Is there such thing as too high of a contrast between text and background?

Question

We've been having an intense debate around color contrast and if there is such thing as too high of a contrast between text elements and their background. Help us resolve the debate, or if you have a strong opinion leave a message and add fuel to the fire!

Harri Arain · Accepted Answer

we believe in synonymous and adjustable backgrounds and elements if you ever get a chance to see our website www.stafftimerapp.com you would see that the design and text do not battle each other for superiority and are in perfect harmony and that is how we believe should be your elements completely harmonious so that your message don't get lost amongst the design and contrast.

Namit Shah · Answer

I was working on an application and recently faced this issue. I had chosen a dark (almost pitch black) background theme and had set the text color to pure white. This was too much strain for the eyes and I had to tone down the colors a bit. Settled with #0d0d0d for the background color and #eeeeee for the text color. I recently published that app and it is currently on the featured list on Product Hunt: Fallacy Filter

Brandon Kindred · Answer

@namit_shah Out of curiosity, was the eye strain something that you noticed or was it feedback you got from users?

Is there such thing as too high of a contrast between text and background?

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