Dimming the Screen
Mac Tip #90/26-Feb-2003

Recently a client wrote: “HOW DOES one do this? I’ve search the monitor back and front. I’ve searched through the meagre amount of literature that came with the machine …” but unfortunately no handbook for the iMac itself. Do you think they missed giving me one? Or is there one available on the iMac?”

When I bought my first Mac it came with a large handbook. These days you get maybe one slim booklet. That’s because the main Help files are on the computer itself. Look under Help in the Menu Bar.

But as for the screen: on modern Macs you might find that there are buttons right on the keyboard for making the screen brighter and dimmer (and often also for changing the sound volume).

On my Powerbook the screen controls are on the F1 and F2 keys. One has a circle surrounded by a number of dots while the other has a circle surrounded by a number of “rays”. The key with the dots dims the screen while the key with “rays” makes it brighter.

My iMac however, now several years old, has no such keys.

Another place to find controls for the screen is in the Displays System Preference (OS X) or Monitors Control Panel (OS 9). Here you can find a slider for Brightness and perhaps one for Contrast, along with several possibilities for choosing screen resolution and number of colours displayed.