The white point color temperature is a measure, in degrees Kelvin, of how white a display's white is. Traditional displays use a 9300 degree K white, which has a bluish tint to it and a high contrast. A 6500 degree Kelvin white is similar to page white and is more useful for color matching.
This feature is important to graphics professionals, although other users will appreciate having the choice. With it, users can more closely match the color of an object designed on a computer with how it looks when printed by a commercial printer. The page-white gamma table provides 6500 degrees K white point, which matches the color of white paper. This improves WYSIWYG in graphic design, since the white backgrounds of the monitor and paper are the same.
The Macintosh 21-inch Color Display allows adjustment of the white point color temperature. To make an adjustment, follow these steps:
1) Select the monitor CDEV in the Control Panel. (In System 7, open the Monitors control panel.)
2) Hold down the Option key and click on the Option button.
3) The options dialog offers a choice of gamma tables. Choose:
- the Mac Std Gamma option for 9300 degree K,
- the Page-White Gamma option for 6500 degree K white, or
- uncorrected gamma.