WHITE ON BLACK

UPDATE: THIS FILE LAST EDITED 5-2005

WHITE-

ON-BLACK

A PUBLICATION FROM THE...

SIGHT LOSS

INFORMATION

DETECTIVE

SHOULD THE READER WANT TO SUGGEST ANY ADDITIONS OR CORRECTIONS FOR THIS BULLETIN, PLEASE SEND YOUR IDEAS - GO TO LINK, SEND A MESSAGE, NEAR THE TOP OF THIS WEBPAGE.

NOTE: THIS INFORMATION IS NOT INTENDED AS AN ENDORSEMENT OR RECOMMENDATION, AND IS PRESENTED SIMPLY AS A CONVENIENCE TO THE READER. BECAUSE OF THE CHANGING AVAILABILITY OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, THE COMPLETENESS OF THIS LISTING IS NOT GUARANTEED.

MANY VISION LOSS CONSUMERS ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE BENEFITS OF EASIER-TO-SEE NEGATIVE VIDEO DISPLAYS: CCTV ELECTRONIC MAGNIFIERS AND COMPUTER SYSTEMS THAT CONTROL BRIGHTNESS WITH WHITE-ON-BLACK MONITOR SCREENS.

A. EXISTING PAPERWORK

THIS SAME HELPFUL READING ASSISTANCE FOR LOW VISION INDIVIDUALS CAN ALSO BE USED WITH HARDCOPY.

SPECIFICALLY, TO ELIMINATE THE GLARE OF WHITE PAPER, A COLOR COPIER CAN PRINT IN REVERSE TO PRODUCE THE NEGATIVE EFFECT OF WHITE LETTERING ON A BLACK BACKGROUND. GENERALLY, LETTER-SIZE COLOR COPIES COST ABOUT A DOLLAR PER PAGE. ALSO, BE SURE TO SPECIFY A MATTE FINISH TO AVOID PAPER REFLECTIONS.

FOR REFERENCE, THE PHONEBOOK YELLOW PAGES HEADING FOR PLACES THAT DO COLOR PRINTING SEE - COPY AND DUPLICATING SERVICE.

B. COMPUTER PRINTING

FIRST, IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT A NEGATIVE-IMAGE MONITOR SCREEN IS ONLY A DISPLAY GLARE FILTER AND DOES NOT CHANGE THE ACTUAL COLORS OF THE MAC OR PC TEXT AND GRAPHICS, WHICH REMAIN A POSITIVE-IMAGE.

UNDER THE CURRENT OPERATING SYSTEMS FOR BOTH APPLE MACINTOSH AND MICROSOFT WINDOWS, THE OPTION OF RUNNING A NEGATIVE-IMAGE DISPLAY IS BUILT-IN. HOWEVER, OLDER OPERATING SYSTEMS MAY REQUIRE THE USE OF A THIRD-PARTY SCREEN MAGNIFIER SOFTWARE, SUCH AS inLARGE FOR MAC AND MAGIC FOR PC, TO REVERSE A POSITIVE-IMAGE DISPLAY TO WHITE-ON-BLACK.

SHOULD A LOW VISION CONSUMER WANT TO PRODUCE NEGATIVE-IMAGE HARDCOPY FROM THEIR COMPUTER AND BLACK-AND-WHITE PRINTER, FIRST CHECK YOUR WORD PROCESSING APPLICATION TO SEE IF IT CAN CREATE A WHITE-ON-BLACK FILE. OTHERWISE, ANY DATABASE PROGRAM CAN BE USED TO SET-UP A SPECIAL FILE FOR NEGATIVE-IMAGE PRINTING:

1. FROM THE DATABASE PROGRAM CREATE A NEW FILE WITH TWO RECORDS, EACH DESIGNED FOR A FULL-PAGE-IMAGE

2. THE FIRST RECORD IS THE PASTE-IN WINDOW FOR A POSITIVE-IMAGE DOCUMENT

3. THE SECOND RECORD IS THE NEGATIVE-IMAGE PRINT-OUT WINDOW WHICH TELLS THE COMPUTER PRINTER TO DO A COLOR REVERSE

4. THEN COPY A WORD PROCESSING DOCUMENT, GO TO NEGATIVE PRINTING DATABASE FILE AND DO PASTE-IN AT FIRST WINDOW

5. SWITCH TO SECOND WINDOW AND DO NEGATIVE-IMAGE PRINTOUT

6. BLACK-AND-WHITE COMPUTER PRINTER SHOULD PRODUCE A CRISP WHITE-ON-BLACK DOCUMENT

NOTE:

BE AWARE, NEGATIVE IMAGE PRINTING WILL INCREASE TONER CARTRIDGE CONSUMPTION. FOR EXAMPLE, 100 - LETTER-SIZE WHITE-ON-BLACK PRINTOUTS WILL SHORTEN OPTIMAL CARTRIDGE LIFE BY APPROXIMATELY ONE-THIRD.

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