: What factors should one consider when picking color calibration solutions? Recently I've begun giving more thought to display calibration. I'd previously ignored this practice largely because: I

@Tiffany317

From a practical standpoint, I can't think of a reason to be concerned about calibration for web work beyond setting the gamma somewhat accurately to 2.2 and your display to 6500K (sometimes labeled D65). These will allow you to display as much of the sRGB gamut, which is the web standard, as your monitor is capable of.

You can do all this without shelling out your hard-earned cash for calibration hardware. Set the monitor profile to the one supplied by the manufacturer and check the gamma and brightness (which is all that's relevant on a digital display). To make any adjustments, you can use the calibration utility that comes with your GPU, or the one built into Windows. Mac OS probably has one, too, but I seldom use my Mac for anything beyond testing web designs, so I don't know off-hand.

CFL-illuminated displays will dim over time as the fluorescent tubes become less efficient. That's the nature of the technology, so just make it a point to recheck gamma and brightness every 6 months or so. But almost all monitors are far too bright "out of the box" (Apple displays in particular), so you actually have to dial them way down. Keep in mind that "Brightness", so called, adjusts only the black signal level, pushing everything else up in brightness to compensate.

If you get into higher-end web work, it will be worthwhile to invest in a monitor that can display the full sRGB gamut, but still keep another, consumer-grade monitor connected so you have a good idea what your pages will look like to the average home user. Even then, you won't need calibration hardware.

There is an excellent article from Ray Soneira that covers both HDTVs and monitors. It gives the real scoop on a great deal of misinformation about modern digital displays. It's lengthy, but well worth a read.

If you need color-accurate photographs, or you are designing for print, then wide-gamut calibration on a professional-grade display becomes important. Keep in mind that this requires monitor, printer and paper calibration if you need accurate prints. Calibrating your monitor alone has some value, but still leaves you without a good proofing capability. Printer calibration requires that you calibrate each paper type you will use for proofing or for prints that you want to exhibit or sell.

Vote Up Vote Down