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Editorial · No. 05

Newsboard

Cream background, safety orange and plain Verdana. The no-nonsense look of classic link boards.

light utilitariannostalgicdense
Get the tokens
The idea

A tribute to the early-web aggregators: zero ornament, maximum information density. Safety orange works as a fill colour, while a darker burnt orange is used for link text so it still passes contrast on cream. Verdana is a system font, so this palette loads no web fonts at all.

Mode
Light
Family
Editorial
Good for
link lists, forums, dashboards
Fonts
Verdana
Colours

Eleven roles

Click any swatch to copy its hex code.

Accessibility

Contrast check

Worked out when the site is built, using the WCAG 2 formula.

Body text on background#222222 on #F6F6EF
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
14.66:1
AAA
Headings on background#1A1A1A on #F6F6EF
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
16.03:1
AAA
Muted text on background#666666 on #F6F6EF
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
5.29:1
AA
Links on background#B84A00 on #F6F6EF
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
4.82:1
AA
Text on raised cards#222222 on #FFFFFF
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
15.91:1
AAA
Button label on accent#1A1A1A on #E85D00
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
4.97:1
AA
Accent shapes on background#E85D00 on #F6F6EF
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
3.23:1
AA Large

AAA ≥ 7:1 and AA ≥ 4.5:1 for normal text. AA Large ≥ 3:1 is enough for large headings, icons and button shapes.

Typography

The font pairing

Every font is self-hosted, so pages load without calling a third-party font service.

Aa
Headings
Verdana

Small rooms full of light

Aa
Body
Verdana

Good body type disappears: you stop noticing letters and start reading the story they carry.

{}
Code
Geist Mono

const palette = "newsboard"; // 0O 1lI =>

In use

A page in Newsboard

Headings, links, quotes, code, buttons and cards together.

Newsboard Journal EssaysNotesAbout
utilitarian · 6 min read

What a colour remembers

14 October 2026 · by the editors

Colour is never just decoration. A background sets the temperature of a room before a single word is read, and an accent tells the eye where to go next. Choose them together and a site starts to feel like a place.

A palette is a promise about how a page will feel.
// apply the palette
const root = document.querySelector("html");
root.dataset.lbTheme = "newsboard";
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Use it

Copy the tokens

Paste into your own project. The font names match the files listed on the Credits page.

/* Newsboard: Cream background, safety orange and plain Verdana. The no-nonsense look of classic link boards. */
:root {
  --color-bg:          #F6F6EF;
  --color-bg-alt:      #FFFFFF;
  --color-surface:     #EDEDE4;
  --color-text:        #222222;
  --color-heading:     #1A1A1A;
  --color-muted:       #666666;
  --color-accent:      #E85D00;
  --color-accent-2:    #828282;
  --color-link:        #B84A00;
  --color-border:      #E2E1DA;
  --color-on-accent:   #1A1A1A;

  --font-heading: 'Verdana', Geneva, Tahoma, sans-serif;
  --font-body:    'Verdana', Geneva, Tahoma, sans-serif;
  --font-mono:    'Geist Mono', ui-monospace, Consolas, monospace;
}