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I have a 15" laptop with a quality built-in LCD, but still, some very light colors wash out to where they're barely noticeable. For example the light blue background color used for the <code> tag (or four-space indents) on Superuser are pretty much impossible to see.

Even using the trick of tilting my screen until the color distorts somewhat, it's still very hard to see that effect. Anyone else having problems seeing the light background colors used in many places?

Clarification: I don't consider it a duplicate because the grey backgrounds for <code> blocks in all StackExchange sites but Superuser are fine with me, and the most of the non-code blue backgrounds on Superuser are fine. It's just Superuser's <code> block background color that is a super light blue, almost not worth calling blue: #F5FDFF.

It's bad enough that I feel like I can't use <code> in-line in my text on Superuser because readers won't be able to tell the difference between the command-line arguments I'm referring to, and the text around it. So I'll have to make my posts uglier and less readable by formatting them so "code" (on Superuser, at least for me, this usually means "mentions of command-line tools") are separated out to their own lines. That's too bad, because there are times when just mentioning a command or two is easier to do and more readable inline with the text.

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3 Answers 3

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We have updated the blockquote/code background colors to gray, like the one on Stack Overflow. The change is now live.

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Here's a sample for visual reference

code and blockquote colors on superuser

I agree it's subtle, but we haven't received overwhelming complaints about this...

edit: we decided it makes sense to change this.

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    There is a feature req to change it. meta.superuser.com/q/3519/48078 — and it's at 12/0, which is quite a lot for MSU.
    – slhck
    Commented Jan 21, 2012 at 14:22
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    Wow. I just saw the color difference the first time ever, when I looked at my laptop TFT from an about 50 degree angle below. No chance at all on my tablet computer. This really should be changed.
    – Daniel Beck Mod
    Commented Jan 21, 2012 at 15:36
  • I actually can see both fine. To see it better, I do have to tilt the screen just slightly back on my laptop, but I can make out the difference in normal viewing. Of course, YMMV. I never thought it was something really worth changing though... Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 6:06
  • Cool. Thanks Jeff! Looking forward to it...
    – Daniel Beck Mod
    Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 18:08
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    I have been using Firefox + Stylish to override the CSS. I agree that the contrast is too low.
    – iglvzx
    Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 20:12
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Here's some technical details about the colors:

  • Body background-color: #FFFFFF, rgb: 255, 255, 255

  • Code/Blockquote background-color: #F5FDFF, rgb: 245, 253, 255

It's nearly white! Color-wise, I would classify it under gray not blue. I suggest increasing the saturation (hsv) by at least 8 units to #E0F9FF, rgb: 224, 249, 255.

For comparison, the color here on Meta.SU is #EEEEEE, rgb: 238, 238, 238.


Original:

original

+8 saturation:

suggestion

-8 value: gray!

gray

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    Saturation 8 isn't enough.
    – Daniel Beck Mod
    Commented Jan 25, 2012 at 12:51

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