Re: [mediaqueries] light-level

On 02/09/2016 11:24 PM, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 9, 2016 at 7:39 PM, Florian Rivoal <florian@rivoal.net> wrote:
>>> On Feb 10, 2016, at 10:14, Tab Atkins Jr. <jackalmage@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> We don't generally care about groups which need *less* a11y help, so
>>> "reducing contrast" isn't really a use-case in the first place. ^_^
>>
>> Actually it is. Not for people with low vision, but for people with
>> certain forms of dyslexia, high contrast can make the text appear
>> to be shining/sparkling/dancing, or just generally compound the
>> difficulty of differentiating certain letter shapes (p vs q) and
>> make things hard to read.
>>
>>> On the other hand, increasing contrast for "light-level: washed" is a
>>> good idea, *and* it can help with a11y that wants high-contrast.  (It
>>> also generally means going with dark-on-light, which is better for
>>> low-sighted users too.)
>>
>> Luckily, this works in the other direction as well. The type of corrections
>> that people tend to apply in response to "light-level: dim" also correlate
>> well with the type of adjustment people with dyslexia favor:
>> * reducing contrast
>> * reducing blue light and going for a sepia / warm colors
>> * light-on-dark
>
> Good points!

My point isn't that there isn't overlap here, just that there
are many cases where the response to light-level might not be
something you want for a specific a11y concern. For example
light-level responses can include
   * increasing/decreasing contrast
   * swapping light-on-dark vs. dark-on-light themes
However, a11y preferences are generally one or the other.

So I would rather we

   a) Dealt with light-level and a11y issues around contrast
      at the same time, but not in the same query

   b) Instead advocated the use of the relevant a11y query
      together with light-level -- e.g. making sure all examples
      look like
      @media (light-level: dim) or (pref-contrast: low) {
         /* low contrast styles */
      }
      @media (light-level: dim) or (pref-foreground: light) {
         /* light text on dark background */
      }

   c) Deferred light-level to Level 5 to be worked on together
      with the a11y queries, in order to advance the rest of
      this draft to CR within the next 6 months, because I
      really think some of these things are ready and critically
      needed out in the real world... and the a11y queries are
      still in the brainstorming stages atm.

~fantasai

Received on Thursday, 25 February 2016 04:40:47 UTC