To the author: please use a darker font. Preferably black.

I’m only in my 40’s, I don’t require glasses (yet) and I have to actively squint to read your site on mobile. Safari, iPhone.

I’m pretty sure you’re under the permitted contrast levels under WCAG.

Surprisingly only the headings (2.05) and links (3.72) fail the Firefox accessibility check, the body text is 5.74. But subjectively it seems worse and I definitely agree with you that the contrast is too low.

The problem is less the color than the weight. If it was 500 rather than 300 it would be perfectly fine.

Safari’s reader mode is good for this. All you have to do is long press the icon on the left edge of the address bar.

I found this to be a common theme in web design a while back, and in part led to an experiment developing a newspaper/Pocket-like interface to reading HN. It's not perfect, but is easier on the eyes for reading... https://times.hntrends.net/story/47762864

Your feedback is noted! I'll darken it down a few nootches and test it on mobile. Thanks for the feedback

I instinctively use Dark Reader on any page with a white background so I was genuinely surprised by your comment at first.

Completely agree with this comment. Had to cut / paste it into vim and q! when done, was getting a headache.

I'm on my laptop and that font is too thin and too small. I'm in my mid 30's ;)

I'm also pretty sure 14 points font is a bit outdated at this point, 16 should probably be a minimum with current screens. It's not as if screens aren't wide enough to fit bigger text.

On my android phone it's perfectly legible. Moving my phone away it's only a tiny bit worse than HN.

Is this maybe a pixel density of iphone issue?

I wouldn't mind a darker and higher weight font though.

macOS/iOS Safari and Brave browsers have "Reader mode" . Chrome has a "Reading mode" but it's more cumbersome to use because it's buried in a side menu.

For desktop browsers, I also have a bookmarklet on the bookmarks bar with the following Javascript:

  javascript: document.querySelectorAll('p, td, tr, ul, ol').forEach(elem =>  {elem.style.color = '#000'})

The font is dark enough, yet the weight is too light. Hairline or ultrathin or something. It's eye straining.

>I don’t require glasses (yet)

One day try throwing a pair on you'll be surprised. The small thin font is causing this not the text contrast. This and low light scenarios are the first things to go.

+1

Firefox users: press F9 or C-A-R

Reader mode?

Your iPhone has this cool feature called reader mode if you didn’t know.

As for mentioning WCAG - so what if it doesn’t adhere to those guidelines? It’s his personal website, he can do what he wants with it. Telling him you found it difficult to read properly is one thing but referencing WCAG as if this guy is bound somehow to modify his own aesthetic preference for generic accessibility reasons is laughable. Part of what continues to make the web good is differing personal tastes and unique website designs - it is stifling and monotonous to see the same looking shit on every site and it isn’t like there aren’t tools (like reader mode) for people who dislike another’s personal taste.

Why don't you just go tell the WCAG on him yourself?

> Please don't complain about tangential annoyances—e.g. article or website formats, name collisions, or back-button breakage.