Re: Issue 80 and F3

Hi Wayne--

Can you describe or point me to information about using sprites in an alternative, accessible way? The issue has come up before and I would like to be able to give direction to our developers and designers. 

Thanks!

Mike Elledge

> On Jan 12, 2016, at 7:00 PM, Wayne Dick <wayneedick@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> There are many ways to bring in sprites using CSS but using a background image is harmful to people with low vision. Providing a simplified background is critically important to people who experience loss of detail or become fatigued when working with fine detail. A busy background just buries the detail of text. Even with sufficient contrast the variable pattern just confuses the textual content. That is why High Contrast settings kill background images. The need for high contrast is not the problem, it is the need for a uniform background.
> 
> The critical feature of the CSS background-image is that it identifies its intended use.  If an author uses background images as background, then the user or the user's software can remove the image and replace it with a useful background.  If the author uses background-image for another reason there is no programmatic way for the user or user software to identify that image as potentially meaningful. 
> 
> The nice thing about the Windows High Contrast mode is that it gives you a full 16M colors to set up your own environment. So, people with photophobia don't have to suffer with bright colors to get a simplified background.