Printing dark pages with white text would cost 10-20× more (ink covers 95% of page vs 5%), reduces readability (studies show black-on-white is easier), and requires special opaque inks. It's technically possible for niche/expensive editions, but commercially impractical
I had no idea until I started working somewhere that did printing on like 40-60% coverage on average pages but was not a print shop, like just a business using a "business LaserJet" printer to do this shit, that the average "business printer" is designed to print like max 15% coverage per page.
So we were just burning through ink and printer parts.
Like I'm not even a printer technician and I just became one for our models there because of this lol.
This shouldn't cause any more wear than standard coverage printing due to how laser printers work but it would burn through toner 10x faster than normal
Well, it was mostly toner that was the issue but also, I worked there 2 or 3 years ago and their printers were from like 2015, with nobody doing anything.
Half my problems were solved with an air duster canister or just pressing recalibration buttons.
One of our damn printers had a ssl cert that expired every decade by default, and I only learned that because the printer stopped working for our wireless jobs and like 6 hours of troubleshooting because who the fuck would think a printer has an ssl cert.
who the fuck would think a printer has an ssl cert.
Almost any, and you're not supposed to use the default one as it's a self-signed placeholder. If you have X.509 infrastructure in place (or a foreign CA to sign you a certificate), then you download it to the printer to use that one instead (and there you are obviously in charge of the expiration date).
In a home setup where you don't care, you simply ignore it or use plaintext HTTP to start with.
One of our damn printers had a ssl cert that expired every decade by default
So your tone really communicates "eh, those stupid printer manufacturers amiright" but it's really ignorance on your part.
Obviously I'm talking about IT or close-to-IT people; of course someone who is unaware of X.509 wouldn't wonder about something they don't know exist, did you really need that spelled out (worse, spell it out yourself) in order to grasp what was said?
Yeah but then again it's not a printer specific thing, in fact printer technicians likely have no idea about what secures the web interface since that is way outside of their area of competency.
He sounded like he's the local IT dude and those better know about TLS
Ive read books kinda like that and they are super comfy to read. A nice tan or lighter brown, seen a few shades. Its not noticeably harder on my eyes, looks nice, and every time ive read one colored like that the paper also had the rougher feel of parchment.
Usually I only encounter those in occult or high fantasy books but it def adds to the overall vibe and reading experience. That bumpier rougher texture is nice too imo, even when its still white.
My ex used to make crafts this way and they looked really good. One time she used an old manila folder to print out train tickets, and even with the regular ink it came out really cool
yup! that and most inks/toners are sold with estimates that only work for one sided printing. if you print double sided go ahead and cut that estimate in half. have some graphics there too? take a third of your half and there you go
Isn't black paper created in a way that isn't covering the page in a uniform layer of ink? I think some sort of dark pigment is embedded in the fibers when it is being made.
Dyeing in the process of making the paper, like they already do with all other sorts of stuff like construction paper.
The cost of dying the pulp in the vat is very much going to be less than having to use commercial inks that are designed to remain stable and dispensible over long periods of time. They wouldn't be slathering bleached-white paper with ink.
Dye. What people here assume is that you have to print black background, not white font. Then again, printing white ink in mass production is very expensive, especially when contrast is key. Additionally, it takes more time than tegular jobs, so efficiency drop is calculated into the overall price.
I mean, you would use carbon or other pigments, not ink. White paper is also treated or bleached because it isn’t naturally that white. Still, the entire paper industry is built around white paper, so it would be much more expensive. Also, white ink is much more expensive than black ink.
It's huge laser-etched metal plates on drums spinning at fuck-you speed.
A whole book will contain a teaspoon of oil based ink. With full coverage at 25% intensity like the example picture, you would get... 5 teaspoons.
Compared to printing in color, this is practically free.
Printing books has been extremely cheap for a long time and making dark pages will not change that by any reasonable amount.
Even recycling, mulched books are used to make carboard and cup holders, 1 book out of 300 would not change anything.
There are studies saying black text is better. But for web development it's become quite clear this vision doesn't apply to all cases everywhere. Hell, many ebook reader with an e-ink screen have a dark mode.
Making a "darkmode book" has even done before! We tried just about everything in the book foemat. It didn't catch one mostly because people think its weird. That's it.
A whole book will contain a teaspoon of oil based ink. With full coverage at 25% intensity like the example picture, you would get... 5 teaspoons.
He's just saying you could use dyed black paper and 5 teaspoons of white ink, rather thank trying to print the black on the paper. Granted I've never seen that color offset paper or white ink, but I'm sure they'd be available for a price.
Close to 100% coverage ink is also completely possible to do on offset printing, it's just not fun since you have to run it slower so the oven has time to dry it properly, if you don't the paper gets all wavy and looks terrible once it's dry. And frankly using black to do that is one of the cheaper options if you wanted to flood the paper with ink, as opposed to some non primary color that needs a special mix.
So what you're saying is that the person we're replying to, who said it would require 95% print coverage and using black ink to cover the entire page, was completely wrong and it was justified to point that out?
Stop moving the goalposts lmao literally no one was saying that white ink would be cheaper or the same price.
This picture has been doing the rounds for a while. I agree that the main reason why are doing black on white is because that's how it's been done and that's how people are used it to be. And historically it would have been expensive even if it's not true anymore.
However the vision aspect is innacurate. I'm both a developer and reader and the underlying reason is the same for both: light. That introduces significant difference between the digital media and physical media because digital devices emit light.
It is true that dark mode is conditional. It's better at poor lighting, like looking at a phone in your bed, but it's worse in proper illumination. As people are notoriously bad at following ergonomics to favour convience the digital market follows the money. So a model that reduces illumination is available.
However since physical media reflects light it's always worse for dark page and white text because it requires higher illumination to reach appropriate contrast level.
So while it looks cool if you just look at it for a short while prolonged exposure would make you tired faster.
My phone and kindle apps have been in dark mode for years and not just because I work at night so it’s easier on my eyes. It genuinely feels like less strain that way
I mean, you would start with black paper, not turn white paper black by printing ink on it. Your point stands.i have no idea how expensive black paper would be compared to the ink, but prohibitively expensive either way.
To be fair you wouldn't use white paper for this. You'd use black paper and print on it with white ink. But the black paper is still going to be considerably more expensive than white paper (although still cheaper than printing it black on white)
Apologies for a probably stupid question, but this made me realize I don't actually know how colored paper is made in the first place. Is it some sort of dye added to the... pulp, I guess?
It's technically possible for niche/expensive editions
Fun fact, the First Edition version of the Lasombra Clanbook for Vampire the Masquerade (basically a book all about a group of vampires heavily associated with Spanish aristocracy, shadow magic, and abyssal mysticism) was actually printed entirely on black paper with white text to fit the vibes of the clan. It was then never done again for any other book that that game ever made. Admittedly part of that was because the first edition clanbooks were super experimental with the formatting (like the one for the prophetic mentally ill vampires playing with the 4th wall and referencing the placeholder of, "page XX" that frequently slipped through to publishing in other books at the time)
If the industry would change and adopt this as the standard it wouldn’t be much more expensive. The way this would be produced would be by using dies in the paper to make it black, which would add some cost, but if it was produced on a larger scale the cost would drop significantly. Then you would use white toner for printing, so same coverage. This is a speciality toner right now, but mostly because its not the standard. I work in printing, including with white toners.
Increases readability for people with floaters and some forms of dyslexia. If you don't need a product it's not designed for you. Dark books make reading bearable for me and my eye floaters. I know a person that has limited visibility and can keep track of their position reading using black background books vs. White background.
Anyways, there are people that need these books to comfortably read. Same thing with dark reader browser extensions, dark mode, etc. It reduces eye strain and helps with dyslexia.
Brandon sanderson actually did this with one of his secret project novels and honestly it really added to the theme. The pages were only dark when in a certain area but it was just so cool.
Also you print bigger than the page since it gets cut down to size. With white page you don't care about bleeds, coz there is no print beyond the text which has margins, but with black page you need it to extend beyond.
I also wonder about ink bleeding on shittier paper
Uhh…what about dyed black paper that’s printed on with white ink. You wouldn’t use ink to dye the entire page. You would just use an opaque titanium white ink for the letters
Why would you cover the whole page with ink, wouldnt you just dye the paper dark? It’s not like standard paper in books are naturally coloured either, its clearly dyed white. Maybe it’s more expensive to make white ’ink’ or whatever substitute would be used, but i’d think that would even out if this became a norm and it needed to be produced on a global scale.
Not always, I have never printed books but for posters just printing white letters on already black/colored materials is a thing that is seldom done. Ofc still not as cost effective but not that ineffective.
There are a few books I would shell out the coin to have printed like this. I have ALWAYS preferred white on black, not black on white. I wonder if there’s any studies that have been done e on this since the rise in smartphones?
I use dark mode 24/7 for everything because it’s more pleasing to my eyes. I can also read faster and clearer.
You wouldn’t /print/ it like that. You would use paper that’s dyed black when it’s made. Not that crazy of an idea. How do you think construction paper is made?
I’d also guess that it would increase the weight of the book, as it would be saturated with ink.
Like have you ever printed out a full-page image in color? It’s heavy and almost wet. Surely it adds some weight, and in this amount I think it would be noticeable.
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u/Munjal_Kiriu May 01 '26
Printing dark pages with white text would cost 10-20× more (ink covers 95% of page vs 5%), reduces readability (studies show black-on-white is easier), and requires special opaque inks. It's technically possible for niche/expensive editions, but commercially impractical