[Pan-users] OT: color schemes Was: Pan version number from CVS sources?

[Duncan]

walt posted <address@hidden>, excerpted below,  on Sat, 29 Apr
2006 12:51:53 -0700:

>> Before that, the biggest problem I had was that I have an apparently
>> unusual color scheme -- light text on a  dark background, and I couldn't
>> read some of the default-colored content...
> 
> I hate light text on dark background because I can never read it -- and
> suspect it's because I'm red-green color-blind.  Maybe you are too?

I think you reversed the sense in which I intended to post.

I don't like dark text on a light background, preferring light text on a
dark background.  And I'm not R/G colorblind (tho I'm familiar with the
phenomenon as my uncle is), so it doesn't conflict with your theory.

Actually, from my observations it has more to do with the fact that I tend
to like high to extreme resolutions.

I can and do run my monitors at higher resolutions than they were
intended, with the trade-off being refresh frequency -- as low as 60 Hz or
even slightly lower (57 Hz is about the limit of my toleration, 55 is too
low to be tolerable even for me), with custom xorg.conf modelines forcing
the monitor into higher resolutions at lower refresh frequencies, barely
within or at times exceeding the recommended monitor dot-clock ratings.

What I've found is that the lighter the overall monitor image, the more
sensitive  I am to refresh rates.  I expect most others will find the same
thing, altho each person will have their own limits.  With a dark
background, light text, the overall image is darker and therefore more
tolerable at lower refresh rates.  As I said, I can tolerate such an image
down to ~57 Hz.  

OTOH, a light background with dark text is an overall brighter image, and
my refresh rate tolerance correspondingly lower -- somewhat /above/ 60 Hz,
while remaining below 70 Hz (generally 63-67 Hz). I can't drive the
extreme resolutions I tend to like at those frequencies as it's too far
out of monitor dot-clock range and the picture begins to turn weird
colors, skew, and eventually scramble, as it gets further beyond the
range the monitor can handle.

A pleasant bonus is the fact that darker monitor images save energy, and
don't wear out the phosphors on the monitor as fast, so as long as the
extra stress on the electronics due to the over-spec dotclock doesn't
eventually fry something, the monitor will dim at a slower than normal
rate and thus be usable for many more years than it would otherwise.  Of
course, I'd do it even if the effect were the reverse (and the extra
stress on the driving electronics may indeed ultimately be the deciding
factor), but it's a nice bonus that I'll be happy to take, since it's
there.

...

BTW, a couple screen shots illustrating my background color choice, and
the lack of readability it caused in conflict with PAN's default color
choices, are still posted.

This one illustrates the default colors in pan 0.93 (28.7 KByte, 712x703 px)
http://members.cox.net/pu61ic.1inux.dunc4n/pix/screenshots/pan93.png

Here's how it looks when I can set the quote, sig, and URL colors.
0.14.2.91 (34.0 KByte, 820x729 px, my 0.94 prefs, now that they are back
in the color prefs section where I can set them, are similar)
http://members.cox.net/pu61ic.1inux.dunc4n/pix/screenshots/pan14.png

That second one is MUCH more readable, here, with the difference nicely
illustrating why the 0.9x series pre 0.94 was all but unusable for me -- 
I couldn't read what I needed to read!

Of course, it's likely that those with R/G colorblindness will find both
images difficult or impossible to read, but that only reinforces the fact
that pan really /does/ need those prefs, because the needs of the
individual varies so much between individuals, it's essentially impossible
to define something that everyone will find workable, without creating
some way for them to change it to fit their prefs, as needed.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman in
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/12/22/rms_interview.html