On Sun, Jul 15, 2007 at 02:13:36AM -0400, Ian! D. Allen wrote: > > 2) use black backgrounds. 30" of screen is a lot of light. Reduce > > your eye strain! > > Why is a light background a strain? I read black-on-white on paper with > no problem. I do use a slightly off-white Eterm background and run my > Dell LCDs at only 15% brightness, though. The light background keeps > my pupils smaller than black, and that makes the print appear sharper. http://xpt.sourceforge.net/techdocs/misc/ce01-DarkBackgroundIsGoodForYou/ In short, monitors are more like lightbulbs than paper. ;) I'm not sure how valid the other arguments are, particularly the "uses less power" thing. (I seem to recall it's completely invalid for LCDs, though I don't know if it's true for CRTs.) I do know it's much easier to see refresh rate issues or interference on a white screen than a black one (and can be distracting if severe). I don't know if it affects monitor wear as the article suggests. In any case, I'm just a little tired of hearing the "black on white works for paper, so it's the best thing for monitors as well" fallacy. There's a big difference between a reflective surface and an emissive one -- try reading a laptop screen in daylight, or a book in a pitch black room. They have diametrically opposite characteristics. That doesn't necessarily mean they should have diametrically opposite colour schemes, but it does mean you can't generalise across both.
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