[Openicc] Minimal X Color Management

[Chris Lilley]

On Friday, February 17, 2012, 5:52:24 PM, Chris wrote:

CM> In my experience, most people, including developers, simply are
CM> not aware of such differences. When explained, they're relatively
CM> unsurprised by the effect of different materials and gamuts, but
CM> when they see a web browser that contains products for sale on two
CM> different displays, then they really start to understand that this
CM> is not just a problem for "color critical" people.

I agree. Several times people have explained to me how colour
management is really a minor correction for hyper-critical industries
and doesn't really make much difference 'on the Web' or 'in the real
world'. I get the impression that their arguments are not much backed
up by hard data, more an appreciation that the whole area is hard so
if it can be declared out of scope then so much the better.

Occasionally, that same person will then go on to be baffled why their
presentation looks totally different on the projector than it does on
their laptop screen, which must be 'out of alignment' all the while
continuing to protest that colour management is only for specialised
edge cases.

CM> I might be wrong, but I seriously think that the problem is
CM> simply not well understood or experienced. If it were, I'd like to
CM> believe this would be better prioritized.

Agreed.

The side by side comparison is as you say an illuminating one. Perhaps
some photos of the same scene/product photo/web page displayed on
different hardware would be useful.

CM> I also don't think the
CM> industry as a whole understands how display technologies are
CM> diverging from sRGB, after a decade of converging (or attempting to converge) on it.

Yes, besides the wide-gamut options we are seeing a wider range of
backlights in general (RGBLED, WLED), new primaries (the Samsung
display with a yellow primary).

CM> It may also be that I don't understand something about how much
CM> can even be done about this problem, because of unreliable EDID
CM> information. The vast majority of the market is not going to
CM> measure their displays. And the display manufacturers appear to
CM> regularly insert theoretical aimpoint primaries into EDID, rather
CM> than actual primary xy values based on some pre-manufacturing sampling...

My monitor (An Asus PA-246Q wide gamut 24" display) offers native, sRGB,
AdobeRGB and some other modes. The EDID seems to be the same regardless
of which mode is chosen.

This despite the fact that each monitor arrives with its own
individual calibration sheet, so the manufacturer clearly considers
colour accuracy to be important - but not in the EDID.

--
 Chris Lilley   Technical Director, Interaction Domain                 
 W3C Graphics Activity Lead, Fonts Activity Lead
 Co-Chair, W3C Hypertext CG
 Member, CSS, WebFonts, SVG Working Groups