Background Issues with Websites
In the thousands of web site designs that we look at in the course of a year, we run across this problem with over 50% of them. Backgrounds that are so intense that you can’t read the text. Other offenders have sites with dark picture backgrounds and then use white letters. That is hard on the eyes! Don't do it!
If you are going to have a photo or image background in your web site design, make sure you lighten it up as much as possible. That way the text should still be readable.
The best way to make your text readable is by having dark text on a light background. Not everyone wants to have black text on a white background as it is here, but it is the most readable. If you want a little more color on your page you can use pastel colors like beige, light yellow and other neutral soft colors. As long as the text is readable! Remember people are looking for information, not pretty pictures.