- From: Kynn Bartlett <kynn@reef.com>
- Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2001 16:56:24 -0700
- To: Pat Byrne <pat@glasgowwestend.co.uk>, <mburks952@worldnet.att.net>, <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
At 9:41 PM +0100 2001/7/05, Pat Byrne wrote: >I asked my original question so that I could find the best and most >accessible way of doing this. Using a navigation bar with a different >background to the rest of the page is a popular technique with Web designers >- rather that say to them 'no you can't do that' I'd rather be able to say >'here the most accessible way of doing it'. Going off on a tangent, here's a thought: CSS2 provides color keywords tied to the user's system preferences: http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/ui.html#system-colors One of the difficulties in creating navigation bars is that you want to be able to do exactly what Pat describes here -- using different colors to offset the navigation options. But usually it's difficult to figure out how exactly to do that and still allow the user to set colors. I submit that by using the system defaults, you may actually be able to solve that problem, by assuming (*) that the user will have set reasonable color preferences on her operating system to allow the use of the system -- and therefore you can use system colors in web designs relatively safely. (*) This is a semi-safe assumption, because otherwise the user may have problems using the entire system if the colors are not "safe" for her use. This would be a good technique for the CSS Techniques document for the following checkpoint: 2.2 Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen. [Priority 2 for images, Priority 3 for text]. What's the catch? The catch is, as with any CSS, trying to figure out if it's supported by the web browsers. Eric Meyer's CSS charts at http://www.webreview.com/style/ (bookmark those if you haven't!) don't seem to touch on this. --Kynn PS: The answer to Pat's question -- what is the accessible way to do this? -- is to use CSS. That was easy. ;) -- Kynn Bartlett <kynn@reef.com> Technical Developer Liaison Reef North America Accessibility - W3C - Integrator Network Tel +1 949-567-7006 ________________________________________ BUSINESS IS DYNAMIC. TAKE CONTROL. ________________________________________ http://www.reef.com
Received on Thursday, 5 July 2001 20:22:44 UTC