Final Exam Sample Paragraph

[This paragraph responds to question 1 in the "Images" section of the sample questions.]

Only the lower-right layout uses background colors effectively. Each of the others has significant flaws. The two on the left, top and bottom, have contrast problems. In the top-left layout, the problem is low contrast. As the Web Style Guide notes, readers prefer dark text on light backgrounds. The top-left layout properly uses light backgrounds—white, yellow, and off-white—but its text should be much darker to maximize contrast and thereby ensure legibility. The bottom-left layout demonstrates the opposite problem. Its high-contrast, fully saturated blue and green hues are loud, glaring, and distracting. They call attention to themselves (distracting from content), and they will quickly tire the eyes of readers who spend much time on the site. The two layouts on the right, on the other hand, both demonstrate effective use of contrast. Further, both use subtle pastels that do not distract or tire. Unfortunately, the ten percent of men who are red/green colorblind will not be able to distinguish between the colors chosen for the upper-right layout. This leaves the lower right as the only effective color scheme.