While browsing through the comments on this 43 Folders post about a bare-bones no-distractions text editor, I discovered a keyboard shortcut in Mac OS X that inverts all of the colors on your screen! Just hit control-option-command-8. Mostly white screens really suck in dark rooms, so I’m digging the ability to turn everything mostly black at night. And having everything look like a photographic negative is pretty awesome as well 
Unfortunately, taking a screenshot doesn’t capture the effect, although I suppose I could just take a normal screenshot and invert the colors in a graphics editor so that you could see it
Apparently there’s a similar shortcut for Windows XP, “left-shift, left-alt, print screen”, which allows you to switch into a high-contrast mode (also accessible and configurable via the control panel)? I wouldn’t know, I don’t have Windows XP, but if you do you could try that.
Too bad I went with something cheaper than a Mac…I could definately use a distraction-free text editor. Then again, being distraction prone, I’d just find something else…
I just tried the Windows XP one. It indeed changes into high-contrast mode, but isn’t much like the OS X inverted screen. The content pane in my browser, for example, remained unchanged (though slightly shrunken—menu and titlebar text was made huge).
it’s really critical if you ever do projected presentations off your computer, too. i learned both the importance and the solution in the past two weeks.
OMG! Thank you!
Somebody tell me how to do that in GNOME.
I’m having trouble finding a way to do this in GNOME (maybe someone else out there can Google better than me), but I discovered that this isn’t hard to do in Firefox:
http://penguinpetes.com/b2evo/index.php?p=165&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
” In Firefox, I pick “edit…preferences…” and the content tab and ‘fonts and colors’. Choose white for foreground and black for background and uncheck the box that says “allow sites to use their own colors tab” box. Save and reload.”
Yeah, it’s also really useful if you have vision problems.
You’ve lectured before, so you have some experience. Make sure to war-game it. Get a friend to beat up your theories. Don’t do this on LJ where you have time to think. Do it live. Also, catalog the most effective argument against your theory. Give them names. Then you’ll know what you’re facing.