A plasma display panel (PDP) designed to reduce the amount of external light that is reflected. This is accomplished by having some phosphor material on portions of the tops of the barrier ribs outside the discharge cells. Since the reflectance of the barrier rib material is higher than that of phosphor material, such a design will reduce the amount of external light reflected off the screen of a plasma display panel. By reducing external light reflection, the contrast of the image is improved. This can be achieved while still preventing crosstalk between neighboring discharge cells.