by Martin Brinkmann on November 10, 2018 in Software – Last Update: November 10, 2018 – No comments
The most recent version of the display manipulation software F.Lux introduces a new grayscale mode that users can enable in the application.
F.Lux is a popular application for desktop and mobile operating systems to adjust the color warmth and other display and color related settings automatically or manually.
One of the ideas behind F.Lux is to reduce blue light in the evening and at night to improve sleep. Users can set it up to adjust the warmth of the screen automatically based on the time of day, or select a manual setting instead that they prefer to use.
The developer introduces a number of new features in version 4 of F.Lux released in 2017; among them options to select presets and to whitelist programs to make sure color is displayed correctly and not manipulated when whitelisted programs are active.
Presets are custom configurations that users may enable directly.
Tip: Check out the F.Lux alternatives Lightbulb and Iris.
F.Lux 4.84 Grayscale
Grayscale mode is a new mode in F.Lux that displays everything in grayscale. It is an attempt to reduce distractions by colorful screen elements such as icons or the toolbar of the operating system.
The big surprise is how distracting the icons on the top and bottom of your screen are. These icon colors are the kind of thing you see in candy stores and on fire alarms, but we have to ignore them just to get work done. Without those colors, your computer looks more like a magazine that can help you focus on reading or thinking—it feels different, like a sheet of paper.
F.Lux users may toggle grayscale mode with the new keyboard shortcut Windows-End, or with a click on Menu > Effects and extra colors > Grayscale.
F.Lux reduces blue light while in grayscale mode just like it does so for other presets the software comes with.
Closing Words
Grayscale mode was designed to reduce distractions and while it certainly does so to a degree it may also make it more difficult to work with the computer or read text on the screen. The new mode requires some time to get used to it; most users will probably use it only sporadically and not all the time.
Some users reported that the new version washes out colors on their devices. I could not verify this on my end, however.
Now You: What is your take on grayscale mode? (via Techdows)