The all-white background feels very harsh

[robredpath]

When looking at a preview of d-portal that starts to make use of the design system, one piece of feedback from everyone reviewing was that the white background was problematic. Part of that is that some of the controls are white-on-white, which points to a need for some more designed elements/controls to be part of the design system. But, part of the feedback was that an all-white background just seemed too bright.

I have to admit I can't quite put my finger on why that's the case, because so many websites have a white background- including GitHub! But, somehow, it looks really bright. Introducing a light grey background made the white card elements "pop" far better and generally look nicer.

Any inputs/advice/reckons/etc welcome

[stevieflow]

From @notshi IATI/D-Portal#660

Used the light grey #F6F6F6 from the current IATI website - seems to fit! https://d-portal.org/ctrack.html?&flava=white#view=search

[robredpath]

Nice - I'm pretty open to us using a light grey by default.

I looked into this a bit further and it turns out that the way most websites deal with it is to make the text a very dark grey rather than making the background not be white. That, alongside lots of thin borders and light-coloured interface elements seems to be enough to make an all-white background work.

[stevieflow]

Nice - I'm pretty open to us using a light grey by default.

Interested to know how we then do / roll that out (automagically !)

[robredpath]

Interested to know how we then do / roll that out (automagically !)

I think we should see how it affects the other tools: what does the Validator look like with this, for example.

If we're then happy with the change, we just update the design system, publish a new version and roll it out tool-by-tool by bumping the version number.

[stevieflow]

Great thanks @robredpath

Sure - let's take a look!

[robredpath]

I've asked Agile.coop to look into this as part of their current round of development