for our feelings to be acknowledged.

Waiting with bated breath...

Please bring back the Go Light, Im squinting at the screen : (

I posted in the other thread on this topic and already once in this one, but I'm really not inclined to read threads with the color setting like this...

Take that to mean what you will.

There's no way to improve the current setting other than to reverse it. Larger font won't help. The contrast is just difficult and gives me a headache.

I think for the people who DO use light, this matters a lot...

[edit on 2/12/2010 by ravenshadow13]