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vuk said:
tony.

i thought you claimed to be a big form following function kind of guy? why bombard the person with light and make them read the few bits that are darkened out? part of the problem is that the lighting people use with their computers as all wrong -- again, meant for a paper-based office of the mid 20th century.
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Except I an in the overwhelming majority here. All major content providers use dark on light. All the news media, all the newspapers, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Amazon, Wikipedia etc etc etc. The dark skins are almost exclusively gamers, hackers etc, it is just a minority thing as it isn’t as good!
 
vuk said:
don.

can you point me to any sci-fi show (or CSI-style creation) that features computers doing paper illusionism? you will all be embarrassed by your choices/tastes when AI takes over ;-)

on a related note, why al the hostility to people using their computers as they see fit? do you want to decorate my house too and choose my cycling outfit for me?
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I know life imitates art a lot, but that's just a matter taste and aesthetics. I don't see how you can make a case for objective utility based on how non-functional pretend equipment props are designed! And my comment on dashboards stands. Different context. And you do want dark backgrounds when you need to protect the night vision of operators.

And you call this hostility? :D:D:D
 
D'oh! The reason you see dark screen with glowing text in the movies/TV is they want to shoot the screens to be read by the viewer, and it's hard to get a good exposure of a light-colored light-emitting screen, tends to show up blank. That's a limitation of cameras compared to eyes.
 
DonQuixote99 said:
D'oh! The reason you see dark screen with glowing text in the movies/TV is they want to shoot the screens to be read by the viewer, and it's hard to get a good exposure of a light-colored light-emitting screen, tends to show up blank. That's a limitation of cameras compared to eyes.
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oh come on! don. next time you are enjoying a "good wife" rerun with your partner, please note the screen colours on their debranded macbooks.

this is a logical "vision" of the future (from 2 decades ago), nothing to do with filming:

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the reason we are not their yet is because of culture of fear surrounding computer use for most people. i deal with it very week.
 
I'm not sure there is anything innately superior about dark text on light background over the opposite, provided the contrast between the two is set appropriately. Our preference is likely due to skeumorphism - had we favoured chalk on slate rather than ink on paper prior to the invention of the computer, I suspect light text on dark background would be the norm.
 
vuk said:
oh come on! don. next time you are enjoying a "good wife" rerun with your partner, please note the screen colours on their debranded macbooks.

this is a logical "vision" of the future (from 2 decades ago), nothing to do with filming:


the reason we are not their yet is because of culture of fear surrounding computer use for most people. i deal with it very week.
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Your 'Star-Trek' example is a piece of graphic art, and has nothing to do with the design of actual data systems in the past or the future. I continue to think a driving requirement was the need for ease in obtaining good imaging in film shots that included both the computer displays and surroundings. Plus the desired 'futuristic' aesthetics. But usefulness as a data system was 'not on the radar!'

You may find the discussion here interesting, concerning the readability of text-intensive displays in airliner cockpits: https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/3282/what-is-the-best-color-combination-for-on-screen-reading

One comment, found down the page a little:
Black text on a white background yields the best legibility, since the bright glow from the background causes your pupils to contract. It's easier to focus your eye with a smaller pupil (much like the depth of field is increased with a smaller camera lens), and it reduces the effect of refractive errors in the eye.
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Further down, though, there is a comment by a programmer who's preferences match yours....
 
I’m channeling my inner Terry-Thomas. Just waiting for an opportunity to call you lot an “absolute shower!” :)
 
Lets not forget also that a predominantly white background would ruin night vision, which might explain why cockpit and dashboard graphics are dark backgrounds with lighter information, rather than the reverse. If so, that really isn't to do with legibility.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
Lets not forget also that a predominantly white background would ruin night vision, which might explain why cockpit and dashboard graphics are dark backgrounds with lighter information, rather than the reverse. If so, that really isn't to do with legibility.
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Not forgotten, in fact the person I quoted goes on to address that point.
 
Why not have a dark background skin as an option so that people can choose it if they want to?
 
Dozey said:
Why not have a dark background skin as an option so that people can choose it if they want to?
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I’ll consider it. The main problem is I’ve never seen one I like the look of yet, they all look like teenage hacker/warez/hardcore gamers sites to me and don’t really sit with what pfm is about. There is also a lot of work involved in really getting a skin right, this one has taken me several very, very long days of work and I’m still not quite where I want to be, so it will be a while off! Other requests, e.g. a higher contrast variant of this skin would be far easier so I’ll get to them first if there is a requirement.
 
My New Avatar is Jimi's best mate Hugo posing outside The Lamb Inn, Hayfield just before he chewed his lead in two!
 
I always imagined an avatar was supposed represent a snapshot of your identity rather than a picture of a prized possession, so it always seems odd to me that so many people (not just on this forum) wish to define themselves in terms of their pets. Fortunately I think the default suits me perfectly!

I wonder, for example, if jimi’s best mate was a man called Colin rather than a dog called Hugo, would he use a picture of him as his avatar?
 
Possibly or the fact that you might a personality disorder of some sort or other as most on here have!
 
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