I spend a (far too) significant amount of my time staring at either a dumb terminal or a telnet connection. As a result, I've found a few schemes that seem to reduce eyestrain. First off, use a dark background color. I like Black, Navy, or Dark Green, depending on the interface being used (OpenVMS, Bash, Matlab Editor and Command Line...). With this, use a light text color. If you don't have keyword-dependent colors, a medium orange works if you're into the old display feel, as does a brighter green.
For Navy or dark green, a medium-gray color works very well, but these background colors don't leave a lot of options for keyword-dependent text coloring.
Also, reducing the ambient light levels and the light in your field of view while working can have a dramatic impact on eyestrain and headaches. Unfortunately, the cube farm I most frequently work in has solid rows of fluorescent lighting, making it difficult to obey those last suggestions.
Slashdot Mirror
I spend a (far too) significant amount of my time staring at either a dumb terminal or a telnet connection. As a result, I've found a few schemes that seem to reduce eyestrain. First off, use a dark background color. I like Black, Navy, or Dark Green, depending on the interface being used (OpenVMS, Bash, Matlab Editor and Command Line...). With this, use a light text color. If you don't have keyword-dependent colors, a medium orange works if you're into the old display feel, as does a brighter green. For Navy or dark green, a medium-gray color works very well, but these background colors don't leave a lot of options for keyword-dependent text coloring. Also, reducing the ambient light levels and the light in your field of view while working can have a dramatic impact on eyestrain and headaches. Unfortunately, the cube farm I most frequently work in has solid rows of fluorescent lighting, making it difficult to obey those last suggestions.