[MarcScott]

I'll start by saying that I think this is pretty cool and clever, and pretty useful for text. It works great on Safari.

I should however add, that while moving the elements over the picture, I didn't once lose sight of my cursor, as it is black with a white outline, which seems to be a much simpler solution to the problem.

[georgemcbay]

Agree 100%, especially when it comes to the text elements.

Even if they expanded the system such that it were capable of automatically creating spans in the text to adjust from white to black depending upon the background color under specific letters, having the text switch from black to white and back again along with the background would look horrible and would be terrible for reading. But using high contrast outlines works fine on just about anything, which is why that is the go-to for all "meme" photos (Impact white with black outline). While I would suggest avoiding Impact unless you are actually trying to make a "meme" association, this sort of high contrast outlined text is still by far the best way to handle text over images that may themselves be high contrast.

Sadly, true text outline support is inexplicably very bad among browsers, at least as of the last time I checked, though in CSS3-capable browsers you can cheese outlines using textshadow.

[waster]

I'd add that though we've adapted to the look of a cursor, the designer in me cringes at the thought of outlined text (though I'm willing to allow that there are probably applications of this that work elegantly; I just can't picture any).

Sometimes the answer might be yet a different color of text (not black or white), although that too has design downfalls.

But all that said, tools to help text and other elements adapt to background images are mighty helpful. I'd definitely consider using this, even as is.

[ewolf]

> I'd add that though we've adapted to the look of a cursor, the designer in me cringes at the thought of outlined text (though I'm willing to allow that there are probably applications of this that work elegantly; I just can't picture any).

Outlined text is quite common in videos (e.g. for subtitles or credits). The outline doesn't disturb at all if done properly — it doesn't have to be thick, a subtle shadow will usually suffice.