From mwe@unixfe.rl.ac.uk Fri Oct 6 07:08:50 EST 1995 Subject: Re: Feast for your eyes Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 13:07:56 +0100 (BST) From: "Mike Ellwood, CCLRC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, GB" Status: RO X-Status: > I posted: > >I've noticed that whenever I prepare myself a salad with lots of color > >contrast (white feta cheese, dark green spinach, bright red pepper), and > >I look at it, my eyes seem to come alive. Has anyone ever noticed an > >eye-enhancement effect from looking at their salad? > > Tara Banfield replied to me (said I could > forward it to the list)... > > >I *have* noticed that whenever > >I see ANYTHING colorful (of the sort that I *want* to be seeing), or even > >something less dazzling that is pleasing to look at, I relax all over > >(endorphin flood?) and I imagine the response might enhance eyesight -- > >there is that wonderful combination of calm and stimlation that makes me > >just plain FEEL better. In any case, I'm sure it's not imaginary! > > Hm... Something to keep in mind for those of us staring at black and > white letters all day. Which reminds me, a certain optometrist > William M. Updegrave wrote a book in 1936, called "The Seeing Eye", and > each page was printed with a different colored ink on a different colored > piece of paper. He requested that readers write him and tell him which ke> pages had the best effect on them. > Not sure if it's quite relevant, but I certainly know that inappropriate (for me) use of colour in printed material can make things very hard to read. Now that publishers and advertisers have the technical ability to mix colours to their hearts content, some of them seem to think they have to do so, regardless of its effect on readability. Things that I find next to impossible to read are: Black print on dark red background Black print on dark blue-purple background. (there are probably others - those are the ones that come to mind) "fade in colour" (or whatever the technical term is) just makes things worse, as your eye can't settle on what the contrast is supposed to be. Labels on certain food and vitamin packaging are rather prone to this; irritating as the print is often small. Mike Ellwood Mike.Ellwood@rl.ac.uk speaking for himself, and not for: CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Chilton, DIDCOT, Oxon GB OX11 0QX Tel: 01235-446161 Fax:01235-446626 =========================================================================