4 ms·

if the white is blinding, isn't it because your screen is too bright? If you force me a reduced contrast, I can't adjust. If you give me black on white, I can

by jraph 5y ago

if the white is blinding, isn't it because your screen is too bright? If you force me a reduced contrast, I can't adjust. If you give me black on white, I can always set my screen at a comfortable level for me. With reduced contrast, you also might force me to increase the brightness of my non OLED screen, which will use draw more power from my battery.

efields 5y ago
Maybe not blinding but not pleasant. Keeping brightness in check is something I do often but I doubt many people do — notice how bright everyones devices are in public next time you're in a restaurant or theater. I'm with you that you want high contrast, but you also want balance. I think the #000 on #FFF of this textarea I'm in works because the leading is tight, the kerning is appropriate… its information dense. The NYT website is information dense. If I squint and I see a grayish blob I feel like good decisions were made. If I still see mostly white then there's work to be done.
Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
I've always been of the opinion that if you find a completely white screen to be blinding or even painful, then you either need to turn down your brightness or add additional ambient light to your room, or both.
andrei_says_ 5y ago
Most of the apps text editors etc. I use are in dark mode. So yes, my screen brightness is set to above 50%. When I switch to a white-background page I get instantly blinded.
- jraph 5y ago
  You might like an extension such as Dark Background with Light Text. Another tool that might help: zooming texts so you don't need them so bright in dark mode. It might help reduce eye fatigue too.
hcarvalhoalves 5y ago
This. People use 100% screen brightness then try to compensate w/ low contrast colours. I see a lot of colleagues messing with low-contrast color themes for their editors. I use the default Emacs one (black on white), but my screen brightness is always at around 20-30%. I've learned the rule is to set your screen brightness _as if_ it were a piece of paper being illuminated by the ambient light.
- wildrhythms 5y ago
  I hope to someday find a viable e-ink monitor. :)
notriddle 5y ago
What's blinding when it fills the whole screen might not be blinding if it was used in moderation. For example, take this photograph: https://monovisions.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/10-famous-black-and-white-photojournalists-Don-McCullin.jpg https://monovisions.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/10-famous... There is pure #fff in that photograph, but it's used very sparingly, so the overall picture is still pretty dark.
- hypertele-Xii 5y ago
  https://hypertele.fi/temp/gin3r0fe2rb9feqb9ufe90iun.png https://hypertele.fi/temp/gin3r0fe2rb9feqb9ufe90iun.png You are correct, there's very little pure black and white in the photo. Only a handful of pixels.
GekkePrutser 5y ago
A lot of screens are too bright even at 0% even at night. My LG 4K screen is such an example, I work on 0% during the day with 70% contrast and it's just about ok. During the night it's wayy too bright though and I need to reduce contrast to almost 0% which helps but kills colour depth. Screen manufacturers optimise for high brightness way too much. I guess because it looks good on the shop floor. In summer I often work with the windows open at night but the lights off to avoid attracting bugs. All my displays are horrible in this scenario. Except my old amber vt520 which I can set so low I can barely read it in a dark room, or so bright it is easily readable in sunlight. It also has amazingly convenient brightness and contrast dials instead of a frustrating OSD menu. Some display qualities of CRTs have still not been matched.
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  > Screen manufacturers optimise for high brightness way too much. I guess because it looks good on the shop floor. Or it's because they don't expect anyone to sit and compute in an unlit room. And HDR content can look really good if you have a high peak brightness. I'd use comfortable lights and window screens myself.
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago
    Not really, like I said I use my 4K at 0% brightness in a sunlit room and it's just right. So even there I have no adjustment options anymore without compromising colour depth. When I have artificial lights on I already need to reduce contrast substantially. My unlit room thing is only in summer, as I live in Spain and have no AC I need to have the windows open at night. It's pretty extreme and I understand that screens are not made with that in mind but they should handle a normal evening scenario just fine.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

by jraph 5y ago

efields 5y ago

Maybe not blinding but not pleasant. Keeping brightness in check is something I do often but I doubt many people do — notice how bright everyones devices are in public next time you're in a restaurant or theater. I'm with you that you want high contrast, but you also want balance. I think the #000 on #FFF of this textarea I'm in works because the leading is tight, the kerning is appropriate… its information dense. The NYT website is information dense. If I squint and I see a grayish blob I feel like good decisions were made. If I still see mostly white then there's work to be done.

Sohcahtoa82 5y ago

I've always been of the opinion that if you find a completely white screen to be blinding or even painful, then you either need to turn down your brightness or add additional ambient light to your room, or both.

andrei_says_ 5y ago

Most of the apps text editors etc. I use are in dark mode. So yes, my screen brightness is set to above 50%. When I switch to a white-background page I get instantly blinded.

jraph 5y ago
You might like an extension such as Dark Background with Light Text. Another tool that might help: zooming texts so you don't need them so bright in dark mode. It might help reduce eye fatigue too.

hcarvalhoalves 5y ago

This. People use 100% screen brightness then try to compensate w/ low contrast colours. I see a lot of colleagues messing with low-contrast color themes for their editors. I use the default Emacs one (black on white), but my screen brightness is always at around 20-30%. I've learned the rule is to set your screen brightness _as if_ it were a piece of paper being illuminated by the ambient light.

wildrhythms 5y ago
I hope to someday find a viable e-ink monitor. :)

notriddle 5y ago

What's blinding when it fills the whole screen might not be blinding if it was used in moderation. For example, take this photograph: https://monovisions.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/10-famous-black-and-white-photojournalists-Don-McCullin.jpg https://monovisions.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/10-famous... There is pure #fff in that photograph, but it's used very sparingly, so the overall picture is still pretty dark.

hypertele-Xii 5y ago
https://hypertele.fi/temp/gin3r0fe2rb9feqb9ufe90iun.png https://hypertele.fi/temp/gin3r0fe2rb9feqb9ufe90iun.png You are correct, there's very little pure black and white in the photo. Only a handful of pixels.

GekkePrutser 5y ago

A lot of screens are too bright even at 0% even at night. My LG 4K screen is such an example, I work on 0% during the day with 70% contrast and it's just about ok. During the night it's wayy too bright though and I need to reduce contrast to almost 0% which helps but kills colour depth. Screen manufacturers optimise for high brightness way too much. I guess because it looks good on the shop floor. In summer I often work with the windows open at night but the lights off to avoid attracting bugs. All my displays are horrible in this scenario. Except my old amber vt520 which I can set so low I can barely read it in a dark room, or so bright it is easily readable in sunlight. It also has amazingly convenient brightness and contrast dials instead of a frustrating OSD menu. Some display qualities of CRTs have still not been matched.

Dylan16807 5y ago
> Screen manufacturers optimise for high brightness way too much. I guess because it looks good on the shop floor. Or it's because they don't expect anyone to sit and compute in an unlit room. And HDR content can look really good if you have a high peak brightness. I'd use comfortable lights and window screens myself.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Not really, like I said I use my 4K at 0% brightness in a sunlit room and it's just right. So even there I have no adjustment options anymore without compromising colour depth. When I have artificial lights on I already need to reduce contrast substantially. My unlit room thing is only in summer, as I live in Spain and have no AC I need to have the windows open at night. It's pretty extreme and I understand that screens are not made with that in mind but they should handle a normal evening scenario just fine.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]