Answer Geek
QUESTION: Are there recommended background designs and colors for Web-based training courses? What factors should I take into account?
One of the first things you should consider is whether your development system matches your users' systems. If, for example, you're using 256 colors and they can only support 16, images that look great on your machine might not show up as well on theirs. If you can, investigate the color settings, computer setup, and software of your users and then try to mirror their settings in your development process.
Any good Web design book can explain the importance of a Web safe palette--a mix of colors that are likely to display consistently on a wide range of platforms. One book to try is Learning Web Design by Jennifer Niederst. But what's most important, as Jakob Nielsen says in his book Designing Web Usability, is to
"...always ensure high contrast between foreground and background colors, and avoid busy background patterns that interfere with readability. Anything that reduces legibility of your text is annoying enough for fully sighted users who definitely don't like to be slowed down when they are on the Web, but textured backgrounds or subtle colors may be the last straw that takes your page below the threshold of what a partially sighted user can read at all."
As Nielsen said, accessibility to people with visual impairments is an important consideration. For example, people who are colorblind won't be able to appreciate the visual impact of, say, your logo if it displays in green and red. Try running your Website through Vischeck's color blindness simulator to determine what your color choices will look like to someone with that condition. Visibone's Website on colorblindness provides additional information.
The image you want to project will also help determine the colors you select. Blue usually signals a reserved image, orange a fun one, black new age. For more information on color symbolism, see this Web developer's site. To test out how various colors look in combination, check out Visibone's Webmaster's Palette tool.
There's a lot to be said for a white background, black text, minimal graphics, and a pleasing color palette for accenting. Keep in mind that color shouldn't distract learners from the content, but that content and color should work together. Margaret Driscoll, author of Web-based Training, advocates using color to cue learners where they are in an online course; for example, blue represents unit 3.
More information
Pantone, the international authority on colors and color-matching, offers Websites on color trends and color preferences. Also visit the About.com Web Design page and enter "color" in the search box. You'll have more info than you can shake a virtual stick at.
Additional links on design include
Published: October 2001