I'm always conflicted on reducing contrast by making the text very slightly grey instead of black (or the background very slightly grey instead of white).<p>The problem with this is, as so many times, that on the web you have no control over what people use to display your content. On an awesome display with tons of contrast I would very much agree: straight black on straight white can be unnecessarily harsh and toning it down a bit (a bit being important here) makes everything look more pleasant.<p>However, on a bad display with low contrast further reducing contrast can be a bad idea.<p>On balance I would argue that screen technology is by now good enough to allow for slight reductions in contrast that at least have no ill effects in the vast majority of cases and have a positive effect on above average displays.<p>Oh, and another advantage of not using straight white or straight black is that you can add color (a slight tint, don't touch color if you are inexperienced) to it.<p>(Also, I would recommend searching out the worst display you can find to test your designs. That helps with more than just whether you picked the right contrast.)