Web developers upgrading to Apple’s new Snow Leopard operating system will see something a little different in their monitors — Apple has switched the default color settings in OS X 10.6 to gamma 2.2.
The net result for web designers is that colors will appear somewhat darker than in previous version of OS X.
Many Mac toting web designers have long changed the old Apple default of gamma 1.8 to gamma 2.2, as PCs have long been set to gamma 2.2. And thus, the majority of your audience would see colors in gamma 2.2.
However, if you’ve never used gamma 2.2, beware that colors do look significantly darker.
As for why Apple used 1.8 for the last 25 years, Adobe’s Principal Product Manager for Photoshop, John Nack has the skinny on his blog.
A long story made short: gamma 1.8 is much closer to the colors you’d get from a typical print press, making colors on a Mac match what your final printed product would look like.
Apple’s switch to gamma 2.2 reflects, at least in part, the shift away from print to web and video output. It also means that the default colors on Mac and PC monitors is now nearly identical.
If for some reason you’d prefer to keep the old 1.8 gamma look on your Mac, head to system preferences and click “displays.” Then just create a new color profile and set the gamma to gamma 1.8.
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