My screen is fading

10:10 Aug 6, 2012 

I think you confuse with "fondu enchaîné", which is indeed a voluntary visual effect. I have been using computers for 27 years now. And my brand new laptop fades undesirably from time to time. I was just hoping it would do it again, so as to be able to describe it better. There like transparent milk over the screen content, I think you'd say a milky or pearly effect. And it does not get dark after that. It's not because a computer is not about to crash that it is not technology that dates back to 5 years ago. Things are evolving quickly.Gilles's sentence does not say the screen gets black, just "difficult to read": what can we do with so little context?... But I guess Kévin's useful piece of advice to keep a PC longer will encourage me to do the dusting more often (I hate it !). OK, next Kudoz... :)

21:02 Aug 5, 2012 

....My computer is old by today's standards, however my screen is not. I just said it was four months old. I should specify that I own a desktop, not a laptop. My screen and my computer are two distinct parts.

And you are still missing the point Tony and I are trying to make. The answer you are suggesting, and the concept you keep arguing is about a voluntary fading of the screen, i.e a technology or a mechanic meant to fade the screen for visual effect. Your Microsoft reference precisely describes that.

However, due to the phrasing in Gilles' question, it is very highly unlikely this is what it is all about here : we are obviously talking about a defect in one's screen which would cause it to fade, and hence turn black... If the question was referring to the voluntary act of screen fading, there would be no point to add "difficult to read". This has to be a defect.

18:49 Aug 5, 2012 

Yes, but it's vital to distinguish between a deliberate visual effect, which is what a 'fondu' is, and something accidental and undesidrable, which is what 'fading' appears to be in the present case.

Perhaps the difference is subtle to the layperson, but technically, it is vital.

18:31 Aug 5, 2012 

What about this: http://dictionnaire.reverso.net/francais-anglais/fond d'écra... : fondu à l'écran : screen fade !

17:19 Aug 5, 2012 

So you have a very old PC by today's standards, which is exactly what I suspected. And so my remark was not off-topic at all, it was exactly where the problem lies. Every computer works "perfectly" until the second before it crashes...

11:28 Aug 5, 2012 

My screen is four months old. Screen fading means tuning down the lights on your screen (or more precisely having an automated function do so) in order for it to be less bright and less harmful to your eyes (if you know about the software F.lux, you know what I'm talking about). If your screen looks less bright, if logic serves it looks darker. In this context, if the question was referring to an automated and expected fading of the screen through a given technology, I do not think it would be phrased quite like this.

Now when a screen is losing its brightness or its image, it becomes harder to tell the difference between the image on the screen and the screen itself. The color of any screen, ANY screen at all is black, and when you lose the image completely that is what you see. It is what typically happens when the image on your screen fades, everything becomes harder to distinguish because it is turning black.

To respond to your off-topic comment, I have had my computer for 5 years, chose all the pieces myself and had them put together by the website I bought it on, and aside from a ventilator and my screen I've had nothing to change, and my computer is in terrific shape

08:33 Aug 5, 2012 

"Screen fading" might be a new technology that "old" computers don't have. By the way, if your computer is more than 3 years old, it might be time to replace it. Indeed, a computer technician warned me, after my computer crash last fall, that any part of your hard disk is liable, if not likely, to crash after 3 years. If you save 14 EUR per month, you can renew your 500 EUR laptop every 3 years (and keep the "old" one for CD-Rom dictionaries that work with the "old" technology, for example).

08:28 Aug 5, 2012 

It can also be a transitive verb, with various translations.

In some uses, it is a phrasal verb, as in to fade away / in / out and the related term 'to crossfade'

In technical senses, these have various translations, depending on the technical domain and the emphasis of what is being said. At least in the world of the cinema, these terms retain the 'archaic' terminology of 'fondu', which relates technically to the origins of the effect. However, this can only really be applied when it is indeed some deliberate effect, rather than (as appears to be the case here) something undesirable.

08:16 Aug 5, 2012 

There is a world of difference between the verb 'to fade' when it is used transitively and intransitively.

When intransitive, it can have a variety of translations, according to context, here are just a few gleaned from R+C:

a colour passer , perdre son éclat
material passer , se décolorer
light baisser , diminuer
flower se faner , se flétrir
guaranteed not to fade ( Textiles )  : garanti bon teint
the daylight was fast fading  : le jour baissait rapidement
b thing remembered, vision s'effacer
interest, enthusiasm diminuer , décliner
sound s'affaiblir
smile s'évanouir
one's sight, memory, hearing etc baisser
the castle faded from sight  : le château disparut aux regards
her voice faded into silence  : sa voix s'est éteinte
the sound is fading ( Radio )  : il y a du fading
our hopes had faded  : nos espoirs s'étaient évanouis
hopes are fading of finding any more survivors  : l'espoir de découvrir d'autres survivants s'amenuise