Never allow backlit keyboard

How IdeaStorm Works:

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.) Comments | Accessories (Keyboards, etc.) Ideas | Healthcare Comments | Healthcare Ideas

-290

Never allow backlit keyboard

-290 points posted to Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Healthcare by pell Feb 1

Please, Dell, never produce or sell backlit keyboard or keyboard notebook light.

The thing is to work at night without strong enough ambient light can cause the strong injure to eyes health. Do not encourage your customers to become invalid and loose ability to work.

Health is more more important than fashion, and beauty, and requirements and requests of sometimes careless end-users.

Moreover backlit keyboards are often bought by parents for kids. How shall you live with knowing your business injure health of thousands of children?

Ref. http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/62983/Backlit_Keyboards
Ref. http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/75782/Improve_the_Keyboard_of_XPS_m1330...

pell Feb 3	2 jericho As I unerstand backlit keyboards usually are not stronger than LCD/CRT screens. Is it a reason to use your PC (LCD or CRT screen) in a dark environment? Probably my posting is not too understandable, sorry. I do not mean backlit keyboard produce an unhealthy strong light. I mean backlit keyboard is a one more reason to work with yout PC in dark environments. So backlit keyboard manufacturer and/or reseller motivate user to use their PCs in darkness. And the last (to use a PC in dark) is unhealthy and cause an injure to eyes health. My post more about dangerous motivation and psychological aspects than about risks of usage of specific hardware.
pell Feb 3	2 jericho > Still confused What about are you confused? OK let's begin step by step explanation. 1st. Do you know requirements to PC equipped work place? Do you know they exist and should be satified to protect PC user health? As a first approximation they consist of (this list is uncomplete): 1. Geometrical parameters (square and ceiling height). 2. Ambient and direct light limitations. 3. Noise requirements (including loudness and spectral distribution). 3. Microclimate requirements (temperature, vertiacal temperature gradient, humidity, horizontal and vertical air flow, ionization, suspended material concentration, etc). 4. Radiation and electromagnetic waves requirements. Hint. "Our" line is second (about ambient and direct light requirements).
okroger104 Feb 3	@Pell, I never considered that. But you can adjust the brightness of LCD's down when you're in a dark room to about 100 nits. Or somewhere near 100 nits. That's low enough to prevent eye strain and eye damage.
winoffice Feb 3	pell: can you supply a link to a study that can prove what you are claiming concerning backlit keyboards?
pell Feb 3	2 winoffice Do you read Russian? If yes I can give you some Russian GOST (GOverment STandard) numbers. If no catch some English language links (fished thru google in about 5 minutes) * http://www.aoa.org/x5380.xml - paragraph "Workplace Lighting" * http://ehs.unc.edu/manuals/ehsmanual/2-20.html - paragraph "Computer Workstation Guidelines", quote: "A luminance in the range of 200 lux to 500 lux is recommended for workplaces with visual display terminals (ANSI/HFS 100-1988)." * http://csm.kumoh.ac.kr/link/image/ANSI-HFS-100-1988.jpg - ANSI/HFS 100-1988 American National Standard for Human Factors Engineering of Visual Display Terminal Workstations structure (in graphics form, see Section 5). Again, quote: "A luminance in the range of 200 lux to 500 lux is recommended for workplaces with visual display terminals". Note, I do not claim backlit keyboard to harm eyes health directly. Moreover, it's better to have backlited keyboard in dark environment. But I claim an idea that user can work in dark rooms. And I claim an idea of developing and selling products intended for use in health unsafe environment. Because of manufacturer and/or reseller of such a product directly say to it's customer "Now you can work in that environment". And customer indirectly hears smthng like "Now I may work in darkness". Simply, those users who don't have a backlit keyboard go and light a lamp when evening came while those who have just turm on backlit and begin to break their eyes. In a few words. I propose to fight against reason, backlit keyboard manufacturer fights against affter-effects. What is more effective is the question?
pell Feb 3	2 okroger104 > But you can adjust the brightness of LCD's down when you're in a dark room to about 100 nits. It's interesting. Can you point me to a study this number (100 nits) is originate from?
okroger104 Feb 4	There's a lot of info on the subject which is mostly taken from LCD TV screen studies. Since many people watch movies in low ambient lighting, it's been found that a brightness of 80 - 100 nits works well and minimizes eye strain in that environment. Average LCD screen max brightness is around 180 nits. Most go down to about 70-80 nits. Sunlight readable displays go as high as 400+ nits but can trottle back to around 100 nits. Plus a backlit keyboard helps to increase the indirect ambient lighting. It's should be up to user preference. When their eyes start to hurt from having the brightness/contrast set too high in low light conditions, they'll throttle it down.
kenjennings Feb 4	I have Deck backlit keyboards and they REDUCE my eyestrain (and general frustration) in low light and even dark conditions.
jorge Feb 4	Its not green either, it totally conflicts with the Green movement, the movement to reduce heat, to reduce ambient light interfering with telescopes, the movement to reduces distractions when using a computer (anti-Pimping) and is just overkill, why don't people just learn to type? What next lights attached to everyone's head so we can see the other person's lips move if its dark?
okroger104 Feb 4	"What next lights attached to everyone's head so we can see the other person's lips move if its dark? " Heh. Reminds me of an episode clubbing in Ibiza.
kenjennings Feb 5	Computing in general is not green. If people are so obsessed with being green they can stop using electricity altogether. And stop using motor vehicles. So, go weave your own clothes out of grass and live in a hole in the ground. Now you're green.
jorge Feb 5	Hence my solar power supply comment which is getting beat down like a pup seal in Alaska!
dreadgod Feb 5	Okay, apparently it's not occured to the writer of this idea that reading in the dark or using a computer causes NO EYE PROBLEMS. At all http://ririanproject.com/2007/04/21/15-useless-or-even-dangerous-eyesight-myths/< I love when people accept old wives' tales and believe them for their entire life, never questioning the stupidity of it all... Guess what, eyes are a little more resilient than you think. Backlit keyboard use in a dark room will never, ever damage your eyes. There's a very large difference between temporary eye STRAIN and eye DAMAGE. Go ask your optometrist, that's what they're there for.
naeco Jul 21	I actually had to register on this site just to comment on this post (as it's made google's page 1). I use my laptop in low light conditions all the time and am stuck using a lame LED that plugs into my USB port. I have more eye strain from it's horrible light distribution than I ever would if I had a backlit keyboard. Why is it the manufactures responsibility to determine how and when users should use their laptops? Healthy use of a laptop is and should always be up to the consumer!! What you are promoting is eliminating a very helpful and requested feature that is very useful to many people. Just because the world is filled with a copious amount of morons that can't comprehend the basics of healthy computer usage, the rest of us shouldn't suffer. Should we also stop manufacturing steak knives to keep people from cutting themselves?

track comments for this idea

Please log in to post a comment

recently promoted by:

recently demoted by:

Status

IdeaStorm Team

Meet the Team!

How IdeaStorm Works:

Categories

Status

IdeaStorm Team