I'll agree on both points - it is easier/clearer to navigate and the colors are a little too harsh.
I saw the darker color as more of a blue than a black, if you're going for red-white-blue coloring in there then you might think about backing off on the intensity a little... perhaps the by using #FF9999 for the red and #99CCFF for the blue.
Yikes, yeah there's always a stark difference when you're grabbing a color code out of Photoshop without any perspective and actually putting it on the page.