I use background images...

Posted Jun 4, 2004 20:42 UTC (Fri) by emk (subscriber, #1128)
Parent article: The Grumpy Editor's guide to terminal emulators

I like white-on-black terminals, but after a while the plain black background gets to me. So years ago, I generated a tiled turbulence image using the GIMP, and darkened it down to nearly black. It's an extremely subtle effect, but it gives my eyes something to "grip" onto. In the real world, I have a similar preference for slightly-textured recycled paper.

Yes, I'm probably weird.

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I use background images...

Posted Jun 4, 2004 20:54 UTC (Fri) by piman (guest, #8957) [Link] (3 responses)

I do the same thing, albeit my terminal background is a (very darkened) version of my wallpaper. I find it helps me locate things in the terminal faster.

I use background images...

Posted Jun 4, 2004 21:50 UTC (Fri) by wa1hco (subscriber, #3628) [Link] (2 responses)

Excessive contrast between detail and background is well known to cause fatigue in viewing. You've re-discovered the same effect.

Also, excessive contrast on dispaly with fine vertical lines require maximum bandwidth from the monitor. Look to see if vertical lines appear the same brightness as horizontal lines...and if they're not the same reduce the contrast or get a monitor with more video bandwidth. Fonts with differing brightnesses with characters look terrible and cause eye fatigue.

I use background images...

Posted Jun 5, 2004 16:36 UTC (Sat) by tjc (guest, #137) [Link] (1 responses)

Excessive contrast between detail and background is well known to cause fatigue in viewing.

I've discovered the same thing. I use #d7d7cf text on a #1f1f1f background, and this really helps a lot. Its much easier on the eyes than stark white on black.

This is my "lights on" mode. I tend to like to hack on stuff between 11 PM and 2 AM, for which I set my destop and terminal backgrounds to black, and gtk theme, panels, etc. to a sort of medium taupe. Works nice.

I use background images...

Posted Jun 7, 2004 14:16 UTC (Mon) by mmarsh (subscriber, #17029) [Link]

I've been pretty happy with white for the foreground and darkslategrey for the background in xterm, and slategrey for the desktop background. They're readable and sufficiently muted not to detract from apps where the colors really matter. In emacs I use snow on #1d0a40, which again has a muted contrast but is visually distinct from my xterms.

I use background images...

Posted Jun 17, 2004 10:34 UTC (Thu) by joib (subscriber, #8541) [Link]

I prefer black text on a light gray background. IMHO it's easy to read, whether the sun is shining or if I'm doing some late-night computing. Also, none of the default colors used e.g. by color ls are unreadable.

I use background images...

Posted Jun 18, 2004 10:02 UTC (Fri) by gio (guest, #22417) [Link]

I also use background images - I tile a faint color image of the server name that I'm logged in to.