website design - What is the purpose of using a very dark color for text instead of a pure black?

I have seen that some web designs implement an almost black font color (hex #001c00) in their designs instead of a pure black color (hex #000).

Does the design actually benefit from this or is this practically the same as using a black color?

I am a hobbyist web designer and developer and can't seem to grasp the difference.

Answer

I always prefer a very dark grey to pure #000. The choice might look personal, but here's the theory behind it:

There are very little 100% black things in nature. All black objects you see have some for of light reflected on them, shadows are never completely black.

When you #000 in a design, it overpowers the other colors. It attracts too much attention, because it is not natural. Of course a website is not natural, but the brain reacts in a similar way nonetheless.

That's why lots of designers go for dark grey instead. You can do a search by color in sites like Dribbble. The difference is small, but noticeable: Dark grey is more frequent and looks better in lots of cases.

For example: Designing in the Dark: 10 Dark Sites and Their Color Schemes (none of them, I think, use #000 as part of their palette)