

Bias Lighting - AndrewDucker
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/11/bias-lighting.html

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patio11
<http://stereopsis.com/flux/> <\-- It changed my life. (Automatically adjusts
screen brightness/color/etc such that your circadian rhythms resemble that of
a normal human being as opposed to someone who stares at an artificial sun for
16+ hours a day.)

~~~
janjan
I had severe problems with flux under Ubuntu so I switched to redshift:

<http://jonls.dk/redshift/>

Everybody should try a program like this, during the night/evening it is so
much better then the normal color configuration!

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Cushman
Is this something people don't do? I can't stand using a computer if the room
isn't bright enough to offset the screen. Although a lot of times I won't
notice as it gets darker, and become more and more uncomfortable until I
realize I need to turn on a light.

But I like complete darkness when watching movies-- a single light on in the
other room drives me crazy. Any theories? Probably something to do with
immersion.

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jcurbo
To everyone mentioning redshift/flux; they are great (I use flux on every
computer I have) but they do not solve the issue being raised here. Bias
lighting keeps the light levels behind your screen (or whatever you are
looking at) higher, so that your irises don't have to contract and expand
nearly as often or as much. This leads to less eye strain.
(<http://www.cinemaquestinc.com/ideal_lume.htm> seems like a good explanation,
first hit on google)

Redshift/flux vary the color temperature of your monitors. This keeps your
internal biological clock from thinking the sun is up at midnight because of a
bright white high-color-temp monitor. (More info at
<http://stereopsis.com/flux/>)

~~~
zerostar07
Actually if the light is behind the screen, your iris will adapt to different
levels every time you look towards any other direction than the screen. The
best solution is to have constant level of ambient light all around you.

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invaders
Strapping LEDs to the back of monitor? It's easier to just point ordinary desk
lamp at the wall behind monitor.

~~~
icebraining
Same. I use a flexible desk lamp (also from IKEA), which is really useful to
regulate the type of light I want. For computer usage, I just point it at my
white wall, which scatters it uniformly around the screen. For reading books,
I can just twist it in my direction to get more light.

~~~
patrickk
I do something similar. I have a led desk lamp with a clamp [1] on it, and
point it at the wall behind my monitor.

[1]
[http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/4328049/Trail/...](http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/4328049/Trail/searchtext%3ELED+LAMP.htm)

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joedogboi
Personally, I can't stand working in a dark room. My partner, on the other
hand, prefers it very dark in every room. I suspect he grew up in a house
where the electricity bill was monitored very closely every month.

~~~
mixmastamyk
It's more natural, at night at least. I suspect you wouldn't have gotten as
much accomplished in another century.

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arnoooooo
A dark room during the day is not very good for your health and mood.

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tintin
And people tend to be more productive in natural daylight.

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zerostar07
I don't see any real science behind this "bias lighting" vs any kind of
lighting. What problem is it supposed to solve? The eyestrain is caused by our
eyes focusing and fixating for too long on the same distances. Look outside
the window if you want to relax your ciliary muscle. You also want your center
of vision to receive ample light and contrast so you can read easier. Ambient
light should just be enough so you don't see glare around the screen.

~~~
lutorm
It has nothing todo with accommodation strain, it's an "exposure" problem. If
you are looking at a bright screen in an otherwise dark room, your pupils will
adapt to the average flux hitting your retina. But if most of your field of
view is dark, with a bright screen in the middle, this will cause an
uncomfortably high flux from that part of your field. With a more even
lighting so that the brightness of the screen is close to the average
illumination, this doesn't happen.

~~~
zerostar07
That is true, but better served with ceiling lighting (more even flux in your
field of view

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Tashtego
I have a set of these running along the back of my desk, and pointed towards
the back wall:

<http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50119351/>

I pretty much leave them on 24/7. It's a nice amount of backlight for my
monitor in the day and night. Unfortunately, my home office doesn't get much
natural light so I'm thinking about getting a sun lamp as well for the day.

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colanderman
I must own the last LCD in the universe with a matte screen. The primary light
source of my room is behind me and I never ever have glare problems. Every
laptop these days seems to have a glossy screen on it for the purpose of high
contrast. But either you're inside and you don't need that much contrast (i.e.
you turn the brightness control down), or you're outside and you get glare. I
can think of few cases where glossy screens are superior.

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mattdeboard
Just cranked down my work LCD from 100% brightness to 20%. Much better.

~~~
mixmastamyk
My samsung is very bright, but luckily it has presets I can cycle thru... 100%
during the day, 0% at night.

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gtani
\- Redshift/flux

\- those fancy windowshades with pinholes

\- laptops with antiglare screens, dammit!

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funkah
Um, I just put my computer in front of a window. I like watching the sun come
up and go across the sky as the day goes on.

~~~
eliben
And you stop coding the moment it gets dark?

~~~
funkah
No, more like around 2pm or so. I realize this doesn't work for everybody, but
I wanted to point out that there is a solution to this issue which does not
involve clamps or LEDs or anything of the sort.

I mean, the article has pictures of a computer monitor right next to a
freaking window and it never even mentions natural light. It's just kind of
silly.

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georgieporgie
Random light-related horror story:

Not long before developing a debilitating neck issue, I got moved away from my
excellent desk where I sat near a window, with my back to it. I was quite
happy.

After getting moved toward the middle of the room, sitting with the window to
my side, I was miserable. After a few months, my neck issues started.

I've only recently realized that this was at least partly due to my
astigmatism. My contacts didn't compensate for astigmatism, and without
realizing it, I was craning my neck further forward over time. Having the
bright light at my back gave a significant sharpening effect, thanks to the
pupil constriction, and allowed me to work without eye strain for much longer.

Recently, I've gotten contacts which correct astigmatism. They don't correct
precisely enough to come anywhere near the precision of my glasses, so I still
experience eye strain and crane my neck. I'm now beginning to ponder Lasik,
since it sounds like they're getting consistently better results out of it
these days.

~~~
lutorm
Lasik might be improving, but as far as I understand, the "best corrected
vision" is still inferior to glasses. This means that while you no longer need
correction, your visual acuity is worse than what it was with glasses.

I'm curious what you mean when you say your contacts "don't correct precisely
enough". Is this because the axis/cylinder combination you want doesn't exist
or because the contacts move on your eye and screws up the correction?

I have a fair amount of problems with the latter (my cornea has some funny
shape that has a tendency to twist the contacts), but I find that it varies a
lot between contact brands. So if you didn't already, next time you renew your
prescription, try getting trial pairs of different brands and wear them for a
week to see if one fits you better.

~~~
georgieporgie
I haven't done any sort of rigorous investigation yet, but it seems like I'm
reading more incidental stories of people being corrected well past 20/20.

As for the contacts, I believe that they just aren't available in fine enough
increments to properly fix my astigmatism. I'm using the Acuvue Oasys for
Astigmatism type, which have little, vertical ridges at the top and bottom.
Every time you blink, it forces them into alignment. It is rather irritating,
though. It took me a couple of weeks to get used to them, and if I go a few
days with glasses then they irritate me again the next time I wear them.

Another option I haven't tried is regular contacts along with glasses which
just correct the astigmatism. I haven't tried that yet, though my eye doctor
was happy to write a separate prescription for that. I don't mind glasses too
much while in front of the computer, I just hate them for every other part of
life (gym, cycling, motorcycling, etc).

