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

Green on black

[cmaxx]

I personally use green on black, with a red cursor.

There is method in this:

1) it uses a single gun on CRTs which means there are fewer alignment problems even on shonky monitors,
2) it's typically the brightest phosphor, on CRTs, and I think the brightest filter on LCDs too, to my eyes,
3) the human eye picks up green very well, (might explain (2) to some extent),
4) picking a single colour means spectacle lens-wearers don't get chromatic aberrations which arise when looking at an angle through the lens.

The other thing I'd say is, pay extra if necessary for spectacle lenses with the anti-reflective coating. Ambient lighting glare on normal specs is a nightmare especially if you're using a screen all day and the coating does work.