Anyone tried text colors? What's the reception?

[Montylyro]

I was thinking about implementing different colors into the text of my story. Nothing crazy. Just strong emotional dialogue. Like red for anger, blue for sadness, yellow for fear. Stuff like that.

Are people here alright with things like that? Would it be an eyesore? Is there a marked difference reading it in dark mode? I don't want to put it into my story to then drive away the few readers I have or anyone else.

Just want to know the consensus opinion on it. Thanks for your time.

 

[Eldoria]

I didn't even know this feature existed...

 

[melchi]

It is a bad idea because it reduces accessibility in written works.

 

[blackcrowcrowd]

From my experience reading certain stories with colored text, absolutely not. However, there are special cases where I guess it isn't all that bad, for example one of the stories I read uses blue color for whenever the words spoken are Latin, but it really doesn't add much to it anyways and the author could've just say they're speaking in Latin in another way (ex: Saying a latin translator was summoned or something along the lines would still feel natural)

In conclusion, personally I don't think it's good. ESPECIALLY if you're just going to use it to express different emotions, it's bad because then it would be like reading rainbows and it's just an eyesore. Also, it made it so that you can't say things like conversation that seem like angry people arguing but actually they're pretty scared (Some people gets angry when they're in a state of fear, it's kind of like a survival mechanic or something), since the readers will associate whatever color you use with a specific emotion, and not two at the same time.

 

[MasterY001]

I'll just answer every question in the order you asked:

1. People here have varied opinions on colored text. Personally, I don't mind it as a reader.
2. (same answer as 1)
3. Some of the darker colors will be a little harder to see, but nothing too drastic.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

Ive seen it a few times to highlight important words or a disembodies voice....not really a fan. And if you switch back and forth from normal to dark mode, I am unsure what happens to the text colour then.

 

[Montylyro]

From my experience reading certain stories with colored text, absolutely not. However, there are special cases where I guess it isn't all that bad, for example one of the stories I read uses blue color for whenever the words spoken are Latin, but it really doesn't add much to it anyways and the author could've just say they're speaking in Latin in another way (ex: Saying a latin translator was summoned or something along the lines would still feel natural)

In conclusion, personally I don't think it's good. ESPECIALLY if you're just going to use it to express different emotions, it's bad because then it would be like reading rainbows and it's just an eyesore. Also, it made it so that you can't say things like conversation that seem like angry people arguing but actually they're pretty scared (Some people gets angry when they're in a state of fear, it's kind of like a survival mechanic or something), since the readers will associate whatever color you use with a specific emotion, and not two at the same time.

You make a good point. It would make complicated things even more complicated, and for no good reason too. Maybe I shouldn't stray too far from the conventional methods.

Thanks for the advice.