CONTRIBUTOR: Shahjahan Alhassan - 13th Oct 2001

The issue of colour doesn't just remain with the computer screen, it also is involved with your environment. That being your surroundings, the room you are in when using the system. Etienne Grandjean is one of the inventors of ergonomics and human factors has shown that not only glare, reflections and shadows on the monitor are causes of eye strain. But also too much contrast between the foreground (computer monitor) and the background (walls, curtains, windows, and so on).

The human eye adapts extremely well to shifts in light and darkness. The eye adapts to darkness in twenty five minutes to reach eighty percent adaptation and one hour for full adaptation. Adapting to light is much quicker, only a few tenths of a second. However this process requires the use of the entire retina and results in the visual ability for reading fine detail to drop (Fowler, 1995).

To reduce this eye strain, you should keep all surfaces at the same brightness by matching the overall brightness or dimness of the screens to the office environment. If the office you're designing for is well lit then use a light colours for the screen display. If the system is for use in a dimly lit environment such as air traffic control tower, use dark displays.

Using animations or rapidly changing displays of an extremely vibrant nature can spark off an epileptic fit in some people, and so warnings about any dangers that there might be should be disclosed to the users.