Re: Ignoring COLORBLIND users in Windows Internet Explorer Testing Center

On 3/6/08, Anne van Kesteren <annevk@opera.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:32:26 +0100, Alan Hogan <alanhogan@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Many pages and tests in Windows Internet Explorer Testing Center rely on
> > color alone to determine whether a test passed or fail. This makes it
> > impossible for many colorblind users to verify the out come of the test.
>
>
> Relying on colors for tests is perfectly acceptable, in my opinion. Just
> like some people are not fit as fighter pilot some people are not fit for
> visual testing.
>
>
>
> --
> Anne van Kesteren
> <http://annevankesteren.nl/>
> <http://www.opera.com/>
>



8% of white American men are red-green colorblind (7% of American men
overall). In the general population according to a different source, at
least 1.3% of the population is colorblind.

Putting that in perspective, that means there are more colorblind users at
large than Opera users, and in the white male Statesman population, people
are twice as likely to be colorblind as they are to use Safari.

Fighter pilots with poor eyesight put lives at risk (their own and others').
This potentially fatal cost is a legitimate reason to discriminate in that
regards.

There is no reason to discriminate against developers who cannot see color.
They put no lives at risk, and the "cost" of developing tests with them in
mind is trivial: italics or underlining instead of just color.

Alan