Reducing Eye Strain?

torok asks: "Recently my optometrist prescribed corrective lenses, which is new for me. Being a programmer and staring at a screen all day doesn't help anyone's eyes, of course, but the default white backgrounds appear to be particularly troublesome. I wonder if others on Slashdot have noticed the same thing, and what they've done to help alleviate the problem. Is a grey or black background with white or grey text easier on the eyes, or worse due to lack of contrast or imperfect foreground colors? What about different lighting conditions and, of course, LCD vs. 100Hz CRT?"

Comments

Don't expect too much

[bluGill]

Some people approach this question as if by making a few simple changes they could have avoided the need for correction, any by making them now they can [stop|reverse] the damage. That is not realistic. In most cases there is no damage that is causing the problem. It is just a fact of like that your eyes undergo drastic changes at certain times in your life. Many people suddenly start needing glasses at 10, and bifocals at 45. Get over it.. No exercise, diet, or strain elimination program will solve the problem for most people.

Yes you should eliminate eye strain, exercise regularly, eat healthy foods, and all those other things you keep hearing about. Not doing some of that is not the cause of your problems (though it might make it worse), so changing won't change your problem.

Re:Reducing eyestrain

[sakusha]

I'll endorse the computer glasses. My optometrist prescribed glasses set specifically for the distance of my computer monitor, it makes a world of difference.

My tips

[kruczkowski]

At work people laughed at me becouse I don't like florecent light, so if you can "see" the flicker, then don't have any around (I twisted the ones around me to disconnect them).

At home I have a small halogen desklight that is behind my 21". I turn it on at night and it iluminates my desk and the area around the monitor so your not looking at a bight monitor with darkness behind it.

And if you can use a LCD or a laptop.