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I suggest that Gwen has hit the problem on the nose (BOP!)
Etienne Grandjean, author of Ergonomics in Computerized Offices and researcher
in ergonomics since 1950, points out the following:
Although glare, reflections, and deep shadows on the monitor are often extremely
irritating, an unrecognized eye-strain culprit, he concludes, is too much
contrast between the foreground (computer monitor) and the background
(everything else--desktops, walls, curtains, windows, and so on).
Since office designers usually recommend lighting levels of over 1,000 lux,
luminance readings in typical modern offices can cause severe acuity problems
(leading to eyestrain, headaches, squinting, wrinkled brows, etc.)....
Research indicates that the brightness ratio between the video screen and a
document from which the user is typing should be no more than 1:10; between the
screen and the immediate background should be no more than 1:20; and the ratio
between the screen and the entire room should be no more than 1:40. However,
researchers who surveyed 109 workstations found a ratio of 1:10 to 1:81 between
the screen and source documents and a ratio of 1:87 to 1:1450 between the
screen and nearby office windows.
For more, see E. Grandjean, Ergonomics in Computerized Offices, Taylor and
Francis, New York, 1987. Sorry, no ISBN handy. (Summarized in The GUI Style
Guide, Academic Press Professional, Cambridge, MA, 1994, Fowler and Stanwick.)
Susan Fowler
sfowler -at- ejv -dot- com
PS: I also suspect that it is never bad for one's vision to make your eyes
_stop_ hurting. Lights out!
