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Screen Display Tweaks for Tired Eyes
Shackled to computers, as many of us are, we endure hours when bright backlit images drill through our eyes. No wonder that, at days end when we unplug from the electro-trance and gaze dully at objects in three dimensions, we wonder who we are and where we have been.

But today we will not address the loss of moorings and identity through the virtual porthole - no, not today. Today we will get down-and-dirty practical and learn ways to make our screen displays more eye-friendly and balanced.

In the great tradition of ignoring users of Mac and other OSs, part of this lesson relates only to Windows XP. Mac users probably already have this information handed to them on a platter, while we Windows sufferers need help because our routes to better display are multiple and disjointed, as you can see below.

Chart: Paths to Screen Display Enlightenment Download pdf of this chart

Many Paths to Enlightenment

Screen display can be adjusted using these 5 tweaks:

* Environment (true for anyone)
* Your monitor settings (any operating system)
* Your browser settings (any operating system)
* Control Panel-Display (Windows XP) and
* Control Panel-Accessibility Options (Windows XP)
 
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Tweak Your Environment

Ambient lighting conditions affect your screen-reading experience. Try to eliminate reflections on the screen, and balance the room lighting harmoniously with the screen lighting. Eyes work harder when they must continually adjust between bright and dark, as well as close and far.

Think of your lighting in three categories: computer screen, ambient lighting, and task lighting. If you spend most of your day looking at the screen, adjust the ambient lighting so that it feels slightly less than the screen brightness. If you also have a task area (most of us do), brighten that area.

Also, adjust the distance from your screen to your eyes. You might find that your screen is "in your face" or too far away.

 
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Tweak Your Monitor

Most monitors have buttons on the front panel. Play with them and see what happens. You will see either buttons for each function, or a menu button. Press it to see menu choices. Use up/down buttons to view the choices, then a "select" button (or the menu button), to select the menu choice. Then use the up/down buttons again to adjust the menu choice.

Due to the zillions of monitors out there, I cannot offer a golden bullet for all except for this: Pay careful attention to the brightness and contrast settings. Eye strain can come from screens which are too bright or too dim. Adjust these settings until your eyes feel comfortable. Repeat this every few days until your eyes send you a thank-you note.

Tweak Your Browser

While online, you can adjust font size for easier reading. In Windows Explorer, at the top of the screen, select View/Text Size from the menu. Then select the size you want.

In Mozilla Firefox, simply hold the Control key, while pressing either the Plus (+) or Minus (-) keys. The font size will adjust accordingly.

default text size seen in browser Press Control+ in Mozilla Firefox, and the text enlarges.
browser test size increased one notch Do it again and the text enlarges further.
browser text size increased two notches
Tweak With Control Panel-Display

The Control Panel is accessed through the Start Menu in Windows. Two selections within the Control Panel affect screen display: "Display" and "Accessibility Options".We will start with the Display option.

access the Control Panel by clicking Start
Select "Display" from the list.
in the control panel, select the
Control Panel - Appearance Tab

Click on the "Appearance" tab. Under "Font Size", you can select the size text appears on your screen: normal, large and extra large. If you feel that you are squinting to read, select a larger font size.

control panels-display
Normal Font is the default.
default font size in
But you might like this better.
another choice of font size is
Or even this.
another choice of font size is

Control Panel Settings Tab

Under the "Settings" tab, look at "Screen Resolution". This is the number of dots (pixels) your monitor displays on the screen, width first. A resolution of 1024 x 768 means your screen image is actually composed of 1024 dots running horizontally and 768 rows of those dots running from top to bottom. Thats 786,432 dots you are seeing on your screen.

NOTE: Since your screen shows less that one million pixels, shooting high resolution photos for web display is overkill. If you shoot a 3.1 mega(million)pixel photo and display it fully on your screen, it will load and send (vial email) slower, and the screen presentation will be artificially dumbed down to what is able to be displayed. This can reduce image quality. Select a resolution on your camera appropriate for the intended use of the picture.

When you use a higher resolution, you are jamming more dots, and also more information on your screen. Often your computer will sense the video card and monitor type you are using, and will self-select a screen resolution for you. You can change this. Slide the selector left or right, click "Apply" and view the result in different applications, including your browser.
control panel-settings tab to set screen resolution
You may find that you enjoy more information on the screen, but the text is too small. If so, go back and select a larger font under the "Appearance" tab.

Changing screen settings is interactive. As you work your way through the options, you may need to tweak previous settings you made, including environmental settings such as screen distance.

Advanced settings provide more choices.
advanced button
This is a variation of screen resolution adjustment. Try it, you might like it.
general tab - select resolution
Tweak Accessibility Options

Get back to the Control Panel and select "Accessibility Options".
control panel - accessibility options
Here you can choose to set your display for high contrast. If you check the box, you will have further choices.
control panel - accessibility options - display tab
This screen allows you to select display schemes which will come into effect when high contrast display is selected, either as a default or in response to hotkeys.
control panel - accessibility options - display tab - high contrastchoices
This is an example of a high contrast display.
control panel - accessibility options - display tab - high contrast example
Tweak and prosper!

 
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