While checking out Raincity Studio's drupal work on SpreadFirefox.com I found myself becoming agitated by the bright orange color palette. I whined a little about the design then realized my monitor is partially to blame. The model I have of Dell's 30" LCD monitor (Here's the newer model) has a whopping 1:1000 contrast ratio. Is that what makes firefox-orange so damned bright?

In these photos I've tried (not completely successfully) to capture the difference between the Dell monitor and th MacBook Pro monitor:

I've already tried adjusting adjusting with Mac OS X but couldn't improve the orange much. Adjusting brightness helps a little too but not enough. I haven't bothered trying out the Dell CD that came with the monitor as I assumed Apple's calibrator would be easier to use. Also the CD is probably only for windows -- although I should probably check it out. Has anyone found Dell software 'drivers' useful on Mac OS X?