wow I'm honored that someone would bother to study my pixeling style
to be honest, i haven't really thought about how i do things, but i think you nailed it pretty accurately.
love the mockup
even with the "gradient"
bg
if i had to add anything to what you've already written, it would be that i try not to use 100% white either(sometimes theres no way around it though) i always add a little bit of yellow, since I'm not a big fan of too many "pure" colors, if you know what i mean.
oh and i never use dither, its the devil!
anyway, love the mockup Dan, looks really cool.
now go make it into a game, so i can play it