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Best Color Scheme For Coding, Easiest On the Eyes?

Marzubus writes "I tend to do a lot of code editing in vim and sometimes get the 'burning eyes' or headaches. I have been trying to find a background / foreground combination for my terminal sessions which is easiest on the eyes but cannot seem to find any real data on this subject. Does anyone know of a study / data on this topic?"

24 of 763 comments (clear)

  1. Black on Black by jhouserizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    A black foreground on a black background has always given me the least eye pain.

  2. Pink on Green by QuantumPion · · Score: 4, Funny

    Pink text on green background.

    This combination is so vibrant that it burns the code into your brain, allowing you to better visualize your program.

    That, or give you a seizure.

    1. Re:Pink on Green by syousef · · Score: 4, Funny

      Pink text on green background.

      Let me guess, you taught HTML for dummies courses using Hotdog and Netscape Navigator Gold in the mid to late 90s.

      --
      These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
    2. Re:Pink on Green by SQLGuru · · Score: 4, Funny

      Don't forget that he was a huge fan of flashing text to grab attention. And since you wanted people to see your whole page, it was all flashing.

      Layne

    3. Re:Pink on Green by Dachannien · · Score: 2, Funny

      Pink text on green background.

      Hey, stop ripping off my MySpace page!

  3. Re:Gentoo by mowall · · Score: 2, Funny

    The default vi colors on a fresh Gentoo install are absolutely beautiful

    Could you check what they are and post them please? I'd like to try it but don't have that kind of time.

  4. Re:Green on Black by okvol · · Score: 2, Funny

    Using green on black also helps to warp your brain to where you will think like old-style programmers. I've used several: Blue on light blue (C64 style), gold on black, purple on a pale blue, and more. You want some contrast, but not too much. And, chose colors that fit your personality. I remember someone who loved the "hot dog stand" colors in Windows 3.1!

    --
    cabg x3 is a life changing event...
  5. Re:Probably not colors by intx13 · · Score: 4, Funny

    If your monitor's refresh rate was equal to the ambiant lighting's refresh rate, you could almost guarantee a headache

    Maybe you should stop programming in raves! Turn off the strobe lights - my light bulbs don't refresh!

  6. Re:Probably not colors by funfail · · Score: 4, Funny

    Seems you never worked in a fluorescent lit cubicle.

  7. Re:Probably not colors by tenco · · Score: 5, Funny

    Edison, is that you?

  8. Re:Probably not colors by DrLang21 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Apparently you only use DC powered lights.

    --
    I see the glass as full with a FoS of 2.
  9. Re:Probably not colors by Bandman · · Score: 4, Funny

    weird. I meant flicker. Damn you flickr for corrupting my spelling!

  10. Flashing text is best... by clickety6 · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...it's only on the screen for half the time, thereby giving your eye the other half of the time to relax from reading.

    --
    ----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
  11. Re:Probably not colors by ebh · · Score: 2, Funny

    It should be OK if you stay in the chill room.

  12. Re:Yelow on Blue, look at the old monitor designs by Bonobo_Unknown · · Score: 3, Funny

    I bop away like stevie wonder when I code

    --
    We don't believe in radical loony monotheistic religions from the middle east -- we're Christians.
  13. Re:Probably not colors by H0p313ss · · Score: 2, Funny

    Back when I had a CRT, I could see its flicker at 65 Hz, but almost no one else could see it. I think we Slashdotters and computer geeks have superhuman eyesight.

    The first rule of supergeekdom is we don't talk about supergeekdom.

    --
    XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
  14. Re:Probably not colors by radimvice · · Score: 4, Funny

    but back in the pre-GUI days, white on blue was pretty soothing

    ...ahh, I fondly remember those days, when seeing a soothing white-on-blue screen appear didn't yet cause me to instinctively start cursing and reach for the power switch...

  15. Re:Probably not colors by D+Ninja · · Score: 5, Funny

    I sell my old tech to my parents all the time. I like to teach them the value of money.

  16. Re:Probably not colors by differentialman · · Score: 2, Funny

    some of us aren't willing to trade our extra screen space to alleviate massive headaches and temporary insanity

  17. Re:Peanuts by Rogerborg · · Score: 2, Funny

    DON'T DO IT; that's the Brown Note.

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  18. Re:Peanuts by Snodgrass · · Score: 3, Funny

    I went on an on-site tech call once. The little company I worked for supplied the computers to the local school district.

    While I was there, the "head computer guy" kept yammering on about all the problems they'd been having with the computers, but I'd only found one with an actual hardware problem.

    Anyway, I was getting ready to leave and he started pointing at a monitor (CRT) and saying "look at this! See? This is what has been happening!" I looked at it, but couldn't see anything wrong.

    "Right there!" he said, pointing, "See how it's jiggling around?" It was then that I noticed the bag of Cheetos in his hand. I told him to stop chewing for a second and see if the problem went away.

    It did, and so did he. I left without seeing him again, I think he was a little embarrassed. :^)

  19. Re:Probably not colors by arth1 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Where is the "old world"?

    A hop and a skip, a splash and a flip, across the pond. :-)

  20. Re:Peanuts by binaryspiral · · Score: 2, Funny

    Funny you should mention "never seeing a CRT again"... I was just in the phone room with the Nortel PBX for our campus - hooked up to a terminal with a orange phosphor CRT monitor.

    To show you how green our school is, someone hand scrawled on the CRT's front bezel "Turn this off when you're leaving... this ain't no fancy shmancy Energy Star monitor" with a big arrow pointing at the toggle power switch.

  21. Re:Maybe not a thing for cubicles.. by freemywrld · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'd be more worried about the fact that "things" are judging you...