Option to Dim Screen
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@duozmo - Oh, Softonic. Well, I managed to download Screenshade from the "Alternative Download" link, without having to log in or getting any toolbars or weird stuff installed. The app is quite old, 2008, I guess the original developer is long gone. But it still works fine, better than Shady. It has global hotkeys, and a "dim all screens" option that works for me, though I only have one external monitor. If you can't download it from Softonic, I could see if I can upload it somewhere.
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@Elhem-Enohpi I braved the download and ScreenShade seems good. One exception: The tutorial opens a website that's been taken over by phishers (you'll be redirected to computer-virus-notice dot com, which serves an infinite loop of popups). ScreenShade does dim all monitors evenly, which is really nice. Thanks again.
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@duozmo There's a tutorial? Where do you see that?
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@Elhem-Enohpi It's a first time use prompt.
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Oh, ok. I got it a long time ago, so I don't remember. Thanks for pointing it out.
I do see that I've got it blocked in my firewall, maybe not a bad idea. I do that for every app that has no good reason to connect to the Internet. I'm sure the app itself is safe. The company went out of business years ago, some spammer must have taken over the URL.
Anyway, glad it worked out for you!
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If you are command line friendly and/or into scripting, you may this handy. It's a command line utility for adjusting screen brightness. Just type "brightness" followed by a value. That's it.
Binary as well as source code available.
http://osxdaily.com/2009/09/28/adjust-screen-brightness-from-command-line/
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That code uses the same method as f.lux's "dim on disable", i.e., changes the brightness of the backlight LEDs. Great, if your monitor supports it, but many people have external monitors (like mine) that don't.
F.lux could change the overall brightness as part of its colour profile and gamma settings, which would work universally and predictably. That's basically how Screenshade and many of the others work. Unfortunately the effect doesn't look as good as actually dimming the backlight.
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@duozmo said:
Are you using a fork, or the original? Can you provide a link?
Just the regular Nocturne 2.0.0 from 2009:
https://code.google.com/p/blacktree-nocturne/Not using it anymore though, as I need keyboard shortcuts. I have since used Brighter Screen Lite (2013), and now ScreenShade (2013):
http://screenshade.en.softonic.com/mac
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/brighter-screen-lite/id431059009?mt=12@Elhem-Enohpi said:
F.lux could change the overall brightness as part of its colour profile and gamma settings
If the gamma dimmer works the same as the gamma setting in color profiles, please no! Dimming gamma dims only midtones, but for me it's the bright whites that are the culprit. Light gamma and an overall brightness dimming works a lot better for me, as it reduces contrast.
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I don't know if it's actually called gamma dimming, I'm just talking about dimming by making all the pixels a certain percentage darker, the way Screenshade does, vs. dimming by turning down the brightness of the LED backlight.
The first works universally but, at least on my monitor, looks awful. The second looks fine - and uses less energy - but doesn't work on my monitor. Still, if f.lux was to implement it, I'd prefer it be the second way, and hope I get a nice new monitor someday that works with it.
I'm rather surprised that f.lux doesn't already do dimming along with colour temperature change, since it's able to do the "dim on disable". Dimming by 50% is equivalent to reducing the colour temperature by, well, a lot of degrees. So you can have more colour accuracy while still getting the same blue-light reduction. As I've said, it's a bit dumb to have your screen deep orange with the backlight up full. I think a lot of f.lux users don't realize that.
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@auctoris Dimming is already a feature... alt + page up.