But all the suggestions offered won’t really do anything to change the files a reader might send to the web.

In point of fact, if the issue is how your work looks elsewhere, it makes absolutely no difference what you see, how well or how poorly your monitor is profiled, or what the lighting conditions in your working environment are.

All those things matter to you, and they help assure that you’ll be sending images off into the world with an accurate idea of how you intend they look. But they don’t at all account for any of the issues that account for color shift on the Internet.

This is a little long-winded, but it does explain why if you want to wade all the way through:

http://correctcolor.org/cccommentary/?p=114

Your question is exactly what brought me to this site. I am still searching, but I think maybe you nailed one piece of the puzzle. The more saturated a color is, the more likely that it will look garish or “off” on a variety of monitors. The fact is that the vast majority of computer monitors are not color managed even in the slightest, and therefore your site WILL be viewed in every possible way except how you saw it on your calibrated screen.

So, while I do some more studying, I am short on time to waste, and I need a color scheme. I really like http://colorschemedesigner.com. No affiliation. If you stay below 50% on your saturation, and set your color palette there, then you should end up with something that looks reasonably okay even on dramatically color-shifted systems, since complimentary and contrasting colors are generated mathematically relative to the center, not by eye. Photographs are another thing entirely. Nothing that I know can be done about that except to aim for the middle and manage your embedded profile. That or only show B&W conversions.

I design for both web and print.

When I’m designing for web, should I change my monitor display profile to what would be most accurate for “most” of the world?

And when I’m designing for print, should it be a different calibration? It’s my priority that what I design for CMYK printing, prints very closely to what it looks like on my monitor. But I’m worried this is completely different from what my priority is when I’m designing for web: which is my guess at what “most” of the world might see on their own computer.

And then to throw a 3rd thing in the mix…I’m also a hobbyist photographer with a Smugmug gallery. For some reason, unbeknown to me, the standard for photo editing applications (I use Adobe Lightroom) is RGB. And even though (I believe) photos are printed in full color (CMYK, right?!), they take RGB files as a standard. I have had a problem in the past where the photos I edit in Lightroom appear extremely bright – almost neon – in my Smugmug gallery.

What the heck!? I’m thoroughly confused. Anyone have pointers for us crazy web design + web developer + print design + photography people?

I have a query, may be this is off-topic but i may expect some response from here.

I am using a Sony Vaio FZ Series (at home) and it is a HD screen. I never knew i will end up in such a situation where i will have to design my stuff in Vaio and have to color correct in a normal screen (at workplace). The problem with HD is that it gives you a very high contrast colors when it is on max brightness (as default) and when i use minimum brightness everything looks so dull.

Is thr a way i can set my photoshop color settings to see the almost real colors on HD screen? Thr is i think no option to turn off HD or option of viewing in a normal view too.

I dont know what to do? Can anyone help me with this annoying situation?

1.) I open all files in PS to dump any custom profiles (size hogs).
2.) I export as sRGB with no ICC profile/copyright metadata.

Fireworks exports noticeably smaller files because it exports without profiles by default (in fact, if memory serves, I don’t think it reads them at all).

It seems to me that if designers would design with the web in mind (well, when they’re creating websites) and:

1.) Not assign custom profiles.
2.) Make sure their color settings are set to sRGB.
3.) View the comp in the appropriate proof colors.

Perhaps we as web developers would be able to get a “truer” version of their colors on the web. In other words, they would see it as they design just like we’re going to export it. A win-win! Or maybe I dream of pie in the sky and none of it will ever work since colors vary so widely on the web…