Color Blind Divers?

[mbs]

You may want to familiarize yourselves with existing web accessibility guidelines... I just offer for reference as it can become a full time career

Section508.gov | GSA Government-wide Section 508 Accessibility Program
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) - home page ◦ Web Accessibility Initiative ◦ W3C

 

[northernone]

Just to make sure I understand, is the perception of dark grays instead of jet black on a light gray/blue background:

1. true on the computer and in what you see in the real world
2. just on your computer
3. only on Internet Web sites
4. only on Scubaboard

This is a problem of determining the optimum combination that maximizes readability for the minority with color vision impairments while minimizing any compromise of readability for the majority. Here is a practical example from another thread and was my first version:

3‑9.2.2 Central Nervous System (CNS) Oxygen Toxicity. Central nervous system (CNS) oxygen toxicity, sometimes called high pressure oxygen poisoning, can occur whenever the oxygen partial pressure exceeds 1.3 ata in a wet diver or 2.4 ata in a dry diver. The reason for the marked increase in susceptibility in a wet diver is not completely understood. At partial pressures above the respective 1.3 ata wet and 2.4 ata dry thresholds, the risk of CNS toxicity is dependent on the oxygen partial pressure and the exposure time. The higher the partial pressure and the longer the exposure time, the more likely CNS symptoms will occur. This gives rise to partial pressure of oxygen-exposure time limits for various types of diving. ​

Note that many of these factors are eliminated or mitigated by relaxing in a chamber.

This is an excerpt from the US Navy Diving manual. The text (both fonts) emulates the manual. I wanted to emphasize part of the paragraph so made it red. The blue text in italics is not from the manual but something I added for context.

After learning that some readers had trouble distinguishing between black and red, I converted the red Times Roman font to a sans serif font as a visual clue for color impaired readers.

3‑9.2.2 Central Nervous System (CNS) Oxygen Toxicity. Central nervous system (CNS) oxygen toxicity, sometimes called high pressure oxygen poisoning, can occur whenever the oxygen partial pressure exceeds 1.3 ata in a wet diver or 2.4 ata in a dry diver. The reason for the marked increase in susceptibility in a wet diver is not completely understood. At partial pressures above the respective 1.3 ata wet and 2.4 ata dry thresholds, the risk of CNS toxicity is dependent on the oxygen partial pressure and the exposure time. The higher the partial pressure and the longer the exposure time, the more likely CNS symptoms will occur. This gives rise to partial pressure of oxygen-exposure time limits for various types of diving. ​

Note that many of these factors are eliminated or mitigated by relaxing in a chamber.

It would get very wordy and tedious for the reader to accomplish this entirely in black and would lack the same impact for the majority of readers. I think this is a reasonable compromise, but the proof of that assumption will be in the feedback provided in your replies.

Again, the hope is to develop an example for members that want to write posts with this technique.

As one of the afflicted I enjoy the dialogue on how to make our lives easier.

For regular text like the above I'm ok with the color deferentials, but I suspect the added font hint would be very helpful if the black and reds were indistinguishable. A subtle clue that's highly readable and clearly different.

Might the font changes be a little too chaotic for the general public who don't need the assistance?

I for one, find it convenient to read.

Cheers,
Cameron

 

[kelemvor]

Akimbo, if you use firefox there are several browser plugins that attempt to simulate color blindness for the benefit of web developers dealing with this situation. They'll allow you to easily tell what will be bad for a color blind viewer.

Also, most browsers support "high contrast" mode in their accessibility options that will override the colors presented on a web page with high contrast (e.g. black on white). Regardless of what a page was coded to use. In firefox you click Tools -> Options -> Content -> Colors. It defaults to "follow" the operating system's setting for accessibility, but you can change it to "always" if that's not working.

 

[Akimbo]

Might the font changes be a little too chaotic for the general public who don't need the assistance?

Thanks for the input. Should I start a thread with a poll and the samples above, or would that be too carried away?

Akimbo, if you use firefox there are several browser plugins that attempt to simulate color blindness for the benefit of web developers dealing with this situation.

Very cool, I had not heard of that. Is it anything like this simulator? Coblis Color Blindness Simulator

Also, most browsers support "high contrast" mode in their accessibility options

Also a great tip. I wonder how many people know about it? I hope that tip helps some divers here.

 

[RonR]

I’m kind of late to the party here, but since I was called out upthread I will note that we did a lot of consulting with a color scientist in the course of developing the Cobalt’s color screens, and used tools to simulate various forms of color perception differences when designing our displays. It’s an interesting and complex subject. We made a lot of changes based on what we found, and later on feedback from the field. Color, contrast, and luminance all enter into legibility. Red on black is an obvious problem that I see being used on displays very frequently. Yet it’s possible to come up with something that most people will interpret as red- for it’s common alert significance- while, for instance, including enough yellow and luminance that it pops from the background for those with red color perception issues.

While we have tried to accommodate the most common forms of color perception variation, its probably not possible to both use color and have a single ideal solution for everyone. But it should be possible to design displays that are legible and don’t have elements that disappear for some users.

-Ron

 

[Akimbo]

This thought came to mind and is mostly a question the moderator code gurus. Would it be excessively difficult to make viewing styles for color blind divers? For example, display red in green or yellow for divers who can't see red?

In an ideal world, Microsoft, Apple, and Google (Android) would add the feature to their operating systems.