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Screen Shades 1.0.1

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(4) 4.5

Tints the display to help users with sensitive eyes. Free

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3.7 MB
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Custom Solutions of Maryland

Screen Shades is a utility to help users with sensitive eyes. With Screen Shades you can tint the display with five tints (gray, blue, yellow, pink, and My Tint, a color selected from the Colors window by the user). The Control Panel provides a drop-down menu to select the tint, a slider to control the amount of the tint and a checkbox to turn the effect on/off. The Control Panel may be dragged out of the way on the desktop and minimized. Control Panel settings and position are saved between sessions.

What's New

Version 1.0.1:

Bug fix

Requirements
PPC / Intel, Mac OS X 10.2 or later.

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Screen Shades User Discussion (Write a Review)

ver. 1.x:

(4)

Your rating: Now say why...

Overall:

(4)

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+17

Brilormac reviewed on 06 Sep 2010

Leak detection using Apple's Instruments tool shows this to have multiple leaks in "rbframework.dylib" ( these are frameworks written by Monkey Bread Software for RealBasic developers - which is the IDE used to develop Screen Shades ). Specifically, the responsible frames are:
LoadPlugins, REALSetPropValueCFStringRef and AddRelocEntry. There are multiple leak occurrences for all of these. This means the memory used by this program will increase the longer it runs.

The developer of Screen Shades should consider using an alternative method since the used framework leaks ( and would have no control over it since presumably the developer of Screen Shades is not the same developer of the framework that leaks ).

One app in this category that does not leak is SmartSaver( and I am NOT the developer of this app ).

[Version 1.0]

2 Replies

Paul Young replied on 04 Dec 2010

I am in communication with MonkeyBreadSoftware to see if this very small leakage can be eliminated. Using the Activity Monitor, I measured an initial Real Memory increase of 0.5 MB and then no further increase after one hour. I measured a Virtual Memory increase of 0.1 MB after one hour.

Christian Schmitz replied on 04 Dec 2010

Hello, I've developed the plugins Paul is using. I'd like to share a few thoughts with you both: First rbframework.dyib is the runtime library of REAL Studio and not made by me. Second a leak inside that library needs to be reported to REAL Software for further analysis. Best with a sample app which shows the leak and a description on how reproduce and find this leak. Third I'd like to ask you for details on the leak. How much does it leak per minute/hour? Does this crash the application? As a developer I face leaks regulary. There are a lot of harmless leaks. Anything that leaks less than a mega byte per minute will not crash a typical application with 24 hours and is normally not an issue. We do fix those leaks if we can identify the code which does the leak, but that is not always possible. So if you have details, please send to Paul for reproduce. And if he tells me it's my function, I'll try to fix it. Good night.

+22

Yavari commented on 02 Aug 2010

I really appreciate this application-I have sensitive eyes, and I was looking for something that didn't come with a ridiculously expensive accessibility package. My only qualm is that the overlay doesn't cover a small portion of my screen, so my Dock is still not tinted. My reading area IS covered, though, which makes things a lot easier for me.

[Version 1.0]

1 Reply

Paul Young replied on 04 Dec 2010

Version 1.0.1 (bug fix) extends the overlay over the Dock, whether on left, on right or at the bottom.

Patman162 reviewed on 24 Jun 2010

Great App. Whether you have sensitive eyes, or are working on your mac late at night/in the dark, Screen Shades really makes the display easier on your eyes. I know when I'm in a dark room and the brightness on the display is cranked up it nearly makes my eyes bleed. Screen shades is nice because you can customize it and tweak it until you find a tint that works well with your eyes.

[Version 1.0]

Kilika commented on 09 Feb 2009

Does not fill wide screen 1440 x900 leaves 1/2 gap on the right side which makes it look pretty bad

[Version 1.0]

1 Reply

Paul Young replied on 04 Dec 2010

Try Version 1.0.1. The overlay will fill the entire display, Dock included.

+152

gcoghill commented on 26 Jan 2009

Does not work on a secondary monitor, just the main monitor.

[Version 1.0]

Blessed reviewed on 03 Nov 2008

I'm delighted to report that I have been using Screen Shades for a couple of weeks. I am so THRILLED with it, and have nothing but positive to say. I've deleted a similar program from my iMac since discovering Screen Shades. There is no comparison as far as: versatility, beauty (for those who just enjoy COLOR), creativity, and practicality. Part of my disability involves being very affected by artificial light (especially bright light or white). Those who have similar problems know that there are specific colors and shades of colors that relieve eye strain, which vary depending on the individual. Screen Shades offers several colors to choose from as well as a slider to select preferred intensity. I, personally, use the pink tint most for ease on my eyes, and find the blue tint to be immediately "relaxing" (like a "spa" for the eyes--my body also seems to feel the effect). In addition, amazingly, it gives you the ability to create your own color which you can store as "My Tint." Screen Shades is user-friendly (important to me) and it is completely FREE! What more could I ask for? The developer of this nifty little program has come up with quite a variety of other practical and entertaining applications, several of which I'm also enjoying (which are either free or require a ridiculously minimal fee). They can all be found by going to: www.customsolutionsofmaryland.50megs.com
Enjoy perusing that site, and have fun with Screen Shades! I certainly am.
P.S. I do not work for any company and am not being paid for this review! I'm just a Happy Camper.

[Version 1.0]

+13

Piper Wilson reviewed on 03 Nov 2008

I could tell within 10 seconds that I was going to adore this program. Even if you don't think you have sensitive eyes, you should try this. It just makes all the white look less glaring.

I wish there was a way to have the settings on without having to have the icon in the dock. I'm not a computer geek, but maybe a system preference?

Any old which way, this is great!

[Version 1.0]

Gary Angelone commented on 03 Nov 2008

Wow, this really does help my eyes. I like this program a lot!

[Version 1.0]

+16

Tachy0n had trouble on 05 Dec 2010

I just downloaded this from macupdate, and the version in the about box says v 1.0.0UB
There appears to be a bug; I can't change the "MyTint" color. Nothing happens when I click on it.

[Version 1.0.1]

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