Set Your Background Color
Blogged into css & nonsense on 05/10/2006 | comment
I’ve never been one to tinker with the default style options in any of my chosen web browsers (i.e. Safari & Firefox). However, after witnessing a number of flaming sessions (i.e. conversations) on the various CSS galleries where a site that’s been featured has not set the background color and gets flamed hard for it, I decided to give it a go.
To me it never seemed like a very big deal. So, I decided to surf the web for a while without my default background color of #FFFFFF just to see what all the fuss is about. I figured I’d be tame and go with #CCCCCC. This just in—whoa, it’s ugly out there people.
I admit, I visit the various css galleries often. For me it’s a varied experience. The words inspirational, humbling, and hilarious come to mind. Regardless, if a site’s been featured I expect it to be welll excecuted in terms of design & code. It should look good from all angles, and for all users.
For me one comment thread that has always been interesting are the conversations about setting the background-color for the body tag. This is one angle that I’ve been pretty lenient about.
For some, setting the body bg color is a total must. For others, forgetting to set the body bg is just trivial. I used to be in the latter camp. I’ve seen the light though, and I now put myself in the former.
The number of really well excecuted sites out there that are supposed to have a white background that have neglected to set it as such in their CSS is actually quite staggering. And when you visit those sites without the default #FFFFFF as your browser bg, you’re in for a not so tasty treat.
Why care? Well, just imagine what your clients would think if all of a sudden, for some strange reason, they were using a browser and the bg default was not white? Imagine the look on their face when their beautiful site you’ve designed rears it’s naked body?
Some have said that with the outporing of galleries the quality of the overall experience – namely due to the poor behaviour of many commenters – has gone downhill. To some degree, I believe this is true. If you have nothing decent or constructive to say don’t say it.
As for the commenters flaming those for not setting the background color of the body, good for you. Hold your torch high.
I urge you to take the plunge, and change your default browser background color for a week. You too may see the light, and be a little more diligent in ‘clothing’ your body.
I always figured that if someone went through the trouble of changing their browser’s background-color, they probably had a good reason to and who am I to override it?
— Thame 05/29/2006 #
That’s a fair comment Thame. I never really considered that.
I just think that if we go to all the trouble we do to make our sites look great (with CSS), it’s not too much trouble to take that small step to make sure every apsect of our design appears as we intend it to.
— Terry Evans 05/30/2006 #