June 2, 2017 at 7:31 pm
For daily coding, it's all about personal preference. Personally, I use a while background. I think the normal syntax highlighting stands out better against white. That said, I work with a lot of people who use the dark background in coding and have done so for many years. I can code in it, but do find that I'm more likely to miss some small syntax error than I am on my own machine. Again, it's all about preference.
When I do presentations, I use only white backgrounds and dark text (for high contrast) and large fonts (for people in the back of the room). I don't want flash, flair or presentation style to get in the way of the content. I know people notice the presentation style, but my hope is that the content stands out more than the style.
I've seen some absolutely horrible presentations. There was one on extended events where the font was too small to be seen from halfway back in the room. The solution was to zoom in and out and fly all over the place. I didn't learn a thing and got slightly dizzy. It was the worst presentation I've ever seen, but it wasn't completely useless. It provided a perfect example of what not to do. When I present, I'm very conscious of every time I zoom
June 5, 2017 at 4:15 am
I'm white background all the way too. Many like dark, for personal work it's fine, I wouldn't recommend it for presentations. Seems very retro to me, like Turbo C or something.
June 7, 2017 at 1:57 am
White background. But most important is the contrast between the background and the font color. If you use a dark background you need to choose a font color that really stands out from the background.
June 27, 2017 at 8:13 am
Terje Hermanseter - Wednesday, June 7, 2017 1:57 AMWhite background. But most important is the contrast between the background and the font color. If you use a dark background you need to choose a font color that really stands out from the background.
The primary element that makes things readable on screens (monitors or projections) are the color contrast ratios. There must be sufficient contrast between the background and the text (or other line) elements. There are many tools that can assist in selecting "workable" contrast themes. One is http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/color-contrast-calculator/ . Another from my background is https://www.section508.va.gov/support/tutorials/powerpoint/3color.asp . The one issue with projectors images is that the lighter backgrounds also increase the ambient illumination in the room itself. This generally requires a much larger contrast between colors than with darker backgrounds. Totally dark backgrounds can be used very effectively in pointing out main points on the screen as long as the contrast between the object lines and the background is sufficient. Most people, however, do not understand what makes for good contrast and try to mix similar colors for aesthetics. Make it jar the eye and you will call attention to your main point.
June 27, 2017 at 1:35 pm
massey - Tuesday, June 27, 2017 8:13 AMTerje Hermanseter - Wednesday, June 7, 2017 1:57 AMWhite background. But most important is the contrast between the background and the font color. If you use a dark background you need to choose a font color that really stands out from the background.The primary element that makes things readable on screens (monitors or projections) are the color contrast ratios. There must be sufficient contrast between the background and the text (or other line) elements. There are many tools that can assist in selecting "workable" contrast themes. One is http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/color-contrast-calculator/ . Another from my background is https://www.section508.va.gov/support/tutorials/powerpoint/3color.asp . The one issue with projectors images is that the lighter backgrounds also increase the ambient illumination in the room itself. This generally requires a much larger contrast between colors than with darker backgrounds. Totally dark backgrounds can be used very effectively in pointing out main points on the screen as long as the contrast between the object lines and the background is sufficient. Most people, however, do not understand what makes for good contrast and try to mix similar colors for aesthetics. Make it jar the eye and you will call attention to your main point.
Nearly. It's important to understand the fundamentally different way that projectors and monitors work. Projectors are reflective technology where there is no black, just a (hopefully very) high contrast difference between the bits on the white surface being projected on and those that aren't. Monitors have (mostly) black with light colours emitted from the surface. For this reason, projected images where the background is dark with little luminance contrast between it and the content are very poor compared to being relatively easy on the eye and easy to read on a monitor.
June 27, 2017 at 2:29 pm
It's not just contrast, though that is likely most important. Sharpness and clarity are issues as well. Projectors often lack some of this, and we need to compensate with size.
Plenty of rooms I present in have a good amount of ambient light as well, which can wash out the darker background, though the lighter one is easier to see.
There's no great answer, especially when a speaker is in a variety of different rooms.
Viewing 6 posts - 31 through 35 (of 35 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply