This DICTIONARY OF LIGHT, COLOUR & VISION contains a vocabulary of closely interrelated definitions that underpin all the resources you will find here at lightcolourvision.org.
- Each term has its own page in the DICTIONARY and starts with a DEFINITION.
- Bullet points follow that provide both context and detail.
- Links embedded in the text throughout the site (highlighted in blue) take you directly to DICTIONARY entries.
- Shorter SUMMARIES of terms appear on DIAGRAM PAGES under the heading SOME KEY TERMS. These entries strip definitions back to basics and can be viewed without leaving the page.
Other sections
As well as definitions several other sections are available via the DICTIONARY in the MENU (top left of screen). They include:
- Summaries: A section containing short version of definitions.
- About: A section which explains the link between related concepts.
- Rainbows: A section dealing with definitions specific to this topic.
- Vision: A section dealing with definitions specific to this topic.
Why a dictionary of light, colour & vision
- One of the practical objectives of this website is to make the connections between the topics of light, colour and vision accessible to students and researchers of all ages.
- Our DICTIONARY aims to avoid a problem faced by websites such as Wikipedia where articles are often composed by contributors with narrow specialisation and their own topic-specific vocabulary.
- The layout of the DICTIONARY also aims to avoid situations where a single unknown word or phrase makes it difficult, if not impossible, for our visitors to find the information they need (as explained below).
Terms, definitions and explanations
- All the terms we have selected for the DICTIONARY are widely used and are applied consistently across the topics of light, colour and vision.
- The aim is to avoid definitions and explanations with different meanings in different fields.
- As far as possible definitions contain no more than two short sentences.
- The explanations that follow each definition are arranged as short bullet points that avoid paragraphs of information completely.
- Each bullet makes a stand-alone point and is intended to deal with a single piece of information that we believe is likely to be important to our readership.
- The writing style across all terms aims to be clear, accessible and engaging.
- The idea is to enable our visitors to find and digest information quickly and to confirm facts one at a time.
- Because our readership and their concerns are diverse, bullet points sometimes provide different perspectives on a single term or topic.