Rest for Weary Eyes: Switching Your Display to Grayscale

· by · Tips

Long hours working in text editors and word processors can be a strain on your eyes, especially since the bright white background of a document window can result in a harsh contrast against the black letters in the words you type. If you donit need to see different colors in your document, switching your display to grayscale can help keep your eyes from wearing out as quickly, and can even help extend your laptopis battery life.

You can switch your display from color to grayscale in the Universal Access Preference Pane. Hereis how:

  • Launch System Preferences. You can find it by choosing Apple menu > System Preferences.
  • Select Universal Access.

  • Use the Universal Access Preference Pane to switch your display to grayscale.
  • Click the Seeing tab.
  • Check Use grayscale under the Display options.


Grayscale is still an option on todayis modern Macs.

If I plan to work for several hours on text-only documents, I switch my display to grayscale. My eyes appreciate it, and when I am using my PowerBook on battery, it tends to run longer before I have to recharge. When Iim ready to switch back to a color display, I simply uncheck the Use grayscale option.


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Jeff Gamet

Jeff Gamet

Jeff is the Mac Observer's Managing Editor, and co-host of the Apple Context Machine podcast. He is the author of "The Designer's Guide to Mac OS X" from Peachpit Press, and writes for several design-related publications. Jeff has presented at events such as Macworld Expo, the RSA Conference, and the Mac Computer Expo. In all his spare time, he also co-hosts the We Have Communicators podcast, and makes guest appearances on several other podcasts, too. Jeff dreams in HD.

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