When reading a textbook, it is common for students to highlight that information which they feel is most pertinent to the subject. Ideally, that text which is not highlighted will serve to clarify, expound upon, and make memorable that which is important.
However, this is often not the case. Many textbook authors are clueless as to how to write well, and fill their prose with non sequiturs, trivial asides, and esoteric attempts at humor. This is unfortunate for the scholar who is reviewing the text for the purposes of note taking or test preparation. Where he should be drinking from a clear stream of relevant facts, he is too often drowning in a sea of superfluous verbiage.
Thus, the need for the anti-highlighter: the lowdarker. Where the highlighter uses bright colors to draw the eye to information, the lowdarker uses dark colors to mute that text which the reader finds unnecessary. While the lowdarked text will be surrounded by a low-contrast color, it will still be legible without too much eyestrain, and may even allow lowdarked passages to remain readable on 1st-generation photocopies.
As we all become increasingly burdened with information, it would be nice to have a tool like the lowdarker to help manage at least a small part of it.-- Guncrazy, May 16 2003 +1 i can't stand crappy humor in textbooks-- calculust, May 17 2003 Greyout?-- Shz, May 17 2003 this makes a whole lot of sense but I think a green highlighter, there is usually one in a set of four will do this job for you.-- po, May 17 2003 [po], you didn't read the whole body of the idea, did you? I think the difference between the green highlighter and the lowdarker is made pretty clear.
I do think though, that any black marker will do.-- Pericles, May 17 2003 Or you could make the highlighters so that the ink in them becomes invisible when painted over through a chemical reaction.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 17 2003 Baked, it's called a marker. Unless you're talking about a -new brand- of marker marketed to people who want to do that...-- messedrocker, Jul 14 2005 "... i can't stand crappy humor in textbooks"
Hmm. I can't stand crappy humor in any medium.-- bristolz, Jul 14 2005 random, halfbakery