Web site

[Stefan-A]

This is what´s normal for Europe:
When you like to present serious content for serious customers, you must use nothing but light pale background colours, one clear font in a consistent dark colour... so most websites are like this over here.

It's also a question of how easy it is to read. The brighter the background, the harder it is on the eyes to read the text. And the harder it is on the eyes, the less likely it is that people will spend time on (and return to) the website.