Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!emory!mephisto!bbn.com!ncramer
From: ncramer@bbn.com (Nichael Cramer)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics
Subject: Re: My eyes are sore ...
Message-ID: <58611@bbn.BBN.COM>
Date: 1 Aug 90 13:56:22 GMT
References: <12453@rouge.usl.edu>
Sender: news@bbn.com
Reply-To: ncramer@labs-n.bbn.com (Nichael Cramer)
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA
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pcb@gator.cacs.usl.edu (Peter C. Bahrs) writes:
>After several hours at the machine looking at text, high res graphics,
>and movement, my eyes tell me to take a break.

At the risk of stating the obvious, have you had your eyes checked?

I never needed glasses until I started programming fulltime.  There are in
fact "occupational prescriptions" (e.g. mildly magnifying, tints to
increase contrast, etc) designed to reduce eyestrain.

>What can be done?  Buy a higher resolution monitor? 

This in fact may have the opposite effect, increasing the resolution will
probably make a given image _smaller_; for example, text on the screen of
my color-monitor is much harder to read than text on my monochrome monitor.

One thing I've done that helps a *lot* is to increase the default font size
in my editor (which is where I spend probably 90% of my programming time).
This is trivial to do on a Lispmachine (which I work on); don't know about
other systems.

>topics such as add on computer screen devices and/or eye 'goggles'.

The ones I've seen distort the image so badly that I can only imagine that
in the long run they would make things worse.

Good luck,
NICHAEL
"Mongolian Sheep Safe from Baker, Aide Says" -- Boston Globe, 30JUL90