I don't understand the reasoning behind using some "designer black" for large blocks of text. Especially when the background is also chosen to be a softer tone, contrast is reduced even further.
Imagine you're walking outside, trying to read an article with your phone, having trouble reading the text due to bright reflections. After finally managing to maximize your display's brightness, you realize that the website designer has decided to use these "nice" colors. You crouch down, cupping your hands over your phone to educate yourself about how to never ever use #000000 black.
Imagine you're trying to listen to classical music at a steel mill, but because the piece is mixed "correctly", you can't actually hear it. You turn up the volume to max but it's still too quiet to hear through the industrial noise and your ear protectors.
Now, is it the mixer's fault you're trying to listen to the music at a steel mill?
A lot of people answered "yes" and that's how we ended up with the "loudness wars" lowering the quality of all music to shit. A mistake that's ruined entire generations of music, only available at crap, compressed radio quality.
Imagine you're walking outside, trying to read an article with your phone, having trouble reading the text due to bright reflections. After finally managing to maximize your display's brightness, you realize that the website designer has decided to use these "nice" colors. You crouch down, cupping your hands over your phone to educate yourself about how to never ever use #000000 black.