When coding, you usually fine-tune your editor color scheme: light text colors on a not too dark background are relaxing for my eyes.

When reading, instead, you cannot easily change the color scheme of web pages with black background and painfully high contrast.

Example of a website with color scheme alternatives:

http://www.textfiles.com/directory.html

«AAAAH! MY EYES! Click here if you prefer a black and white color scheme.»

http://www.textfiles.com/wdirectory.html

«This is a special "black on white" version of the directories in textfiles.com for people who, for various reasons, have issues or trouble with the green on black color scheme of the site.»

So it would seem that the ideal color scheme for a website would be moderate contrast with light text (perhaps in various colors) on a dark background, rather than what appears to be the web designer consensus of dark text on a white or nearly white background.

I don't know. The two scenarios differ because when coding you often stare at one line, whereas when web surfing you often skim the text. It sounds as a subjective feeling.

I prefer not to code with a light background because it hurts my eyes. Strangely enough, my eyes don't complain when typing with a white background in a word editor.

Maybe it's because text editors come with lots of color?