Working while it’s Dark? I’ve got a tip for you!

If you’re sitting up late after the sun’s down, I’ve got some tips that will make it easier for your eyes to look at your screen.

I had a program recommended, F.lux, and “it makes the color of your computer’s display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day.”

The program figures out where you are in the world, and then automatically turns on and off. (You can also specify your location manually). There’s also an option to turn it off (and on again) if you need to do some colour sensitive work. You can also configure the amount of light you get, both for day and night. (I wouldn’t recommend making the night setting as low a possible, but that’s up to you). It should also make you sleep better, as the bright light the screen normally emits will make it harder for you to fall asleep.

Here’s how my screen usually looks in FlashDevelop:

and here I’ve tried to reproduce the effect f.lux gives in the night: (Come to think of it, it got way too much effect, sorry about that).

Download it here.

If this isn’t enough for you I’ve just played around with the color settings in FlashDevelop, and I really liked my result. So I’m currently using this:

You can download that here if you like it. (Just double click it. If you have FlashDevelop open, you need to restart the application before it takes effect.)

If you have a custom syntax color setting, don’t be afraid to share it ;)

Posted on August 26th, 2010
Filed under Programs, Recommendations, Tools |

9 Responses to “Working while it’s Dark? I’ve got a tip for you!”

1. Ryan
   August 29th, 2010 at 04:08

   I started using flux a couple weeks back. It’ll make my screen flicker weirdly sometimes when it first comes on, but other than that, its been really useful at night. It’s not too noticeable, but I feel (there’s no way to tell) like it has made a difference on my eyes.

2. Rasmus Wriedt Larsen
   August 29th, 2010 at 17:54

   Oh you can actually tell the difference easily. Try exiting the program at night (not just disable it for color sensitive work), and you will be able to see the difference.

3. Andy Moore
   August 31st, 2010 at 01:47

   Downloading F.lux, going to try it out!

   Funnily enough I just started reskinning my FlashDevelop and it looks really similar to yours.I can’t figure out how to recolor the UI though (like the white bar down the left beside the code numbers or the file explorer on the right). any tips?

4. Rasmus Wriedt Larsen
   August 31st, 2010 at 15:22

   So what do you think about flux?

   No, sadly I don’t have any tips for recolor the UI. It’s kinda sad as the completion list is white :/ looks very ugly.

5. Mushyrulez
   September 1st, 2010 at 05:11

   Personally I find it hard ta work on anything but black text on white background; is ta white text on black background really OK for ya?

6. Mushyrulez
   September 1st, 2010 at 05:38

   Derp, just tried flux; definitely not for me. It makes my eyes hurt even more ta try ta see ta text, whereas just normally everything’s clearly visible. I guess different people have different tastes…

7. Rasmus Wriedt Larsen
   September 1st, 2010 at 16:51

   Yes, I think the white text on black bg is good.

   Sorry to hear you didn’t like flux, did you try and change the settings? (because I didn’t like it at first either, but then I changed the settings a bit and it was wonderful).

8. Mushyrulez
   September 4th, 2010 at 00:58

   Nope, too lazy for that :P

   TBH I don’t really experience any problems while working late (not that I really work late anymore), so there prolly isn’t much use for it. But thanks for ta suggestion anyways~

9. MichaelJW
   October 5th, 2010 at 04:04

   Oh, I wish I’d read this at the time! I just stumbled across f.lux like a week ago, and it’s fantastic. Great tip Rasmus :)

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