Colorscheme Effects ...

Question

I noticed that a while back a question was asked about personal preferences in terms of color schemes for vim (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/524585/what-is-your-favorite-colorscheme-for-programming-in-vim). Though the author did note that colors can have an effect on your eyes equal in effect to ergnometric keyboard on hands, the question seemed to end up essentially being "vote up you're favorite colorscheme."

I'm wondering is there any research out there concerning the long term of effects particular color schemes. (I'm interested in research on effects on the eyes, not studies on preferences.) Although I find darker schemes more aesthetically appealing, I've heard that whites are easier on the eyes. If I'm going to be staring at screen 8 hours a day for the next 30 years of my life, I'd love to be made aware of any research that will point in me in the direction of something that can save my eyes.

Answer 1

I've actually heard the opposite: that a black background and white letters are easier on the eyes, and this is because with screen displays when you see the color black what you are actually seeing is a lack of light (zero illumination) and the color white is the complete opposite (full illumination).

This makes black letters difficult to focus on and tiring to the eyes because you are focusing on a lack of light while being bombarded by the full intensity a white background all around it.

This is not the case with real paper for the obvious reason that black ink is a real colour, in fact it is all colours combined, but since there is no such thing as black light computers must simply turn off the illumination when they wish to display the color black.

Not exactly official research, but I hope that helps.