Just wondering if anyone has any strange screen layouts to make writing/editing easier. I use an old-style laptop with a big screen (not the tiny, more popular widescreens they have now) with a perfectly black background, green text and a shortcut button to make everything else on the screen other than the text disappear - makes it look like an olde-worlde Commadore Pet computer. Very easy on the eyes.

Colin

Blimey Colin, that takes me back to my days of working for Toshiba in the early eighties. The VDUs had black screens with green writing, and you could change it round the other way, green screens with black writing.

Would be nice to be able to do that on this computer instead of having a glaringly white screen and black writing.

Katerina

It's fairly easy if you use a PC. Right click on your background and go to Properties, then Appearance. In the windows below (in XP) the first should be set to Windows Classic, and in the second, choose High Contrast #2. From there I had to do a bit of twiddling to get it just so, but that's pretty much it.

When you are in Word, go to View, then down to Full Screen.

Any idea which is genuinely better for your eyes.

I've spent the best part of my working life in the last 15 years staring into monitors and somehow I don't think it's enhanced my sight much.

(Obviously I mean my work necessitates using computer monitors rather than staring at them being the work itself, which would just be strange really.)

The less light, the better, because you won't see any flicker - and not in a darkened room. When I used to do games every office was pitch black to help us see the screens and it screwed your eyes up something terrible.

Not exactly on-screen layout, but I work with my monitor pivoted by 90 degrees. That way you can see a whole page at readable size, and page up/down is exactly like turning a page of the MS. No more scrolling by wheel or worse still sidebar, and if you're working on hard copy, it's incredibly quick to switch between the real page and the screen page. I went through a stage of having mild RSI from too much mousing, and it cut that down a lot.

After some years with an LCD screen I find the CRT flicker almost unbearable. I had to work on one monitor that made me feel queasy every time, within 5 minutes of switching it on.

Emma

Katerina,

In a Word doc, go to Tools/Options, click on the General tab at the top, and tick Blue background, white text. It’s much easier on the eyes, even better if you use a different colour font. I prefer light orange.

Dee

I use windows 2000 and XP on two different computers, and change the background to black. I then use WordPerfect and change the background to gray. This black/gray background is easier on the eyes. I also use a 24 inch widescreen LCD monitor, which can display two pages side by side if needed. The monitor cost about $700.

All this stuff, does not make me a better writer, but it’s easier on my eyes when working long hours. If you’re going to - live - in front of the monitor for years working, it makes sense to buy the best setup you can afford. You don’t need a powerful computer, but a good keyboard and a monitor are a must.

Azel