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You can't rely on colors to indicate status because someone might be colorblind. That's an often overlooked problem. You have to make the light do something special, like blink, if you really need it to indicate something important.
I recently bought an adjustable bed base which has USB ports on both sides. Each port has a bright blue light that illuminates the whole bedroom at night. I don't use them so covered both with black electrical tape. Problem solved. I've had the same problem with several desk lamps that lit up the world with that blue light even when turned off. I returned a couple of those immediately. But I looked through the review…
I often wonder that when I use certain products. “How can this obviously terrible design choice not be reflected in reviews?”
An unrelated example is that, at Target stores in the US, there are these (paper) notebooks/journals/diaries that have writing on the front that label them as such. The designs are really nice, but the labels make it ugly - as many people who chose not to buy the product will say "why do I need it to say journal on the front? I know it's a journal" and "I don't want to use it as a journal... I want to use it as a cookbook!" In this way, the reviews self-select only for people who don't care about the labels.
They should really have antireviews where people can write why they didn't buy the product. It would give sellers some kind of signal that there's an issue with their product or its documentation causing people to avoid it.
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That's a great tip! I bought an air purifier that has a very bright blue light illuminating the entire room at night. Now if only I can find a way to disable its annoying on/off chimes.
I've gotta find a way to stop the touch-sensitive controls on mine from responding to cats o_o. Because of course they're just on the flat top, where cats like to climb and stand.
I've tried the upside-down rolling chair mats and even DIYed a barbed-wire mesh from chickenwire; nothing deters them. It's a soothing place for them to sleep atop when running.
Condensation forms under textbooks and other flat planks, which will eventually short the controls as water pools on top.
The only other thing that "worked" was having the exhaust from a 1U rack server pointed at it. The heat initially attracted them but when those fans kicked on, cat met ceiling.
It's actually pretty interesting to look at the world with an IR camera (e.g. Pi NoIR) - red wine looks like clear water, black actrylic looks plate glass, black t-shirts appear pale.
Edit: didn't read the article carefully enough.
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> Why is it that manufacturers go for blue or bright white LED indicators? I don't know but I'm sure allergic to red. I don't understand why so many devices are using red for standby or even to indicate work (I'm looking at you Raspberry Pi). To me red is "blood" and blood is "bad". Red means error. Thankfully some devices, like ethernet switches, are using proper colors: green for trafic, orange for "degraded" link…
Red doesn't bother the eyes in a dark environment.
There's a reason lots of camping lights have a red mode, and why astronomers use it exclusively while observing.