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Pleasant colors for your site



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Pleasant colors for your site

I sometimes get distracted by the background colors some sites use. Some colors are so heavy in the eyes for me, that I would opt to go back to the search engine.
We have different tastes, I know. But for you, what is the best combination of colors can you recommend to someone who's new to thinking of his site's design?

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JBeleren
Websites that use strong color combinations turn me off too. The best color combination for me would be blue and white. Lighter shades of blue just soothes my nerves. I know this sounds crazy but I've read that companies hire people that specializes on the psychology of colors that they use on their websites and products. One article I've read before said that most women like blue, purple and green while men like green, blue and black and that the color blue means trust somehow in our brains. I don't really get how they come up with that but they are the experts and I don't want to do research so, i won't try to question them.



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stbrians
My eyesight dimming and I prefer white backgrounds. I do not see on some surfaces.

Do we have people who use red backgrounds? Red signifies danger.



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emiaj55
Well I have been into food delivery sites from here, and there were a two or three who uses shades of red as themes for their site. They do not really use red for the whole background, but they do have them in text boxes and frames of the meals they cater (someone said that shades of red and orange makes people think of food). Is that the same thing?



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ballyhara
True. I've heard about psychology of colors, and more often than not, people that want to have very successful websites, tend to take that in consideration. Personally, I choose my colors based on a combination that looks nice to the eye, usually I try to pick light backgrounds, or something very classic, to avoid anything that can bring discomfort to the viewer.



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Enyi
Immediately I finished reading the post to comment the first color I saw was blue and here we have it. I usually like the blue theme color on sites. It gives the words written more weight and it helps amplify the write up.



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vinaya
My background is always white. I am using white background on all of my sites. One of the major benefits of using white is the color does not strain your eyes. White color is good if you want the people to read your posts, what background makes easy for reading. I use black, green, purple, orange and blue on the header, sidebars or dividers.



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NerdIndeed
Most popular websites I know of like Facebook and the like make use of the Blue and white scheme, but if ever I will be putting up my own I'll go with a black and white. I read somewhere that designers refer to the color wheel when choosing a color palette for their respective projects.



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stbrians
White will be ideal for me. I do not want a combination of colored surfaces as they hurt my eyes.



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NerdIndeed
Only white may work too. It's clean and straightforward. Although I suggest, you have a few black elements on it like this one here, Pixelclerks. Having it only in white might make it look dull.



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ballyhara
Everything white is not bad, but is kind of boring. There's always good to mix a classic color like white, blue, black, with another that gives life to your website like green, purple or yellow. I think the point is to make the light color be a predominant one, and the vibrant one just the color you use in the details.



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theresajane
I would also want to have black and white for my site. It's actually very sleek and very simple. I just find it easy to look at when there are just two colors.



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NerdIndeed
The usual is just two contrasting colors: a white and another one. Some also sport a dark theme. It looks great however in time the texts on it get harder to read.



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ballyhara
Personally, I get attracted to some dark colored websites. But it also depends on the purpose of the platform. For example, a health related website would be terrible in gray or black, or a yoga/tai-chi platform, would be extravagant in a yellow/red combination. I guess that preference should be based in the theme, and the personal taste.



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NerdIndeed
That's an excellent point. The niche of the website is vital too in choosing colors. If you're in the health niche, the use of green is excellent.



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ballyhara
Correct. Green is supposed to relax the viewer, so obviously is well related to health/medical field. Is like going to a kindergarten which is painted in gray and black, unless we're talking about the Adams Family Daycare, you expect to find it painted in vibrant colors right? Well, that's exactly the same issue with your digital platform.



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Enyi
You're right light colors with shade of dim heavy can go well with the eyes. I hate any heavy color on the site it makes the site looks very dim and busy too.



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emiaj55
Black and white is very ideal for me as well. They create massive impressions. They exude elegance as well. They portray honest and down to the point topics. I think it may work well.



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stbrians
White surfaces and you write using black is good for me. This helps me and my eyes. They live plain white surfaces.



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Kakashi2020
I'm using yellow and blue, I feel that these two colors compliment each other. The Yellow Part attracts visitors, while the Blue Part is cool to the eyes.



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jpk0007
Well i also have visited some sites which use awful colour combinations. Sometimes the colour used for the site completely distracts you from an otherwise good quality content. I also get irritated when people use dark red or green colours even for the text. I guess light colour combination usually looks more appealing and makes your site look more professinal.



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vinaya
White background and black text is the perfect color combination for your posts. If the background is white and the text is black, readability will improve. Our eyes are used to read black text in white backgound. However, for a landing page or home page, you can use black text in the light blue background.The color you use should match your theme and niche.



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antonToledo
My advice is just to use at least 3 color combination. Having too many colors on your site might have a negative effect. Just stick on colors that are not too aggressive to the eye like blue and white for example facebook only uses blue and white as its main colors, and don't use dark colors like red and violet these colors seem to be very aggressive in the eyes.



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davedaot04
I usually prefer light websites because it doesn't strain my eyes, but I like some contrast too between light and dark it makes the website have more variety to it not boring.



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theresajane
The same with me. It's better to have lighter colors as there are some visitors who have eye problems. Also, people can't focus with what they read if the website's background isn't pleasant.



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edencaga
I think most professionals used light or pastel colors. Sometimes balancing is good also like one color should be dark color and the other must be light colors so its more pleasing to the eyes of viewers. Don't make it over saturated as it's not good to the eyes. Colors should limit 3 to 4 colors and the background should not conflict with the font's color. You can try pantone colors/pantoning or look for a color palettes that will give you ideas but I think you must know the principles of colorwheel or color theory as this will really help you know deeply about colors.



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Kakashi2020
Light colors to me are attractive and the color blue gives it a good contrast. Sites with too much color in my opinion doesn't look professional and sites which uses dark colors looks gloomy.



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Barida
This is one of the reasons I always give thumbs up to the developers of Facebook site. The blue color is simple and nice. You can feel at home making use of it to chat and browse.



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edencaga
Yes, I have seen websites used blue colors especially light blue colors or pastel blue maybe because its pleasing to the eyes. It's more relaxing and friendly color so it really gives us more of a relaxing feeling. Sometimes if its oversaturated its not good to the eyes but blue is different.



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esteban123
I think I prefer light colors when it comes to a website because it is very pleasant to eyes and very convenient to see. I think I would choose white and green as it gives some feeling of calmness and a peace of mind since it is very relaxing to see some light colors. I would probably choose it and have it as my top priority in designing a website to make it look fresh and attractive to visitors.



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Barida
I think that it is always necessary that we keep it simple and go with a white color as the background site color. This will make everyone want to follow up since it is one of the simplest color that we have out there.



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mhingnhormz
Pleasant colors for your site: I prefer to the light colors, like the combination color of one of the social media which is facebook used a blue and white color. The color is good in such a way that it didn't distruct my eyes in some reason in the site.



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cjctm11
I always want those websites that was so simple and doesn't have much decorations or a lot of colors in it. I usually appreciate those who use just plain white, some shades of gray and just one hard primary color. Is it okay to put more if that was what you like but it was easy to read and relaxing for the eyes of the viewers if you only use the simple ones.



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knnon
I as well prefer simple sites rather than over decorated ones. There's just too much distractions with all the colors in them. The screen glare along with those colors really do hurt the eyes a lot.



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Franzel2oo
Colours play more of a role in our veryday living thsn most people seem to think. The colours we see everyday have a way of influencing our mood and feeling towards things. We feel stronger emotions in the presence of red for instance, than we feel in the presence of blue.

it also matters, how strong the colour is. Faded shades of red for instance won't feel the same as stronger shades of the same colour. This means if you must use a strong colour, dial it down. You don't want your colours distracting your site visitors.



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Alania
I use the combination of black and green, for some reason. I know some people might think it's ugly, but it's not. When combined at the right place. Let's say the borders would be black, and the middle side will be green. Hard to tell without showing.



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burgosmichael24
Choosing a color for your site may vary depends on your brand or products. Choosing the appropriate color for your sites can be a good strategy. You can search more about the meaning and psychology of colors to know what color suits your site.



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knnon
I like looking at soft colors, gray tones, light blues, blacks are also good but not too much because that's a slap on the eyeballs if there's too much black. I tend to not visit sites that have all these headache inducing color schemes. I'd rather not let my eyes go through all that pain just to read something from their site.



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theresajane
I noticed that most of you prefer light blue. Well, yes, that's a good choice and it's a perfect suggestion for those who are thinking of better color schemes for their website.



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Alania
Light blue is a very nice color indeed, and what's important, you'll never grow tired of it. In fact, it's so relaxing, that you might not even notice it. I hate colors that are aggresive. For example red or purple.



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amelia88
Readability is a huge thing and looking at other successful sites certainly helps give an indication of what color schemes seem to be easiest on our eyes. Facebook’s consistent blue and white scheme has been around for a long time and is easy to read. I think anything that’s too bright or crazy when it comes to color contrast is a big no.



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theresajane
These suggestions will surely help me when I put up my own site. I will really bookmark these suggestions and apply them.



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Janie1994
If you want to make sure your colors coordinate, I would try looking at Patone color swatches. Often times, they have swatches with coordinating colors so you can know what would look best togther and simplify the process. You do have your classic blue and whites or other primary colors and whites but if the designer wants to be bold and different, then look at pre-designed templates to get a feel of color-coordination.



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esteban123
Sometimes I prefer white colors from a certain site because it looks clean and very neat. I really like it very much because it gives me some motivation to visit the site regularly because of the very interesting colors that it has.



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Alania
White looks cool, but only if it's accompanied by a decent font and design (that's my personal opinion). Otherwise, white might give an impression of something made by default and unfinished. Like the walls of a recently bought house. For example, the black & white design of Clerk websites is great.



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Enyi
I know color adds some fun looks to a site and as such I believe owners of sites should choose colors that will give their site the needed pleasant looks. Even colors can be attractive on a site. White and any shade of blue can do for me on any site.



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gutzman
Well Facebook made the best choice to have light shades of blue in their website which is very pleasing to the eye and relaxing. This might be one of the reasons why it became popular subconsciously. It's comparable to restaurants which choose red color because it makes people who see it to get hungry and eat more.



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cmoneyspinner
Most of my sites are "plain Jane" colors because I'm not very artistic. I'm not that good at mixing and matching colors. But for one of my sites I decided to use lavender. It's very relaxing. I like visiting my own site. LOL.



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ballyhara
Well, lavender seems very relaxing. Haven't considered it also, but it's actually a good color. I'm thinking that it may be good for my yoga activities. Maybe a lavender/white/baby blue should look pretty good for it right? thanks for the tip, a lot!



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esteban123
@Alania Yes I agree with you that it needs to be accompanied by other colors to make it appear attractive otherwise it would become dull and very uninteresting to have. I think white color is perfect for blue since they both have some convenient and pleasant effects to our eyes.



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Kakashi2020
You know what a good site color looks like? Just take a good look at Ionicware Sites and you'll see that Blue and
Green are the best colors to use in a site. These colors make the site fresh and crisp looking.



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ballyhara
Blue/green/white combination looks really professional. In fact, you can find it in a lot of promotions and adds, because people tend to like a lot, and obviously it grabs their attention. I'm very classic when it comes to color mixing, but generally speaking, blue is one of my favorite colors to use on digital platforms.



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