Best Color Scheme to work under

Windows XP. Productivity related

[walkman]

I think colors play a role, so what color do you think is best to keep you alert and glued to the computer?
I would guess that MSFT did some studies and the default one is. Does anyone have any insights?

[Leosghost]

depends if your work is primarily
a)text (prose)
b)code ..as in handcoding .
c)images .. retouching or creating .

or mixtures of any or all of the above ..
and if you are "color blind" or visually impaired ..

your sex and your age ..

the ambient lighting where you work ..

LCD or CRT ..

and a whole bunch of other stuff ;)

[httpwebwitch]

Not like I've done all that many experiments, but I always like having "cool" colors in the interface, like blue, violet, green. When I had XP set up with all "warm" colors (red, yellow, orange) I got annoyed with it.

That influences how I do web design - I tend to use a lot of cools and then add bright warm colors for emphasis

[walkman]

after expirementing a bit, I am sticking with XP blue. It's not sleepy and keeps me alert

thnaks

[asquithea]

More important, IMO, is workplace noise. I like to work in a completely silent environment -- sadly not achievable in my open plan office without slaughtering all my colleagues.

What's the consensus? Classical music? Pop music? Silence? White/pink noise? Constant PA announcements (*eye-roll*)?

[walkman]

I'm very short on attention span, but classical makes it a bit better. I was thinking of buying those headphones some use in testing centers...total silence :)

[httpwebwitch]

music:
depends what I'm doing. If I'm concentrating & solving problems (for instance, debugging scripts), I prefer complete silence. If silence isn't available, I opt for ambient music with a quiet mood, like David Sylvian or Sigur Ros.

But if I'm hacking at data or design, bring on the punk and retro 80s new wave. Anything from Black Flag to the Cure, PIL, The Smiths...
My taste in music reveals my age

lighting:
to counteract the annoying flick of overhead fluorecents, I keep an incandecent 40W lamp on my desk

My work area is about 60% covered with cheat sheets, quick reference charts about CSS, Server Variables, HTTP Status codes, data structure diagrams.