Hi Ted,
I also experimented with the drawing area background colours, grey then blue but came right back to black as the most restful colour for me. A lot of other CAD software & SU do tend to have the white background when you see other user’s clips on say YOUTUBE. You've definitely highlighted something here, I've always thought the same from a very long time ago, I may have even forumed-it. Why DC's white background appears hard to work with compared to others for long sessions with risk of getting "snow-blindness" is a mystery.
When I fire up SU, I can be using it for a week or two & appears to be o.k. for long sessions compared to DC. Would be good to hear from DC HQ to why this is & get this addressed if possible.
I read something scientific about Blue being the most restful colour when I had a CRT screen, so might look into that again.
Over & out,
Clayton
Ps. the punch-line you forgot Ted was your screen graphic.