Increasing Eye Comfort for Writers, Editors, and Others Who Work in Intensive Text Environments

Guest post by Margaret Copeley, MEd

 

Many people must spend virtually their entire work day at a computer. In addition, many of us spend several more hours using a computer for personal activities: email, shopping, researching topics of interest, and so on. As a freelance writer and editor I found that Computer Vision Syndrome crept up on me over a period of a couple of years after about ten years of very intensive computer use. My eyes were very dry and burning; my vision was blurry; I had constant headaches; I became very sensitive to light both indoors and outdoors. My discomfort and poor vision became so severe that I really wondered if I could continue in my work. That was a sobering thought, and it motivated me to learn as much as I could about my eyesight and how it is affected by a computer.

In this article I will describe some strategies that can make a significant difference in eye comfort for writers, editors, and others who work mostly on a computer with an emphasis on customizing Microsoft Word for maximum clarity and comfort.

Continue reading

Advertisement

How to change text and background color in Windows 10

Windows 10 has made life of those with light sensitivity and computer eye strain issues more difficult. In terms of text and background color adaptability to specific visual needs it is a step back when compared to Windows 7. But you can still have it your way. Below you may find detailed instructions on how to fully personalize your Windows 10 screen’s appearance to your, eye-friendly colors (anything, to any color). The instructions should also work in Windows 8.

Continue reading

10 ways to change background color & reduce screen brightness

How to reduce screen brightness is important if you have light sensitive eyes (some level of photophobia), or if you use your computer in dimmer environment. Either way extended computer screen viewing will likely cause eye strain (eye fatigue or computer vision syndrome). This post should help you solve your screen brightness and text-to-background eye strain problem principally by showing you how to change background color and text color in Windows 7 (affects Word, Excel, and other MS Office programs), Adobe Reader, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, … Windows 10 users see this post.

Continue reading