The Legibility of Colored Web Page Texts

This paper investigates the impact of color combinations on the legibility of a Web page text presented on a CRT display. Four hundred and sixty-eight participants tested the legibility of fifty-six color combinations. The impacts of color combination, luminance contrast, color difference, and polarity on the legibility were studied. According to the analysis of variance test, color combinations significantly affected the number of correctly identified characters. The obtained results showed that more than 90-year old Le Courier legibility table is not appropriate for additive color computer displays. Consequently, a new legibility table is proposed.