I think it's true. Pure white background harms eyes. Maybe it's look professional and clean but it's not comfortable to read something very long on #fff background. I'ts one of the reasons I can't stay too long on such web resources. So I wonder why some theme devs or admins using pure white bg on their forums.
What's your opinion about pure white background?
I don't like it. A very light grey looks much better.
I wonder why professional forum engines like XenForo or IPB using pure white bg in their default themes?
I almost always use #EEE instead of #FFF. 1/16th darker, so not as hard on the eyes, but without a reference point it looks white. Another benefit it gives is you can use #FFF for things like bevels or grooves on it and it'll actually show up. I also tend to use #333 for text for the same reasons.
Yes, not pure black for text is very good too. I prefer #333.
I set the background-color for my trow at #e7e9ed and borders at #d7d7d7.
I still had a user complain the white was too bright :/ . For dark themes I like to use #1a1a1a. Better than pure black
As an overall background, I tend to dislike it. As a container background (ie. mybb.com), it's a good choice imo.
Black is bad.
White is bad.
Fluro green is where it's at!
Light grey looks good but white is horrible.