which gray is best for print?

[Gary Kline]

On Fri, Sep 05, 2008 at 10:38:59PM +0200, Polytropon wrote:
> On Fri, 5 Sep 2008 13:06:01 -0700, Gary Kline <kline at thought.org> wrote:
> > 	I'm still open to the bg color.  The display white is not true,
> > 	paper-white.  Anyway, pretty sure the ink+paper publishers have
> > 	their own [[ BETTER ]] ideas.  I'm looking for what looks good on
> > 	the web.
> 
> You can't look at the Web, you're looking at a monitor or at a sheet
> of paper. :-) The same color may look different on
> 	* a CRT type monitor
> 	* a LCD type monitor
> 	* a hardcopy done by a color laser printer
> 	* a hardcopy done by a color ink pee printer
> 	* ...


	So you're saying that the "white" on my [monster] CRT is not the
	same as on a future LCD Display?  rats:)  --I can't see much
	difference in my new laserjet from my HP500 DeskJet, but then it
	wasn't a main concern ... .

> 
> This is due to the nature that these devices use different color
> spaces (RGB, composed additively, CMY, composed negatively), and
> most of them even aren't calibrated. GRB and CMY are parts of the
> CIE specified space (see CIE diagram), but they don't have all the
> colors in common. There are colors you can show on a CRT, but you
> cannot print them 1:1.


	I took all 5 quarters of physics, like most of us, but never got
	far into optics.  And certainly, nothing like *this*.  the
	quality of my writing is much more important that the colors of
	typeface or background.  But this is an interesting side-bar.

> 
> Anyway, the best reading contrast - black on white - looks boring
> on the web, and it stresses your eyes (too much light reflected /
> emitted). Furthermore, if you select a dark color for the background,
> LCD type monitors (that have a minimal light emission even if the
> color is pure black) may look too light, while a CRT type monitor
> may display the color as dark as you intended (because when it's
> black, the CRT does not emit any light, unless, of course, the
> base brightness is needlessly adjusted above the zero point).
> 
> So much for physics, kids. :-)
> 

	Really!  So far, in my tests [staring at a CRT], I find an
	off-white reads most easily against a very dark blue. 000033;
	or whatever 333366 is.  Still experimenting.

> 
> -- 
> Polytropon
> From Magdeburg, Germany
> Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
> Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...

-- 
 Gary Kline  kline at thought.org  http://www.thought.org  Public Service Unix
        http://jottings.thought.org   http://transfinite.thought.org