Maroon Screen

Maroon is deep red at low intensity, and that combination matters more than it sounds. It keeps the property that makes red valuable in the dark , rod cells barely respond to long wavelengths , while removing the glare that makes full red uncomfortable to look at for more than a moment.

The better red for the dark

Full #FF0000 on a modern display is intense. In a dark room it is genuinely unpleasant, and people tend to turn away from it, which defeats the purpose. Maroon is the same hue family at roughly half the output, which makes it a screen you can actually keep looking at: bright enough to read a chart or a control by, dim enough not to hurt.

For astronomy, night walks, night shifts or a shared bedroom, this is usually the value to use rather than full red. The general rule still applies , reduce display brightness first, then choose the colour.

A dark background with warmth

As a background, maroon is one of the least fatiguing coloured fields available: low luminance, no short wavelength content, and clearly a colour rather than a switched off screen. It works where black would be ambiguous and red would be aggressive.

What this maroon screen offers

• Deep #800000 with no gradient or texture
• Preserves dark adaptation far better than white or blue at the same brightness
• Much easier to look at for long periods than full red
• Free hex entry across the entire dark red range
• Live preview as the colour changes
• One press fullscreen with no browser interface
• Controls fade so nothing bright remains on a dark adapted view
• Lossless PNG export , a practical night mode phone wallpaper
• Nothing uploaded, no account required
• Keyboard accessible with visible focus states
• Core tools do not require an account

Related screens

Red for the full intensity version and the reasoning behind night vision, brown for a warmer dark tone, black for a true dark field, indigo for the cool equivalent.

Maroon screen questions