Because LCD screens display brighter and sharper images, they hurt your eyes faster after prolonged use as compared to CRTs
I find I can stare at my LCD indefinitely without any problems, whereas CRTs will give me a headache after a few hours (that's partly why I switched to an LCD, and it's proved to be the best computer-related purchase I've ever made). The sharpness of LCDs means they can cope better with extremes of contrast.
Designers use grey text when they want to avoid harsh contrasts, or want to make text appear 'thinner'. Those using LCDs may be less aware of legibility problems on poor CRTs, but I very much doubt they're choosing grey because they were getting a headache.

Posted by: Matt Round on March 31, 2003 08:54 AM

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I question this research, and second what Matt said.

Posted by: Timo on March 31, 2003 12:39 PM

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I've never had problems with either CRT or LCD. Room lighting is the only issue that affects my eye strain. I doubt ultra-bright screens are an issue. I have the brightness maxxed out on both monitors because it makes everything easier to see. No more mucking about in darkness.

Posted by: on March 31, 2003 02:17 PM

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Vision, Reading and Computer Users (WebWord) -- An Interview with Distinguished Optometrist, Dr. Gary J. Williams

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on March 31, 2003 04:04 PM

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I also question this research, if it can be called that.

Aycan's argument uses a non sequitur to support an observation.

Yes, LCD displays are sharper and can be glary. Yes, they have limited greyscale range, with posterization (particularly in the shadows).

But what does this have to do with text being too sharp? And how does this equate to the assertion that LCDs "cannot display grayscale text (or graphics for that matter) properly"? I don't see a lot of continuous-tone text...

If he's saying that LCD's have a native gamma curve that is distinctly different to CRTs, then that is true -- yet drivers and colour managament software attempt to resolve this, hence the afore-mentioned posterisation.

I'm just not getting it. From my perspective, LCDs are sharp because they have a 1 to 1 relationship between screen elements, and pixels (no fuzz, no bleed). I don't think it has much to do with greyscales, gamma or anything else.

Posted by: Che Tamahori on March 31, 2003 06:51 PM

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