XanderLand

Chances are, it’s white.  After all, that’s the standard default setting for every browser that I can recall having used.  Why does it matter?  Should it matter?  Well, I’d guess that 99.9% of the time, it doesn’t matter.  Because of that remaining one-tenth, however, it *should* matter to you if you’re a web developer.

The issue is this.  The background color plays a big role in the color scheme of most websites.  There are all kinds of elements tied into it.  Images backgrounds, tables, all sorts of layout and content elements depend on the background of the page to present a clean unified look to the visitor.  So, why is it that so many developers leave this up to chance?  That is, why, when they have a site that is keyed off of a white background, do they leave the background color to be handled by the browser instead of declaratively specifying what it should be?  Often, I think, because they never even see the flaw.  The default background color on their browsers is set to white, and it never even occurs to them that their site is going to look radically different to that small group of people who have customized their browser settings, with potentially ugly results.  This isn’t only an issue for the little guys…Change the default background color for your browser to something non-white and have a look, for example at this:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com

Personally, the background color for my browser is set to a pale yellow, but it really doesn’t matter.  I’d suggest that if you’re a web developer, you need to pick a default background color that works for you.  Any color will do…As long as it isn’t white.